Botanico San Lazzaro

I visited this amazing hotel last week and was amazed by the way we were treated from the moment we checked in, until the moment we checked out. Whilst checking in, we were informed that we had been chosen to receive a complimentary DOUBLE upgrade, from a normal room, to a 2 story suite on the top floor. That alone was enough to tell me that we were going to really enjoy the stay. The staff we always so friendly and accommodating, I enjoyed the fact that it was a close knit group of staff, seeing them at breakfast, around the hotel during the day, and again in the evening. All in all, I couldn't recommend this hotel any more and have already told all my friends and family about it. Thank you to everyone at the hotel for making it such a memorable stay!

Very disappointing. Dropped off by taxi at small unmanned reception office at the back of an empty block of flats amongst the rubbish bins. Quite intimidating. No indication of what to do next other than a notice in Italian only. After about 10 mins a staff member 'found' us and escorted to the main entrance via circular staircase of 25 steps , a funicular ride and a further 75 steps. A good start!! Our 'upgraded' room was on the uppermost floor of the hotel. Amazing view from the balcony. The rather hard bed was on a mezzanine floor above the main part of the room. A rather steep and narrow stair case provided access to the bathroom downstairs!! We chose to keep the bathroom light on all night to provide a little safety when using toilet at night . Very fancy bathroom had nowhere to put sponge bags or toothbrushes etc. and a big jacuzzi bath. NO shower. Air conditioning settings could not be changed in room only by reception. TV had no foreign language channels. We would have expected in a 5 star hotel to have been able to watch BBC world news, CNN and have available at least another 6 languages. Breakfast was poor. Luke warm scrabbled eggs. Limited cheese/ham/bread and pastries. No toast. Some fruit and about 10 plates of cold cooked vegetables that looked like they had been there all night. We have had a better room/breakfast combinations in a Premier Inn. We had 2 very poor and expensive evening meals. Service was poor. One evening we returned to the hotel to find that the funicular was out of action. We were pointed to a gate and left to find our own way up 200 steps in the dark and wet. Steps that were somewhat uneven and in some places with poor guard rails. The very least we should have been provided with an escort. We didn't use the pool but it was small and looked in poor condition. Interior decor and furnishings were old and very tired. Small lounge area was only inside space to sit and read/chat. Reception and junior waiting on staff tried very hard to please.

Unfortunately our visit to the Amalfi coast was awful because of the torrential rain and thunderstorms. The staff at the hotel were very nice, the man who met us at the lift was really nice! And the two gentlemen on reception were very helpful. However the hotel is way past it's best, might have been a 5 star in the 90s but is falling apart now. The room was average at best and the breakfast was shocking, not sure what the food was, it looked like meatballs and there was a dish of aubergines in tomato sauce. We phoned reception and asked the lady if they had an umbrella which she informed us they did have one, we went down to collect it and within 5 mins they didn't have it anymore. Luckily BA cancelled our flights so we booked onto the next available flights home and cut our stay short by three days.