Aquatio Cave Luxury Hotel & Spa

Without exception the staff were proactive and welcoming. Both during and ahead of our stay - recommended restaurants and tours and made reservations on our behalf. Also arranged transfers from Bari airport. Our room was unique and well designed. The hotel is in a great location, all of Matera within easy walking distance. One of the best restaurants we dined at. Overall a luxurious experience with the added benefit of their organisational expertise.

We stayed here for two nights, the first night was just awful and the second great. Upon arrival we were shown to our room which was on the second floor and on street level. Unfortunately I can't remember the room number (might be 214?) but if you are taken to this room I would ask to be moved immediately. We were told it was one of their best rooms, unfortunately in my experience when you are told this it is usually because it's one of the worst rooms. The view was amazing but that was all it had going for it and since I didn't plan to sit and look out of the window for two days I wasn't really bothered about having a view, I had wanted to experience staying in a cave room. Firstly the room didn't seem that clean, the counter top had some sticky residue on it and the floor felt sticky. I called reception and someone arrived with a cloth and just wiped the sticky area and left rather than removing everything from the counter top and cleaning it properly. There were also some old walking boots left in a cupboard, from the previous guest I guess, clearly that cupboard hadn't been cleaned. It made me wonder whether the bed linen was clean. The room being on street level was so noisy and it got worse in the evening with groups of teenagers hanging around outside. We didn't get any sleep at all that night, it was the worst night we've ever experienced at a hotel, and just as we dozed off a load of banging and noise started again around 4am, it turns out there's a bakery right opposite too! We asked to be moved the following morning and were told they would have to see if it was possible as the hotel was full but we knew other people were checking out as when we checked in other couples were only checking in for one night, plus we saw other people leaving their rooms with luggage that morning. Finally after the reception staff had spoken to the manage we were told we could move rooms later that day but we had to remove our belongings from the room by 12pm which was somewhat frustrating as we had a walking tour booked (through the hotel) which didn't finish until 1pm. I understand check out time is 12pm but you can't clean all rooms simultaneously at 12pm. Anyhow, along with the tour guide we managed to compromise on a time of 12.30pm but it was very annoying as we felt we were constantly clock watching on our tour and that the tour was a little rushed and ended abruptly. The second room we were in was room 104 it was a cave room next to the spa and the room was lovely, it was exactly the type of room I had wanted to stay in and had expected to stay in when I made the booking as we wanted to experience staying in a cave room. We had a great nights sleep and although others have complained about the temperature in rooms it was perfect for us, had we been given this room at the start of the stay then I would of given the hotel a 4.5/5 rating. Plus sides of our stay, the spa was lovely we really enjoyed our hour in the spa which was included in the package. Breakfast was good. Staff were particularly nice and helpful when we were there and also upon booking when I was contacting them about walking tours, restaurant recommendations and parking options, they were so polite and quick to respond. I had high hopes for our stay here and was really looking forward to it so it was a shame the first night was so bad. Matera was beautiful and we would love to visit again but I think I would try Sextantio hotel next time, we were trying to decide at the time between these two hotels and chose Aquatio as we thought it would be nice to have the spa facilities but in hindsight I would of chosen Sextantio.