A clean and comfortable hotel, but with no special frills. A good location for exploring Sorrento, only a couple of minutes walk from the town centre and convenient for the marina. There was some traffic noise, but this is to be expected from any of the central hotels.

We booked half-board through a package operator, as it was cheaper than arranging B&B ourselves. The food was dull and anglicised, served in a characterless basement restaurant, so we ate out every night but the first in the fantastic local restaurants. Breakfasts were adequate but nothing special.

In summary, a good hotel to use as a base, but not one for those who plan spending most of their time at the hotel itself.

The Ascot is neither fantastic nor dreadful.

Good:
- The staff were always pleasant, especially the reception staff.
- Breakfast was plentiful and filling, although the coffee was always very disappointing by (very high) Italian standards.
- Location is good as it's on the western edge of the town centre but it's an easy to walk to the Piazza Tasso along the interesting streets and lanes that make up the more historic parts of Sorrento.

Not so good:
- Our room appeared clean, but the tiled floor was filthy and needed someone to let Flash do the hard work, cos patently the cleaners couldn't be bothered.
- Stayed here for 3 nights, arriving on a Saturday without a reservation - so we just got what was available room-wise. If you're booking in advance, don't take room 106 as it's on the street-side, suffers from a lot of road noise and a lot of the tour coaches pick up from that point.
- Car park is shared with Hertz and their staff generally park the cars for you, meaning you have to leave your keys at the hotel reception. Our hire car was damaged at some point during our stay and it took a while to get The Ascot to accept any responsibility. We're still not sure whether there will be any repercussions from the hire company.

In all, however, an acceptable base for exploring the area.

The Hotel Ascot was slated in reviews for its food. All I found was the ignorance of the Brit and Irish tourists. Their were three varied choices for the evening meal, if you wanted more, oil or vinegar, parmagan, you merely asked for it. One elderly guest complained the lamb chops had no gravy!!!! Vegetables were served in a light oil and vinegar dressing, because we were in Italy! The pasta dishes were all fresh prepared with light south italian style sauces. The staff were lovely if you made the effort to speak to them. Some brits were too busy screwing their faces at the food, and I dare to say would do so in any country. Their were 21 of us including young children, the accomodation was clean, if something broke it was repaired straight away. The only complaints were Irish and Brit tourists sitting outside the one Engish bar, drinking english beer, watching sky and staggering back early morning! The area is stunning, food cheap and excellent, trips cheap by local train. Their are no Mac donalds and Chips,But lovely 12" wood cooked Pizza at 5 euro. Favorite quote of a fellow guest, I have come here for 20 yrs but I dont eat Italian food!! I felt it necessary to apologise to the manager for the ignorance of UK travellers at their lovely Hotel. We will go again. I recommend the Sorrento Inn for a quality, cheap meal. Full 5 course fish menus was about 30 euros for Langostine etc.

We stayed at the Ascot hotel in September 2007. Many of the reviews I looked at of this hotel were negative particulary the food. I found the food ok, you must remember that you are in Italy and food tastes are different. The hotel's location is very central to the centre of the old town.The staff are friendly and helpful. The accomodation is a little bit tired and worn but clean. The room we were allocated was small but not overly so. Anyway we were'nt there to spend time in a room all day To sum up the hotel I would say it's fine if you want budget accomodation. Alcohol is cheap. A bottle of beer and a half bottle of hotel wine cost 5.5 Euro.
Advise on trips. Do them yourself as the Tour operators are a rip off.
A half day trip to Herculaneum costs 31 euro plus 11 euro entrance.
Take the train to Ercolano for 3 euro return, walk down to the ruins which takes about 10 mins and pay yor entrance fee. You save 17 euro. Do the tour of the Amalfi coast by taking the local Sita bus for 5 euro return. Tour operators charge 31 euros. However, make sure you are early for the bus as it can be rather crowded and sit on the right hand side for the breath taking scenery and scares as the bus goes into the bends. You can stop off at Positano,Amalfi and Ravello. Your ticket allows you to do so. If anyone wants to e-mail me about advise on trips please do so. Oh! forgot to mention the train station and bus stop are located at the Corso Italia.,about 3 mins walk from the Piazzo Tasso. Tickets can be purchsed in the small shop on the right hand side as you enter the train station known as the circumvesuviana.