Grand Hotel President - Sorrento, Italy     

The best things about the hotel are the setting and the staff. It is set high on the cliffs with stunning views of Sorrento town, the bay of naples and Mount Versuvius, a view you could never get tired of seeing. Yes, its a little way out of town but there was a regular shuttle bus or a steep but pleasant walk to the centre of Sorrento. The waiters/bar staff were amazing, so attentive and charming they really worked hard to make you feel special. The only downside was the bedroom walls were too thin and anyone staying in the rooms below the dining/bar areas would have experienced a lot of late night noise. The food was good quality, the best evening was the weekly buffet event which had fun and lively atmosphere. To sum up it was a really enjoyable stay in a beautiful, clean hotel with professional and welcoming staff and set in a very desirable location.

We have just returned from the President and perhaps our expectations had been raised too much by the reviews we had read here. We didn't book a sea view room as we assumed that by paying so much for a holiday you would at least get to see something (even if it wasn't the sea) but when we arrived we found that our room faced a wall with leaves on which you could practically touch. It would be utterly pointless to even go on holiday and stay somewhere with that balcony, which I would consider less attractive than the view from my own front window at home. We spoke to the Manager and were shown some alternatives with view, one of which was a higher floor so we could see the tip of the wall and the coach wheels, we realised that you either booked the sea view room (for around £200 extra) or you may as well not bother staying there. The Manager and Porters dealt with us and moved us to another room but I felt like I was being a pain! They must get guests with this problem all the time and I expect it becomes a little tiring by October. Once we had moved it was better although the air conditioning didn't work in our room (I didn't tell them about this as I felt like a trouble maker), there was a humming noise from some kind of generator all night that you just learned to tune out and our sea view balcony for which we had paid for overlooked the derelict building next door if you looked out the wrong side but this was because we had the end room it wasn't nice in the dark. The hotel was clean though, looks nice and is not a dump. The food in the hotel was excellent as most people have said although perhaps a little anglified it would have been nice to have more traditional italian food. The service is very good and the waiters friendly and attentive. Bad news about the pool which no-one had mentioned it doesn't get the sun at this time of year at all, so is too cold. The location wasn't too bad, the views were amazing but it was definitely more remote that the brochures would have you believe the courtesy bus is limited and one day we were stranded in Sorrento waiting to come back as there isn't one between 12 - 4. The evening entertainment isn't great you can only go to Sorrento until 11pm because the bus ends then, you can't see the sunset because it goes down behind the hotel and the mountain but this may be an October thing. The holiday tended to be quite expensive: the service charges when you ate out, the charge to use the fridge in the room (10 euros a day). I felt a bit like a walking pot of money but I guess any package holiday tourist destination is like that. The hotel has a sauna too which by my calculations was about £15 a session not what I would call a 'small charge payable locally'. We did have a great time the area is charming the hotel pretty good (just not as amazing as I had been led to believe). I don't think you have to stay in one of the best hotels to enjoy it as you go out a lot. It is nice to have the view, Sorrento is great to look down on and it is good to get a bit out of the town. Next time I would stay a little closer to town but still up the hill a bit. The best thing we did was Capri, we hired a boat to take us round the island and saw some caves, sunbathed and then jumped of into the sea, that was a fantastic experience and made the holiday. We got the public bus to Amalfi which was hellish - noisy and hot some people had to stand all the way we got the boat back which was better but then you miss the Amalfi drive. Sorrento was good, better in the mornings when it feels more italian - in the afternoon it is siesta time and the only places open are the tourist traps. Vesuvius and Pompei very interesting and you get to have a good look at the area when you travel there.