King's House Hotel Resort in Mascali

We stayed here with a tour group for about five nights. Compared to our previous accommodation on the western side of Sicily (also a 4-star hotel), it was quite a shock. Not a disaster by any means, but there were noticeable differences. It simply didn’t feel as luxurious as the previous place. The rooms were reasonably clean, but some members of the staff struggled with even basic English—terms like “beef” or “sparkling water” seemed unfamiliar.

When ants appeared in our room, making their way in from a flower bed outside the entrance, we were told it must be because we were eating in the room. I’m not sure why we would do that when all our meals were included in the hotel restaurant. We also had several issues with the air conditioning, which at times decided not to cool the air at all—not ideal when it’s 45°C outside.

The food in the restaurant was good, and dinners were three courses, but dessert was always watermelon. Unlike our previous hotel, no water was provided free of charge. After dinner, we had to wait for one particular staff member to come around and collect cash for drinks in a basket. Sometimes this took up to 45 minutes. Since he didn’t issue receipts, communication was tricky—his English wasn’t great, and math didn’t seem to be his strong suit either. It often took him quite a while to figure out how much we owed or how much change to give back.

Breakfast was buffet-style. The hot drinks were unlabeled and served in identical containers, which was confusing. As for fruit, again—just watermelon. The bread must have been ordered before we even arrived, because each day it got harder and harder. By the last morning, it was completely inedible. We joked that if we threw it against the wall, we might break another window.

Eat pasta EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. It’s very plain food and in the bedroom , right after the cleaner has been in there was ants EVERYWHERE. Every time the cleaners came in, they ate our food from the fridge and would go in our suitcases..