Hotel Mediterraneo

Q: What did you think of the breakfast? A: Breakfast was not included in the booking; when we inquired on check-in whether we could arrange breakfast for an additional charge were told it would be 8 euros each per day, however the receptionist would have to make a special arrangement to organize this--it was noted later in our stay that tour groups had breakfast. Q: How was the location? A: Excellent; just down from Palermo's main high end shopping strip, the Via Ruggero Settimo and a five minute walk fro the Piazza Guiseppe Verdi and the Teatro Massimo.

Unless you speak Italian, the reception staff are unwelcoming, unsmiling and dismissive. They appear to all have been trained at the Basil Fawlty school of charm and hotel management. On contacting reception to advise that the stove in our room's kitchenette wasn't working, a maintenance person with virtually no understanding of English was sent up--speaking to us in rapid fire Italian, after he eventually understood the problem and turned on the gas. Showing us how to turn on the ancient air conditioners, one of them leaked some evil looking liquid on to the floor--his solution, grab the clean bathmat from our bathroom to mop it up (he did find a clean replacement), and there it remained soaking up the contin uing leak for the rest of our stay.