Hotel Torre Normanna

I have never ever experienced such a poor service than I did here. Only cash, no ATM around, you have to wait until the waiter decides to wait on you after he chats with everyone behind the bar. When you want to play table tennis by the pool at 3:53 PM, you are told that you must wait till 4PM with no explanation whatsoever. An absolute chaos at the tables every morning and evening because they change your table every single day, sometimes twice a day. The only advantage of this hotel is its own beach but with no bar, no toilets. The food is, of course, mostly delicious. Do it all again and better, per favore.

We stayed for an extended weekend and felt bad at arrival.

The staff is short sentenced and did not give clear instructions. The hotel looks like from 1980 and hasn‘t been renovated since.
- Rooms are old fashioned, AC extremely loud, blinds partially broken, no good ventilation in toilet, minibar was empty and the fridge didn‘t cool well.
- We had to find the room ourselves as no one could really point out where the room is.
- when we tried to purchase drinks at the pool bar, they told us we have to get a prepaid card from the reception first. No one told us.
- you have to deposit 10€ for beach towels and they try to charge you 2€ service fees for the towel (!)
- you have to pre-book for dinner and pay whopping 32€ for a buffet. When the buffet opens, 70 people rushing to the buffet hoarding food as it seems limited. After 30 mins the buffet is almost empty and they don‘t like to refill.
- breakfast is very poor and you have the same issue as dinner. We arrived at 09:00 at breakfast and there was hardly any food left. Even though brekky is until 10ish.
- they close the beautiful private beach and pool at 18:30 (!)
- they love their parties and shows and so every night you have noise
- shuttle bus costs extra and they are not on time. We were dropped of 45 mins before the train left to Palermo and had to kill time in the train station. They forgot to pick us up at night at the train station.
- wifi doesn‘t work in the rooms
- they tried to charge us double for the dinner at checkout

At least the pool area is top notch and the private beach is super beautiful. That‘s worth the stay there. Besides this, it‘s a 2 star hotel, nothing more. And they are flexible with checkout times, which was nice. Ah and the view is killer!

MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT- I chose this hotel because it had a private beach. Well, guess what, one staff claimed the elevator was not working and the other staffer blamed the weather. The weather was not the problem, it was the lazy or lack of staff. After five days of asking when it would be open my son begged them to let him and is girlfriend down, low and behold they took them. Did they offer it to me, the one who paid the bill, NO ! The waterline on the beach never changed, even when it rained two different times, so it wasn't the weather or the tide. Trust me I checked all the time. I want a refund!

Stayed five days. Most of the time the hotel had large groups they entertained. One group was a deaf group, at night they pounded on the doors since no one could hear them knock, this went on until 2AM!! Couldn't the hotel have put them or us in a separate section? While the groups received welcoming meals in the lobby everyone else had to hoof it to the restaurant 5 minutes up the hill, just ridiculous. Meal time is specific, if you are hungry outside of the two hour meal periods, then you are out of luck, unless you like bar food. ON that note, in order to use the bar you have to go to the receptionist desk and buy a drink card! Is this grammar school or what?

Breakfast was the same exact thing every day! Processed ham and cheese slices, rolls and croissants, cereal, boiled eggs and juice or coffees from a machine. BLAK! Lunch and dinner were much better though, but you did have to pay extra for that.

WiFi- not in the hotel rooms, just the lobby! Half the time it did not work. The lobby leaks water from the roof if it rains a little because of the pointed sky light. It was always packed with kids from all the groups. Could you find an electrical outlet either, NO.

Pools, not heated. Staff at the bars by the pools are not friendly or hate their job.

Rooms-OK, NO electrical outlet except if you unplugged the hairdryer in the bathroom you could charge something. NO clock or alarm clocks, this seemed to be the theme in Italy though. This hotel did have a phone in room. Ask to be on the second floor with a sea view, first floor is not all that great as there is a wall that occluded half the view.

Parking - The lot is far from the hotel entry, unless you happen to find an open place near the small front lot. The staff, when they care, flag you and make you go back to the big lot. What BS.

Maids started knocking on doors and yelling in the hallways at 8AM ! Yeah, I'm Sicilian, I know all about that. They were very nice, though, and I did leave them a tip because they kept the rooms very clean.

The lobby had dead plants and broken pots around the grounds, generally the place is not well kept, except the pool area. The whole place is just too spread out in general, not family oriented. I would not stay here again.
Room Tip: All the beds are hard as rocks. Rooms clean. If you insist on staying here ask for second floor sea...