Grand Hotel Flora

2 readers found this review helpful

My wife and I stayed at the Flora for 2 weeks from 10-24th July. Upon arrival I noticed the air conditioning was just blowing warm air and called reception. A man from reception came to our room and told us it was working. Over the next 3 days we kept complaining to reception that the air-con was not working and all they said was that it was working. Three days later we decided we had had enough of being fobbed off and called Thomson at 5am. Thomson said they would contact the hotel and at about 5:45 we had a call from reception and offered another room, but they couldn't say exactly when we could move, it could be 2 or 3 day! We went out that morning and when we returned around noon the air-con was working, so we decided to stay put.
A few days later I woke up hot in the morning and discovered the air-con was off again. I spoke to the manager who insisted that the air-con was on. After breakast we returned to our room and the heat hit us as soon as we opened the door. We waited for the Thomson rep to arrive and decided to show her our room, reception obviously saw this and quickly turned the air-con back on again.
To give Thomson their full credit, they did take prompt action, but dealing with hotels like this does not do them any favours. There were also men working on a roof outside our balcony with a pneumatic drill and shovels for the entire second week.

5 readers found this review helpful

I have just returned from two weeks in Italy with my fiancee. We stayed at the Flora Hotel which is situated on the Corso Italia. We found the hotel to be immaculately clean, and friendly staff, and definately hits the four star rating.
The food in the restaurant was so good that we never ate out in any of the local restaurants. The 3 course evening meals are very satisfying and a salad bar is included. All of the waiting staff were welcoming and made our stay a very enjoyable experience. They even do a special Wednesday night Gala dinner for guests free of charge.
We had a rear 2nd floor room overlooking the pool, but heard that guests situated at the front of the hotel had nightly noise from the main road.
The pool was very large and cleaned every day. However the facility is let down by the fact that as a guest, you are still charged 5 euros a day to use a sunbed each!! Our travel rep told us this on arrival, so we used the rocking lounger chairs that were free of charge although those guests that didn't bother to attend the rep meeting got stung with this hidden charge on the sunbeds.
What also annoyed me was that during our 2 week stay, a few italians that were clearly friends and family of staff, turned up at weekends to use the pool facilities. I don't think they payed for the sunbeds and i was amazed to see that the jacuzzi was only functioning in the time that they arrived at the weekends!!
All in all we were satisfied with the hotels facilities and food.
ADVICE - If planning trips, you can arrange these cheaper yourself. We went to Pompei and Ercolano diggings on the train from Sorrento (1.90 euros each way), and went to Capri on the ferry ourselves (28 euros return). Had we have done these with the travel rep, we would have paid over the odds, and I saved us 250 euros by arranging these trips myself.
Train timetables and boats times can be obtained from the information bureau at the "Foreigners club" restaurant overlooking Marina Piccola.

3 readers found this review helpful

The Grand Hotel Flora certainly has a grand entrance, lounge and lobby but the hotel is all fur coat and no knickers.
While the food in the restaurant is generally quite good, for a hotel located in a country abundant with fresh fruit and vegetables it is a puzzle as to why they serve frozen vegetables and tinned fruit salad, although they do throw in a few fresh strawberries or kiwi in the hope of pulling the wool.
There is a rather impressive salad buffet in the centre of the dining room at dinner but no indication of the contents, ok for the more adventurous but not so good if you are vegetarian or suffer from a food allergy. And don’t think about asking for an extra pot of tea at breakfast, you will be politely told that you are only entitled to one. This is supposed to be a four star establishment, perhaps in Italy awards are given for the waiter’s uniforms rather than the level of service.
The smartly suited staff behind the reception have an air of efficiency about them but part way through our stay the local area suffered a power cut. My disabled partner approached the reception simply to ask if they had any idea of the duration or if alternative arrangements could be made for breakfast as she could not climb five flights of stairs to the restaurant. It was not possible to make much sense of the response as he ran around like a headless chicken waiving his hands in the air proclaiming it was beyond the hotels control and what did we expect him to do. Fifteen minutes later power was restored and he then calmly explained that the hotel has its own generator for emergencies and staff had been in the process of starting it up. What would happen in a serious situation?
I found it irritating that if you wish to enjoy any drinks or food in the hotel you cannot pay for it on the spot, it has to be charged to your room. This may not bother some people but if you are on a budget this can give you a nasty surprise at the end of the week or worse still fortnight, I would just like the choice. On the plus side the price of a beer was no more expensive than in local bars, although I was told that spirits were expensive.
Beware of hidden costs as just about everything is an added extra, some things are expected but charging to unlock the fridge that is already in the room and running is a little petty. Sunbeds are charged at five euros a day each, if you like to lounge around the pool and have kids, add that up.
Overall cleanliness is good but we had a large patch of black mould above the tiles in the corner of the bathroom. Not expected in a four star hotel.
We were informed that a changing room was available to guests on the day of departure although we later found this was closed at three o’clock and we were not being picked up until five.
On the whole our stay was pleasant, and fortunately we were able to see the funny side of some the annoyances but it would have been improved if the hotel was a little more honest by living up to its claimed status and by being a little more relaxed especially with the more trivial things that cost practically nothing but do add to your enjoyment of staying in a hotel.

3 readers found this review helpful

Nice, clean hotel approx 15 minutes walk from the centre. Bedrooms quite small and basic. We did not pay for a sea view and our balcony overlooked a petrol station on a very busy main road. We also requested a high floor and were put on the 5th floor just underneath the restaurant and so were woken every morning by noise of chairs scraping on the tiled floor, waiters and guests moving about etc. Beautiful views however from the restaurant and excellent staff.
Would advise bed and breakfast basis. Breakfast was good compared to other hotels I have experienced in Sorrento but would never eat in the hotel at night considering the fantastic restaurants in the area.
Pool area is nice but lacks space for guests. Sometimes not enough sunbeds. Pool bar small and adequate.
Overall had a pleasant stay and would consider going back if willing to pay extra for a sea view on a lower floor.