Metropole Taormina Maison d'Hotes

This was our sixth stay in paradise! We absolutely love, love, love this hotel and its staff! There are many things that make this hotel our perfect choice for Taormina. Here they are. I will never forget our first stay - we arrived on an early flight and were offered breakfast, shown to the lift and told which floor to go down to. Oh my goodness, when the lift doors opened, the panorama! Like dying and going to heaven - looking over Taormina and Giardini Naxos Bay. All sprawled beneath you as you have breakfast. The lap of aesthetic luxury! Breakfast - absolutely fantastic. There must be a great pastry chef here. And all the rest of the food too. Eggs made to order any way you desire, fresh bread and pastries, pizza, focaccia, fruit, cakes, tarts, doughnuts (so soft and fresh), cannoli (of course) with various fillings, granita in different flavours and brioche, ricotta and cream goodies of all sorts, coffee, orange juice, water...extraordinary. And a wonderful team of servers, totally dedicated to give us a great experience. Polite, smiling, obliging, all of them. I have to add they were truly professional, as when we were there, their patience and good nature were truly tested by a particular family. They simply carried on with great courtesy and respect nonetheless. Kudos to all of them. The room - another slice of paradise! Immaculately clean. Welcoming crisp, white, excellent quality bed linen, luxuriously soft white towels, Clarins toileteries - nice indeed. We had a Junior Suite, elegant, refined and comfortable beyond words. With a super large walk-in shower complete with waterfall. Something I truly value is the turn-down service, coming back after a pleasantly tiring, hot day, to find the room refreshed and ready! On the first day we arrived to find a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a chilled bottle of prosseco, fruit and pastry delicacies on a coffee table - utterly decadent. This, together with the lovely furnishings - a cascading crystal chandelier, trailing luxurious curtains framing a tourquoise view of the bay, well, this made us feel like millionaires for a little while... Another unique and outstanding feature no other hotel can beat is the infinity pool. We spent long hours relaxing there, absolutely stunning view - I just cannot have enough of it. It is the pool one sees from Piazza IX, Aprile - I'm sure the wish of many there is to be here! The stuff dreams are made of... Another thing that any other hotel also cannot beat, definitely, is location. While on one side there's the idyllic panorama over the bay, step out of the quite hotel into the beating heart of Taormina, the exact centre of Corso Umberto, right by the clock tower onto Piazza IX Aprile. The hotel is brilliantly placed to go either side, towards Porta Catania or towards Porta Messina. A great base for exploring, shopping, restaurants, convenient to walk back to after a delicious dinner and a good bottle of wine. We also had cocktails by the pool and at the bar before going out to dinner. The Damiani cocktails were very refreshing and obviously, the view fantastic. One evening we had dinner at Bellevue, the hotel restaurant, a must-do. I have reviewed this separately. Finally perhaps the greatest asset, what makes Metropole home to us in Taormina, the staff! I have always said that the appreciation of loyalty at this hotel is truly outstanding, one of a kind. We had confirmation of this when we returned this year. All staff acknowledged that we returned, which shows how professional they are. All front desk staff are amazingly polite, welcoming and make one feel pampered and valued. What lovely people indeed! Well done! So dedicated. The brilliant breakfast staff I already mentioned. All the staff we met here and there - cleaners, maintenance, bellboys, anyone - always with a greeting and a smile. ALL STAFF. I must mention here Ms Giuseppina, the hotel Manager, and Mr Santino, the room division Manager. Very special people indeed, professional, efficient but, and this is what is so heartwarming, extremely approachable and committed, always giving personal attention to guests. This attitude is what makes Metropole so special. Not just the location, the food and the service, this warmth that makes a holiday a highly cherished experience that you need to return for.

This hotel is the most BEAUTIFUL place on earth! It’s in the most perfect spot! With restaurants and shops all around .. The views are out of this world, and I will never ever forget the beautiful 6 days we had. The staff were so so friendly, from the front desk to the servers in the bar and restaurant. (Especially Irene and Marie) The food round the pool was delicious and the rooms/bed are comfy. Everything was literally perfect. Our flight got cancelled with BA due to the volcano and the hotel were so accommodating and helpful. We had two days longer here than planned, which I wasn’t sad about!!!! The cocktails (especially Hugo spritz) were tasty . The swimming pool was lovely! I stayed in it all day!! We did get up early to get out beds as we wanted to be in the sun. We will be going back again . Thank you so much for our 6 days of heaven hotel Metropole.

Great location and views, but that’s about it. Staff isn’t very friendly or attentive. Definitely not a 5 star hotel.

Bellevue Bar- Horrible experience, we had to ask so many times for water, menu, and they still didn't bring it. Finally we got a glass of wine and gave up ordering some food. However, there was a table of about 8 peiople and we never saw so much effort by servers focusing on them! THey had 3 or 4 servers attaining to their needs it was actually funny to watch. Once I saw this I decided that this was not the hotel that I would stay in.

We decided to visit the lobby bar for a drink and a bite to eat, and we're shocked at the horrible service. We sat there so long before anybody came to us and finally we were able to order a glass of wine. However, we asked for the menu two times and still didn't receive it! They were completely tentative to a table of about six people, and while we drank our wine, we noticed how they receive lunch. Finally we just asked for the bill two times of course and then left absolutely horrible service and very surprising for a very expensive hotel! We are at a very expensive hotel as well and the service is phenomenal! Perhaps it's because we were in our running shoes and shorts we need to dress up a bit 😂