Aloha d'Oro Hotel - Acireale, Italy 

I thought the Aloha D'Oro was one of the worst, most overpriced hotels in which I've ever stayed and I've stayed in a great many hotels. Although it bills itself as a four-star hotel, it rates two stars at most. Most of the staff was extremely rude. The only towels in the room were like dish towels. The shower hardly worked. The handles in both women's bathrooms on the first floor came off in my hands and I was locked in the bathrooms and had to scream for help--twice. The breakfast was okay but we walked out at dinner time. It's the only restaurant I've encountered in Italy where you couldn't order a la carte but were offered a choice of a light meal for 14 Euros or a major meal for a great deal more. When I looked at the salad bar, there were a few soggy lettuce leaves and not much else. Then we walked out. The so-called beach is a pile of rocks about half a mile from the hotel. We didn't make it all the way there. I suggest people skip Acireale and go to Palermo instead.

We stayed at this hotel in early Oct 06. The building itself is pleasant enough and our room was a good size with a nice sea view. Unfortunately the location is awful. It is right on a main road (and when I say 'main' I mean trucks and cars thundering past all day and night). To be fair, we could not hear the traffic form our room but it certainly did not feel a nice relaxing place to be. The town of Acireale was pretty horrible and run down. The walk down to the beach (sorry I mean rocks) started off ok but when we got fairly close the surroundings got more and more run down, dirtly and full of litter. We finally decided to turn back when I found a used syringe in the middle of the path!! The 2 pool areas are quite run down and closed in Oct (something we didn't know about before booking but seems to be standard in the area at this time of year). The food was very average and there is certainly better to be had in Italy. The staff were, with the exception of one waiter, a surly bunch and there was little information avaiable to us regarding things to do in the area. After 3 days we decided to try our luck elsewhere and checked out early.