VOI Marsa Siclà Essentia

Mixed reviews about this hotel. Your experience will depend on what your standards and expectations are of a 4* hotel. First the good. Beautiful grounds and well maintained, staff on the whole are friendly. The beach is great and there are always sun beds available on the beach or by the pool at all times of day so you never need to reserve. There’s also plenty of parking for hire cars. The rooms are big and have lovely outside spaces. Now the not so good. If you don’t speak Italian then you will struggle with a lot of things. Day-to-day communication isn’t so good, plus all evening entertainment is in Italian with no translation to English. The restaurants are all in the same place so every morning you have to walk 10 minutes uphill to breakfast in the baking sun to arrive at the restaurant with no AC. The buggies to transport you around site are nowhere to be seen and if they are then they’re very selective who they pick up (the beach shuttle works well though). The food is generally poor, not much choice and anything that is supposed to be hot is cold. Meal times are very regimented, I found it odd having to sit at the same table every day for every meal. Don’t bother eating the food from the beach bar. There’s no option for room service/food outside of the set hours. This was really difficult for me and my partner as we were both very unwell whilst staying at the hotel and sometimes all we wanted was a croissant in our room for breakfast or a takeaway pizza but that wasn’t an option. The cost of food if you are half board is unjustifiable (lunch at the buffet for 2 people is €60!). The hotel claims to be eco, but some things just don’t work for guest experience for example the powder toiletries in the room and no options to refill plastic bottles with water. On check out day we felt rushed to be out of the room. We agreed with reception 24 hours before to check out at 12pm, however we had cleaning staff knocking on the door at 9:40am and waiting outside the room so we felt pressured to get out. It’s a shame as our experience with the reception staff when we arrived was great, very accommodating and helpful which made us feel very welcome. But all of what I have outlined above outweighed any good and for us we won’t be revisiting.

Amazing place, very clean, delicious food, nice open-air gym, great swimming pools and relaxing landscape. The Thalasso Space is a wonderful place to enjoy. Very comfortable bed. The room is very spacious and clean. Special thanks to Giusi. Private beach access and shuttle service is great. The beach is spectacular. The cuisine was phenomenal and staff was superb. Also the hotel includes a play area for children. Excellent service. We will recommend to friends and family! Keep up the good work.

It was first time staying it Sicily and this hotel was ideal! Very clean, friendly staff and just an overall beautiful site. Would absolutely stay here again. The only downside is the how far away the villas are from the restaurant so it’s a bit of walk from the main facilities. There are shuttle cars which is fantastic but we found they weren’t as frequent.

This is not the typical hotel with common areas and rooms. It consists of separate units scattered all over the premises. If you are not ready to walk at least 10 minutes to the breakfast area and to reception in the sun and heat every morning then avoid this place. They say you can get a lift on the hotel shuttle service but it’s either packed or no where to be seen. If you don’t have a car avoid this place as there is nothing in the area. You will be stuck with the terrible food options which they offer. There is only 1 restaurant with a limited school like buffet at 30euro per person. The man responsible for assigning the seats at the restaurant is arrogant and needs to be trained in customer service. He has 0 sense of flexibility and basically treats customers as school kids. They say the have a pizzeria and a grill restaurant but it is just some tables under a thin tent. At lunch time it gets extremely hot under the tent but although inside in the AC is empty they refuse to accommodate the grill restaurant customers inside which is basically the same kitchen only a few steps away. Breakfast is until 10am sharp and at 10.01 everything is cleared and you are made to feel very unwelcome if you want to stay longer until you finish your coffee. If you come here get your own soaps and shower gel as they only provide tiny ridiculous one time use pill like soaps! No shampoos offered! Mold in the shower! Their claim is because they love the environment but clearly they hate their customers! On a positive note the landscaping is beautiful and clean. The shuttle drivers are nice and friendly unlike the rude restaurant staff. They have a gem of a property but the poorly trained staff especially in the buffet restaurant are doing no favors to this hotel. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else!

A good stay but not a great one, especially for the money we paid and the stars of the hotel! Room was very small for a couple with two kids and with the small bed we really could not move around. The place is described as family oriented but beach opens at 9 and closes at 19. More time should be allowed to family with very small kids to enjoy early morning sun. The beach was also crowded with umbrellas and chairs to leave very small space to people. The 3 life savers were more busy with that and renting stuff or chatting than looking at the sea and people. Restaurant food quality was excellent with very kind and polite service and staff but again tables and chairs too close to each other to leave only little space to move around. There were not many trash cans around the facility and especially around the pool so people often left the chairs and tables dirty. The staff at the reception was however very kind and polite.