Ortea Palace Luxury Hotel

Superb location right in the heart of Ortigia, housed in a grand old building. Room was of a loft style, with a large bed on the mezzanine floor. Comfortable bed, bright room, and has two toilets (very useful). Breakfast was generally of good quality. Ample parking in front of the property (for travellers with cars).

Service attitude of some of the staff was unacceptably poor, for a "luxury" property. Two examples - (i) there is ample public parking next door, convenient for drivers. When we checked in, we were told that we could opt to pay for valet (at 30 euro for 24 hours), or park at the public lots (one euro per hour; payment either via parking machine or the EasyPark phone app). We opted for valet the first day, but on the second day we parked at the public lots. We received an inexplicable parking fine the next morning, although valid payment had been made. We approached the reception staff for assistance when we returned, and they told us they would email the local police (with a screenshot of our payment) and keep us informed the next morning. When we checked the next morning a different receptionist (female, with dark shoulder length curly hair) immediately told us with a defensive tone that the hotel could do nothing, as we were at fault for not using the hotel valet service. This attitude was poor and offensive, and beside the point. The fact is her colleagues made a very simple offer of contacting the police, and we were not at fault if the instructions were not clearly passed on. Also, the male manager present, whilst the conversation was getting heated right next to the breakfast guests, did not make any gesture to calm the situation down, and only offered to check when the receptionist left us without a word of apology, and we had to protest to another female receptionist present. When we returned later in the afternoon, this same receptionist was the one who had to appease us (whilst the manager and the first receptionist were nowhere to be seen) (ii) room cleaning was poor - we had left a cup of tea from the morning on the table in the room, this was not cleared away when we returned, and neither was bottled water refilled. We had to complain at the reception before they sent room service up to remedy. Bed was poorly made as well.