Hotel Metropole Taormina

While the view is beautiful and the location is great, the service, especially at their restaurant, is horrible. I had to seat myself, no one came to my table, had to sit there for half an hour, and still no one came, so I just left. They need to have better service.

I stopped in on a sunny afternoon for a cold drink and something to eat. The host was quite rude and not at all welcoming. I ordered a bottle of sparkling water and their fruit and ice cream dessert. The water came quickly. After fifteen minutes, I let the waiter know that I was in a rush and would need to leave so I would like to pay the bill. He said the ice cream would be five or six minutes. He brought the bill but no ice cream. After fifteen minutes, I asked another waiter as waiters were scarce. After waiting another 12 minutes we had to leave as we had an appointment. It’s appalling they couldn’t get a 16 euro ice cream and fruit to the table within 35 minutes. It was clear we weren’t welcome or wanted there and I can’t help but suspect it was due to our ethnicity. I’ve traveled to over 85 countries and all seven continents, regularly stay at top hotels and have never been treated so poorly.

We booked a Suite with a balcony, but the room we got couldn't have been more different from the pictures. The pictures showed a split level room with a living area on the lower floor including a sofa and a desk then a balcony. The actual room (room 7) instead had a corridor with a bath in the corner (very strange) that opened to a balcony. Then a mezzanine above the corridor with a bed, which had no windows or any kind of natural light. There was no sofa, no desk and no separate living space, hence definitely not a 'suite'. When we asked the hotel about this they said that some rooms were indeed better than others and that the rooms in the pictures were reserved for guests who booked directly with the hotel and not available via booking websites etc. However these are the very photos they are using to advertise these rooms on those sites. Other annoying things made this a very sub par stay, such as no ability to turn off the lights on the balcony meaning the rooms were bright all night long, no coffee making facilities in the room, and a general wear and tear for all the furniture in the room.