Hotel Alpha

Where to start. Everything was perfect. Staff so friendly and professional, in particular the restaurant staff. Food was amazing. Three courses each night with a large choice. Even my fussy daughter found three options each evening she enjoyed. In addition to this is the salad bar. Breakfast was fresh with all the basics you could need. Rooms were incredibly comfortable and clean. Our room on the second floor had a view of mountains and overlooked the pool and garden from the balcony. The pool was cold but my daughter swam every day regardless. It is cleaned every night too. There's plenty of space to sit and relax in the grounds (which were immaculate). Short walk to train station (trains can get VERY busy though). Walk to and from Sorrento is easy too (about 30 mins). Air conditioning in rooms is lovely and easy to control. One issue was, there was a power cut and we had our window shutter down, which is electrically controlled, my concern was if it was a power cut due to a fire we would have been stuck. We learnt and left it up half way after that. Lovely place, fabulous holiday.

We had an ok stay here as a base for visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum. I will point out it is coming to the end of the season and these hotels are always at their best after a winter refresh and making use of facilities such as the pool and gardens etc. Good points were: - friendly staff - nice breakfast in pleasant sunny room with espresso coffee brought to the table - kettles in the room, which is not that common in Europe - clean room with daily housekeeping - well located close to the train station. Negatives were: - terrible shower which was just a dribble. We alerted them first day but no action - a bit shabby and worn in parts, but it is the end of the season - a lot of ants but we used our bug spray on the first night at their points of entry in bathroom door frame and that solved it. Made me wonder why they don’t give a little spray between room changes in those zones. - we were in the old building which looks pretty but the walls were like paper. Family close by with a baby and felt like they were in the room with us. - power cut for around 3 hours on last morning and no one bothered to come around and provide any info. Eventually just came back on. Overall was not terrible as it did the job we were after.

Hotel Alpha served as a comfortable homebase for excursions to the historical sites in the area, with pleasant gardens surrounding the buildings. Nearby the Sant'Agnello train station, it was easy to get to Pompeii, Herculaneum and others along the line between Sorrento and Naples. Though the journey to Naples itself is an over an hour on the train, so perhaps not the best location if you plan regular visits to the city. It is also close to various local stores, cafés and restaurants. The hotel experience itself was good for the most part, though we only really spent out early mornings and evenings here. The staff were friendly, polite and helpful. The buffet style breakfast offered a good choice. The evening meals had its high and low points, overall was good with daily menus that offered a lot of options. Some of the evenings was also accompanied with live music which added to pleasant atmosphere. The Gala dinner on Saturday evening was notable, with beautiful piano and a theatricality to the night. The rooms were comfortable and air-conditioning with a daily cleaning service. The balconies were spacious though the view varied by floor (I was on the first floor and it was not a particularly good view). The only faults i could mention from my one week stay was the bar, which while extensive in it's selection, I did find a bit overpriced. Additionally, there was no option to pay for drinks as we ordered and could only be put on the rooms tab, though that last point is minor. I also felt that the hotel, while very nice for the most part, did feel shabby in some areas. I felt this most prominently in the dining area, where the floors on some mornings did not look particularly clean from the previous evening and on one morning we had ants around our table. I must preface however that while this sounds bad, it was only a single instance of such severity.