Con la mia famiglia abbiamo deciso di passare il Capodanno a Marsala. Una agenzia di viaggi ci ha consigliato il programma preparato dall'Hotel President, che ha previsto un soggiorno a pensione completa. E devo dire che siamo stati consigliati benissimo. L'accoglienza del personale e' stata eccellente, in particolare quella dell'eccezionale maitre Valentino e dello staff della ristorazione. La struttura possiede un ampio parcheggio ed e' situata in una zona facilmente accessibile di Marsala. Benche' si trovi praticamente gia' in periferia, la vicinanza al centro storico ed alle principali attrazioni (Museo della Nave Punica, Mozia, ecc.) ne fa un ottimo punto di partenza per le escursioni! Il complesso e' costituito da due ali, di cui una di costruzione abbastanza recente, e presenta spazi ampi comuni. Le stanze sono pulite e in generale di adeguata dimensione, anche se i bagni non sono grandissimi. Attenzione all'unico neo che abbiamo trovato: alcune (quelle in fondo all'ala piu' vecchia) hanno spazi un po' piu' sacrificati. La pensione e' consigliatissima: ottima qualita', menu' che varia tra carne e pesce (piu' pesce, ovviamente); porzioni abbondanti e personale gentilissimo. Noi siamo stati la' per il programma di Capodanno, ma d'estate il ristorante e' aperto anche al pubblico. Per quanto riguarda il prezzo aggiungo solo che la nostra scelta e' caduta su questo hotel perche' presentava il prezzo piu' abbordabile (cenone incluso) che abbiamo trovato. Il prezzo per una doppia (come da tabella in camera) era intorno ai 90-100 euro (b.b.) che ritengo lo faccia risultare competitivo anche in mancanza di sconti.

This hotel does not adhere to warm and friendly that Italians are noted for. Dining room staff is surly. They should seek other employment than interacting with tourists. Opt for a room facing the port. The alternate view is even worse. A scene thaty will remind you of WWII. Rooms lack reading lamps. Housekeeping is only fair. Cleaning folks smoke while cleaning so you will end up with a "smoking room". Fresh towels not sheets. Can't think of a reason to stay here again.

Our tour guide suggested we were 'lucky' to be staying at such a 'classy' hotel. "Not all our tours get booked into this place, you know", he said. What a gipper ! Simply put, I reckon the one night I spent here was the WORST single night I have ever spent in a hotel room anywhere on earth (and I have travelled to some pretty desperate places, belive me). So why is this so? Well, it wasn't the location - although the location was not good. At first glance, it seemed fine. Most rooms have a nice view of Palermo harbor and that also meant decent sunset/sunrise views too. But then you realize that is a big problem ... because the ships in the harbor seem to enjoy blowing their fog-horns quite a lot ! Major noise problems early in the morning !! Also, there are no decent shops or restaurants nearby, and city centre is a relatively long walk away. It was the hotel building either. OK, the 1970s decor (which looks as though it hasn't been updated since 1976) may not be to everyone's taste, but at the lobby and bar was tastefully designed. The lifts were tiny and squeaky - not for the claustrophobic. It wasn't the food, although that was also pretty ghastly. I only had breakfast there - and I can tell you it was a pretty cheap rendition of a continental breakfast. The milk was nastily lukewarm. The hard-boiled eggs (no scrambled) smelt suspiciously like they were prepared the night before. The cornflakes were so soft they could have been mistaken for shaved marshmallows. It wasn't the rooms themselves, although these were poor. The rooms were dark, the pillows uncomfortable, and the twin beds were separate by an blue amorphous wooden divider that seemed like a bad experiement by an evil professor from a 1960s Sci-Fi B-movie. The wall mirror threatened to fall off if I breathed too hard. In the bathroom, there was no shower curtain and the bath-tub was so miserably narrow. A simple shower for a tall bloke like me required my performance of a type of bath-tub yoga to stop most of the water flooding the whole bathroom. Even so, after a quick shower, the bathroom felt as if a tsunami had crashed across it. All my travelling companions reported similar experiences in their rooms. So what made my stay perhaps the worst ever? It was the air-conditioning -- or rather the LACK of it. The day I arrived, the daytime temperature reached 38-39 degrees Celsius. When I tried setting the air-con to its maximum, coolest setting, what did I get? Nothing. There was virtually NO ventilation whatsoever. Only if I stood exactly underneath the vent, did I feel just the tiniest hint of air movement. Mind you, it was not cool. It felt about the same temperature as if I softly blew at you ... from the other side of the room ! That's how weak it was. Despite this, I tried to get some sleep-- but couldn't. The room was simply too hot. Even by midnight, when I had kept the maximum air-con going for over 6 hours, it was sweltering. I had stripped down to my underwear only and was still soaked in sweat from head to toe. Not only that, but I couldn't breath. The ventilation was so poor, I physically felt I wasn't getting enough oxygen - I felt dizzy and sick, just like you might feel if someone had put a plastic bag over your head. I phoned my travelling companions in the other rooms and they all had the same problem. We phoned the front desk, and all we got was a cool "Sorry, but we cannot increase the air-conditioning any higher than it already is". Later on, we found that the hotel even STOPPED the central air-con altogether after midnight !! So we had NO ventilation from midnight to 7 am. By now we were so desperate some of us offered to PAY extra if only they would restart the air-con (which was so inadequate even when switched on) - but still all we got was "Sorry, it is hotel policy to switch off the air-con at midnight" ... even on one of the hottest days in summer ?!? OK, so then we nothing else to do but open our window - big mistake. There was no wind or breeze that night, so we didn't get any cooler at all - just a tiny trace more oxygen if you stood by the window. But opening the window meant two things. First, it let the noise in ... and don't forget the hotel is on a busy street serving the port, and the port itself had the aforementioned ships with their happy fog-horns. Right through the night from midnight till daybreak, our room was bombarded with road noise. My companions described the experience as feeling like we were sleeping under a highway flyover - that's how bad the noise was. And then at daybreak, it only got WORSE: the fog-horns woke everyone lucky enough to be able to fall asleep, and the start of work at the port ensured you didn't fall back asleep. Secondly, opening the windows not only let in the noise, but it also let in the mosquitoes !! These were big, buzzy beasts - and they were HUNGRY ! the worst thing was that by now I could only keep by underwear on for all the heat (forget sheets and blankets) - leaving almost all my hunky, juicy body for them to feast on. By the time I realized I was under attack, it was already too late. I was covered in mozzie bites. And there were too many to swat. The noise from their wings alone then kept me up most of the night as they spookily buzzed by. The next morning my chest and arms and legs were red and swollen and itchy like crazy ... and they kept on itching for the rest of my trip through Italy. I've probably stayed in worst hotels than this in terms of location, rooms, service, value etc. But the combination of lack of ventilation plus the dire consequences of opening the window was enough to make this by far the WORST single night I have ever stayed in a hotel.

Old hotel Bad location, oppositte to the port, very bad views Horrible area Breakfast= it is O.K. Rooms=old