Botanico San Lazzaro

When we arrived at the hotel there was no one to greet us at the reception at street level and we saw no sign stating how to contact the front desk. It then meant that my husband had to drag all our suitcases up the incredibly many stairs, I think we got counted 81 steps. (So ??????if you have walking difficulty, this is not the place for you). When we finally reached the top we were greeted by the hotel manager who asked why we had not got the porter to carry our luggage ... Oh well. But he was very serviceminded and accommodating. It quickly turned out that the other employees only spoke/understood a little English if any, which is highly criticizable for what was supposed to be a five-star hotel. We were served prosecco and then shown up to our room, which had an incredibly nice view with both sun loungers, chairs and table out on the terrace, which was gigantic. However, we had booked a room with a jacuzzi which it turned out did not work, (and which was filled with ants). It took 3 different employees to look at it, but it didn't help much, hence we were offered the opportunity to be upgraded to a suite, which we accepted. The new room also had a nice view, a nice bathroom filled with Hermes products which we really appreciated - only bad thing was the beds which were hard and uncomfortable. The cleaning of the room was fantastic and was done twice a day - the cleaning lady was so nice. The breakfast was really good if you are into fried aubergines, squash, tomatoes etc. However, it was also possible to order eggs, omelettes, bacon, etc. directly from the kitchen, which you then had to wait for, of course. There was freshly squeezed juice, prosecco and a large cake table every day. The pool bar was rarely staffed, and when it finally was, the "bartender" did not know the contents of the drinks on the card and it was difficult to communicate in English. However, the pool area was fantastic with a wonderful view, however, they had a hard time keeping the pool itself free of cactus fruit - so beware! Last but not least, we also got an hour of free spa included in our stay, which was really nice as a starting point. But to call it a SPA is probably a bit overrated, basically it was just a room with a small shower, a sauna (that did not work), a steam room and an outdoor jacuzzi, which was well lit but filled with dirt . We had initially also booked couples massage, but it turned out not to be possible, which we had to read on google translate, as the SPA employee did not know a word of English. All in all, it was a seemingly good experience, which was mainly due to the location and surroundings - but it is certainly not a five star hotel. There was a lack of staff (especially English speaking) and general maintenance. Maybe some of the shortcomings are due to COVID-19 because it looked like a hotel that had once been amazing.

The hotel Botanico San lazzaro may once have been a five star hotel but it is no longer. The hotel is a mess, with broken boards around the pool, the tables are rusty the lift up from the ground to the hotel was broken and worst of all there were stains all over the bedcover and headboard. Going there was the only disaster in an otherwise awesome trip.