Hilton Villa Igiea Palermo - Palermo, Italy 

I stayed here for six nights at the end of April. Absolutely no complaints. My room was huge and very clean with a patio right outside. Perhaps it was because I was with a conference, but I found the desk staff to be extremely helpful. I know several people in my group requested room changes and got them without any problems. The grounds are beautiful, with orange and lemon trees all over. They have lounge chairs out by the pool where you can sit and look at the ocean. I don't know if it was the time of year or what, but I never smelled any diesel fuel from the marina or felt like it was really noisy. Breakfast was great: fresh fruit, fresh squeezed juices and coffee made to order. The only downside was location, since it's either a 40-plus minute walk into Palermo or a cab ride. However, it's definitely a great base to take day trips around the area. There's also no ATM at the hotel. But a few blocks down the road there's a bank, post office and grocery store. (If you want bottled water, definitely hit the store, since it's about 35 cents per bottle as opposed to the 6 euros the hotel charges). Overall, I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone.

We stayed at this hotel on HHonors points and found it adequate but not memorable. We've stayed at Hiltons in Rome, Athens, Sorrento, Paris, Prague, Budapest, Istanbul and Izmir and rate this one at the bottom despite the Hiton Category 6 rating. The staff was accomodating but not helpful. We checked in on a warm day and the bellman took great pains to turn on the A/C for us. Upon returning to the room we found it hot and called the front desk who advised us that the system was still in the Heating Mode and they could only do Heat OR Air...so essentially too bad. We slept with the window open ahd heard work from the shipyard all night long along with a strong diesel smell. Evidently enough people complained as by the last night the A/C had been turned on. We ran into other Hilton Guests from in town who told of bathrooms with extensive mold. When told of the situation the management offered no apologies and simply moved them to another room. They evidently KNOW of the problems and simply hope that the guests will accept them. The view from the room was beautiful as were the grounds. And based on the dirt and noise of the city, it was probably best to stay away from the center of the city and take cabs. We really enjoyed the City Sightseeing Bus Tour which gave a good overview. A tip, take the tour in the PM when the cruise passengers have returned to the ship. We took our second leg of the tour as the only passengers aboard after a full load in the AM. In all if you get a good room and don't need any special help this hotel is probably one of the better ones in Palermo, but be prepared to NOT receive the same degree of service as in other Hiltons in Europe.