Hotel Giosuè A Mare

“Good holiday in Italy”

We booked this Hotel Giosue a Mare in Meta because we wanted a small hotel, near a beach but not in the main tourist part of Sorrento. We got a lovely hotel right on a private beach. It's staff are delightful, friendly, consistently helpful and all of them put up with my appalling attempts to speak… more

We booked this Hotel Giosue a Mare in Meta because we wanted a small hotel, near a beach but not in the main tourist part of Sorrento. We got a lovely hotel right on a private beach. It's staff are delightful, friendly, consistently helpful and all of them put up with my appalling attempts to speak Italian! We didn't eat our main meal there every night but we could have. I had the best tuna I have ever had there, one evening in the rooftop restaurant. We certainly ate snacks there quite often and sometimes the snacks meant we didn't need a main meal. We had chosen one of the cheaper rooms and it was not large, although bigger than a premier inn room, while the bathroom was quite big, and both were extremely clean. It was very quiet. The hotel is at the bottom of the cliff at Meta.You can walk up if you're feeling energetic, but there is a bus or a lift. However, the hotel will organise free car rides to Meta train station and in the evenings free trips to Sorrento centre as well as the return. We took rail trips out for the first few days; a guided one to Pompei and unguided one to Herculaneum as well as Sorrento and then, exhausted, spent the last days of our holiday swimming or lying on the beach. It's a very good place if you want that sort of a visit. You don't need a car, the railway and buses are cheap and functionally excellent if colourful. We had a great holiday and cannot recommend the hotel enough but next time we go we will get a bigger room.

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“The best sun loungers are not for you if you booked with Jet2”

This is hard, as the hotel itself was very aesthetically pleasing, spotlessly clean and some members of staff were nice (the drivers especially) But there was just something we couldn’t put our finger on, which made the experience quite average - I’ll let you read what we thought and come to your o… more

This is hard, as the hotel itself was very aesthetically pleasing, spotlessly clean and some members of staff were nice (the drivers especially) But there was just something we couldn’t put our finger on, which made the experience quite average - I’ll let you read what we thought and come to your own conclusions! Unfortunately due to delays we arrived at our accommodation after midnight to no food and one small bottle of water in our room, each. Our room was really beautiful, lovely comfy bed and with a stunning view (only had one plug socket though which made things tricky). We had a great night sleep the first night, but then sadly a very noisy family arrived in the room next door to us and as the walls were so thin they woke us up every night after midnight shouting and banging doors. I even ended up in the corridor telling them to shhh! I called reception and they didn’t seem to care. I spent the rest of the holiday sleeping with ear plugs in and a podcast on. Breakfast was mainly sweet pastries and a small selection of fruit, cheese, meat and hot egg dishes. Probably to be expected as I kept having to remind myself this is a pretty small hotel. On our first day we went down to the beach and the member of beach staff asked us where we’d like to sit and we chose a sun lounger on the front ‘row’ by the sea. I chose the hotel based on the fact that it had a private beach and that free sun loungers were included in the Jet2 package. The next day we went back to the beach and as we made our way to the same position that we were in the day before a different member of staff shouted across the beach the equivalent of “oi, where do you think you’re going?” He asked our room number and then we were then told that as we were Jet2 customers we were no allowed to sit just anywhere we fancied: we could only sit on the next few rows away from the sea and where he put us. I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal but I *really* love the sea, sitting near it and swimming in it. We live in the Midlands as far away from the sea as you can get, so this is the deciding factor when booking our holiday. We contacted our Jet2 helper and they quite abruptly told me that we were told when we reached the hotel that that was the case, but I can assure you that we absolutely were not, plus it doesn’t say anywhere when I booked that we would have no choice about where we would sit. The other Jet2 customers that were staying there were also similarly in the dark. The better sun loungers were reserved for people paying, often from outside of the hotel. The member of staff told us that we didn’t get the good loungers because we didn’t pay as much. If I’d even had the option to upgrade, I would have. So I was already a little bit unhappy, but then midway through our stay, with no explanation, half the beach was cleared of sun loungers and parasols so ended up sitting as far away from the sea as it was possible to get. With no explanation other than apparently that’s what The Boss told the member of staff to do. Another point to mention is that no late checkout was offered even though we asked and offered to pay. There is no shower room or anywhere to change so our last day was just spent sitting in reception until our pick up at 5pm. So, sun lounger-gate aside, there are a few good points about this hotel: the free shuttle up to Meta and into Sorrento was SO helpful I can’t even explain - it’s a very steep hill you’d have to negotiate otherwise! Sorrento is lovely and we went a couple of times. Also, the drinks and food in the restaurant are very good quality (if not a bit pricey - we found Sorrento restaurants to be as good and cheaper) however we did see the kitchen staff smoking which is a big no-no! After that we ate out. In summary, the hotel building and location are very nice, but it was just lacking in that level of care for customers and nice little touches that I would have expected from a family run hotel.

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“Could Have Been 5 Stars Until We Saw Smoking in the Kitchen”

We recently stayed at Hotel Giosuè and overall had a lovely stay. The hotel itself is beautiful, peaceful, and the scenery overlooking the sea is absolutely amazing. If you’re looking for somewhere quiet and relaxing away from the busy centre of Sorrento, the location is perfect. The beds were ext… more

We recently stayed at Hotel Giosuè and overall had a lovely stay. The hotel itself is beautiful, peaceful, and the scenery overlooking the sea is absolutely amazing. If you’re looking for somewhere quiet and relaxing away from the busy centre of Sorrento, the location is perfect. The beds were extremely comfortable (and I’m very fussy with beds!), the pillows and sheets were lovely, the room was spotless every day, and the air conditioning worked really well. Breakfast was excellent with so much choice, and even the coffee machine was surprisingly good, which is rare in hotels! A kettle in the room was also appreciated. The reception staff were outstanding, especially Maria, who was incredibly helpful throughout our stay. We were dropped off and collected at the church in Meta because the coach couldn’t access the hotel, but we knew this before booking and the hotel arranged quick transfers to and from the property, which only took around five minutes. Although taxis into Sorrento were very expensive (around €60), we found the Number 8 bus at the bottom of the hill fantastic — every 20 minutes and only €2 each way. The private beach area was lovely and very cute. We stayed in room 208 with a side sea view. The view was still nice, but the balcony wasn’t really usable, and I do wish we’d known this beforehand as we probably would have upgraded to a full sea view room with a proper balcony. Unfortunately, the main reason I can’t give this hotel 5 stars was our experience with the restaurant. We ate there one evening and the food wasn’t great, but more concerning was seeing the restaurant manager/cook repeatedly smoking while handling and arranging food in the open kitchen area. This happened more than once and was clearly visible to guests. We reported it to reception, but nothing seemed to change, and later that evening we could still see him smoking in the kitchen area from the rooftop terrace. Because of this, we didn’t eat there again. It’s such a shame because the hotel itself is lovely and most of the staff were fantastic, but this issue really let the experience down for us. Unfortunately, because of repeatedly seeing someone smoking while handling food, we would not return to this hotel.

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