La Suite Boutique Hotel

We stayed here for one night only, as poor weather resulted in the cancellation of all ferries. It looks as though at one time it has been a very good hotel, but sadly that is no longer the case. The room was fairly good, but poorly lit. The grounds were a mess, even taking into account that there had been strong winds. All of the staff we encountered were helpful but seemed disconsolate to be working there. We asked to book a table in the restaurant. 'The chef is in Naples', we were told. I strongly suspect that it is rarely open. We ate at 'La Pergola' nearby, which was excellent. When we did go down to the restaurant to have breakfast, the tables were grubby and the service lacklustre. Dirty sheets were bagged up in a room next door, clearly visible. There is a great deal of room for improvement here. We've encountered some fabulous hotels in our travels in Italy, but this isn't one of them,

Very disappointing, certainly not a 'boutique' hotel and would be 2 or 3 star if assessed in UK. The buildings and grounds are shabby and unkempt. The staff are very friendly but the location is difficult to reach and walking around the island just doesn't feel safe, the streets are so narrow and there is a lot of traffic which means you walk in single file, clutching a map and stopping in gateways to check where you are. They will provide a shuttle, but at 5 euro per person per trip it soon adds up - a real boutique hotel would provide this service for free, as well as the pick-up and delivery to the port for the ferry, which is 15 euro. When the hotel restaurant isn't open and you have to go out for an evening meal, then to have the additional charge for being brought home (we'd gladly have walked, but it just isn't safe to do so) grates a bit. Breakfast was very lacklustre - lukewarm self service coffee in a thermos and plates of pastries which look like they are brought out day after day. On our departure day we went down for breakfast at 8 and they weren't ready (but the coffee was hotter than it had been at 9!). The pool is lovely, and we had a welcome free drink on arrival. We had a bizarre experience on our last day though - having been happily relaxing at the pool side a team of staff appeared and began to pack up the other sunbeds and cushions, then started playing some euro-pop music loudly, including from the bluetooth speaker 3ft from me. It was as if they wanted to get rid of us - well, they succeeded, we went straight back to our room, but could still hear the ghastly music blaring out. We later learnt that the hotel was closing for the winter on the day we departed, which explained the lack of other guests and facilities but when we were paying top rate it was a bit galling to have the place being packed up around us. The staff were trying their best but were evidently in end of season mode - Fulvio especially was very friendly and helpful. The room was spacious and the bed comfortable, but there were no tea / coffee facilities in the room and it was a palaver to get some, again these should be provided, if not in the room then free on request. The glass shelf in the bathroom was falling off which meant that we had to put toiletries on the windowsill, which meant that we couldn't open the window. The tap dribbled all over the sink unless you opened it to full capacity so the floor flooded very easily. That's the sort of attention to detail that you expect to be dealt with in a 'boutique' hotel. This hotel has huge potential and the island is really beautiful. We enjoyed our visit but it could and should have been so much more.