Hotel La Sorgente

Ok this was a bit of a tricky hotel to rate as part of me doesn't think it warrants 5 stars because there were a couple of minor issues. However, 4 stars seems a little under cooked. Can Trip Advisor perhaps introduce 4.5 stars. I've decided to give it 5 purely on the basis that we had a fantastic holiday in Puglia and surely that's the main thing. This smallish hotel (less than 50 rooms) is in a little harbour town called Savelletri (between Bari and Brindisi) and the hotel overlooks the sea. There is no beach as such but there is a platform for you to swim in the sea and there is a small cove less than 50 metres from the hotel if you want to sit on a beach. The hotel is spotlessly clean and although the rooms are quite basic we had a lovely terraced balcony, the bed was comfortable and had a good shower (we were in Room 101 but we wouldn't want to confine it!). House keeping was good and all the staff are friendly. There is a nice pool area (pool is salt water and cold) with attentive lifeguards and even waiter service if you fancy a mid-morning cocktail. Breakfast's outside on the terrace were plentiful and enjoyable. We only frequented the hotel restaurant the once and the food was good although it lacked some ambiance in our opinion. Savelletri is a cozy little town with some very good restaurants all dotted around the harbour within a short walk (100 metres or so) from the hotel which is handy after a few Aperol Spritz's. It has some pizzeria's as well if that's your thing and a few bars too (not English and thankfully no Sky Sports). There are some little supermarkets to pick up bread, ham, cheese, cold beers etc and we found them not to be expensive. Please note there is no bank or ATM cash machine in the town at all. Our only minor niggles are that the hotel has a habit of playing some annoying music around the pool which seems to be in on a loop (buy some more CD's) and the Wi-Fi I have to say is pretty dreadful for a hotel that claims to have High Speed Broadband. There is a bus service but alas the girl on reception was working on a timetable that was only available in High Season so that was a little irritating as we went in mid September. We did not hire a car but you may wish to do so as the train station (Fasano) is about a 10 minute drive away (can get to on the bus if you know the right time!). Trains are regular and we got to Lecce, Ostuni, Monopoli and Polignano a Mare easily. We also hired bikes and cycled to Torre Cane another little resort along the coast road (takes about 20 mins on the bikes) which has a nice sandy beach and some great Gelateria's for a cold ice cream. Please be aware that Fasano it's self is a working town and has nothing really worth seeing so don't bother. We had a fantastic time in this un-touristy part of Italy and will be going back next year and hiring a car so that we can get to all the other places we did not get to.

This hotel is in a lovely location, unfortunately the customer service is terrible and far below a four star level. After experiencing issues with our reservation the Manager treated us very poorly - playing games, ignoring us for 4 days, making it impossible for us to resolve. Be very careful when dealing with this hotel.