Hotel Ariston & Palazzo Santa Caterina

Tired, run-down & dirty. Should be 3* at most. Paid extra for a balcony - tiny and beside a rock face, so pointless! Breakfast included stale fruit & bread, machine coffee & powdered egg! The staff treat you like you're a nuisance rather than a customer & are totally incompetent. We arrived in a thunderstorm, desperate to get out of wet clothes. The guy on reception couldn't find our booking on his paper list despite having our passports with our names. A package tour bus arrived & he just tried to move on and ignore us and serve them first. I was soaking wet, so I challenged that and he looked at his list again and found us, threw a key at us - no apology, no welcome. On another occasion, I asked one of the 3 girls who do nothing all day at reception (well, actually on this occasion she was firing staples into a blank folded up piece of paper) to ensure our room got cleaned that day as the previous day, it wasn't cleaned at all despite us being out all day. She replied 'You will have to tell him' and pointed to the 1 guy on reception doing any work - dealing with another a customer and their complaints. The pool area is large but in the 3 days we stayed there, no one went in it as it's unheated/too cold. It's also a death trap for kids as it's 2 metres all the way around. Location is good - but you'd struggle to find anywhere that wasn't good in Taormina as it's a small town. Parking is a nightmare - like everywhere in Sicily. Glad we only had to stay there 3 days. AVOID!

I confess i was a little afraid when i made the reservation, because of some comments regarding the room conditions, but everything turned out great. Somehow I got and upgrade to a room with seaview, wich made my days in Taormina even mire incredible. Room is spacious, nice bathroom, comfy bed and a good shower. Pool area is beautiful with lots of seating area. Breakfast is very good as well. Overall a very nice hotel in Taormina. The only thing that maybe an issue to some people is that the hotel is uphill, so if you are senior or carry an infant in a trolley, it can be a problem. If you are coming from bus, the final station is right at the hotel.