My wife & I stayed recently for 5 nights, thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this property. The room was clean, good-sized, nicely finished. Full bathroom with bidet was great, also a blow dryer. Mini bar in room, stocked. We were on 3rd floor, w/high, arched ceilings. We LOVED sitting on the Balcony, overlooking beautiful Positano. Note: In case it matters to you, the view is of the part of town above Fornillo Beach & doesn't look down on the main shopping/city center. The hotel is located near the top of Positano which gives great views down, but also means there's a bit of a hike involved, to get to the city center below. If you have difficulty climbing stairs, you should consider staying closer to the main beach, below, if you intend to walk around much, as automobile transportation is not freely available. The major bus stop at International Bar is very close to the hotel. There are great restaurants and shopping areas and we LOVED walking all over the town, along the stairways - basically through residents’ front yards. It’s a 20-30 minute walk to the main beach. The Hotel offers a shuttle in summer months & it wasn't available for our needs on our visit - though they were kind enough to give us rides a couple of times. The hotel isn’t large, maybe 10 rooms, so the staff is small. The staff is professional & work hard to be very helpful. We loved the continental breakfast delivered timely to our room each morning by two friendly, perky ladies. The staff was always very helpful and welcoming upon our return to the room, and moving in/out.
We speak very little Italian & only Danielle speaks much English, so it was sometimes not easy to communicate – though the Staff always tried to help. We didn’t receive our luggage for 4 days (boo on American Airlines and British Airways) & one evening very late, we needed to find details about delivery. Staff on hand (Augustino and the elderly lady) had difficulty answering our questions. They tried to first help without calling Danielle, who is there from early ‘til late, but once it became clear that we were at an impasse, the lady had Augustino call her at home – at which point she was very helpful, with a good attitude– though I know it was a pain to her after already putting in a long day. Danielle is a wonderful hostess & always gave good advice and helped us. She helped secure a car for a drive to Pompeii and return pick-up. It was the hotel’s van, driven by Bragnov?, whom we somehow thought was named Mike. He spoke little or no English, but was good and helpful on the Pompeii trip. It was for a fee, of course, but was comparable to other drive services on town, with the added benefit that they knew where they left us, in case we didn’t make it back. Danielle was also helpful and flexible in offering the option of a drive to Meta, where we could catch the train to Pompeii, at ½ the fee. We took that option on the way back and it was great. We should have done it on the way to Pompeii, because it cut out all of the waiting in traffic in Pompeii – which can get bad.
I’ve seen some reviews being critical of the “rude old lady”. She’s not rude, just doesn’t speak English. She tried very hard to be helpful with our luggage situation & called Danielle for us when it became clear that we were having difficulty communicating and needed answers. She was nice and interested in making sure we had what we needed. Augustino was new & learning, but also very helpful and very friendly. He spoke little English, though we ended up communicating, eventually. I’d recommend using an iPhone app translator, which we finally used, making things easier. That said, we’re in their country & intend to improve what little Italian we know, for the next time. It’s obviously important to respect the people & use their language whenever possible, and we realize it is on us.
