Villaggio Hotel Lido San Giuseppe in Briatico

We went there for dinner while on anchor with our sailing boat. There is nothing more to say than that we had Primi, a bottle of wine and it was the worst food we had in Italy so far. You cannot even call it Italian food. And the prices were more in the upper league of what we paid before. Never again and we felt sorry for the hotel guests that had to eat there. For us it was just one bad dinner… The boss tried by offering a free desert which was crap as well. I am writing mostly positive comments but I consider this to be a necessary warning especially as we all got sick over night on top of the bad taste.

Location: sandy beach. Closest train station is Briatico (2,2km), but only accesible via hotel taxi (no shuttle!), price is inadequatly high-20€ one way! Walking is not a safe option (busy regional road). Although Tropea and Pizzo are 13-15km away, best option is to rent a car. Othervise you are "trapped" at the hotel. Very poor choice for breakfast.

1 start only due to location. Awful food (hard achievement in Italy), owner, rules (like in kindergarden). Do not go there. Do not.

I wouldn’t recommend you come to this hotel if you want a quality experience or a relaxing environment.
(1) the rooms - at best ok. Minor annoyances: the I stayed in had a strange scent to it and the AC dripped directly outside the door so you were sure to get wet while locking/unlocking the door; the door of our room was metal and had no shutters or coverage, so in the evening while the sun beat on the door, it would radiate heat into the room and burn you if you touched it.
(2) the beds - uncomfortable, thin, slanting or leaning. Our mattress additionally had some kind of plastic protector or cover on it that was too large for the mattress so would bunch up and become actually painful at points.
(3) the environment - chaotic and noisy at basically all hours. Constant entertainment programming that was, for anyone trying to relax, a nuisance. Children also running and screaming everywhere at all hours.
(4) WiFi - basically never functioned.
(5) the breakfast - bad. Terrible coffee from crappy machines. If you want any kind of palatable coffee, you have to buy it at the bar instead. The breakfast selection itself was low quality and it was a total madhouse in the tiny breakfast room by 8:30/8:45
(6) lunch/dinner - not notably bad or good. Mediocre. Meager portions for a moderately active adult man. Was frequently hungry.
(7) access - you’re kind of isolated if you select this hotel, it’s down a ridiculous hill and there’s nothing nearby, which I guess is why some people come here. But if you want to get out and into either the local town Briatico or to Tropea (which is very nice!), it’s a trek.

The staff are largely wonderful and do what they can, but the issue is poor direction from management and clearly no desire to improve the guest experience.

Upon the arrival we felt unwelcomed there and the start of our holiday was a disaster. We had a very early flight, came to the hotel early and had to wait in the heat for the room to be ready at 5 pm. I'm sure the management could have been more flexible and had our room cleaned first because others did not arrive until around 4 p.m. Going to the reception asking that maybe our room is ready was an unpleasant experience. The receptionists knew that my daughter has a type 1 diabetes, but it was completely disregarded. The dinner was another disappointment. So much for delicious Italian cuisine. Me and my daughter are petite and never eat much, but their portions were REALLY small and not nice, overcooked pasta, skimpy sauce, no salt, no flavour whatsoever. Breakfast - the worst I ever had in a hotel in my life. HORRIBLE bread, stale, unbitable, one can really break their teeth, so be careful. Sweet pastries also some tasteless pieces of flour. You have to be very quick to grab some sausages or scrambled eggs, as they are brought in small portions and gone immediately. Don't forget a swimming cap for a swimming pool. Right, Never heard of that before, unless in some medical institution. No cap - no entrance to the pool. Not a single fresh tomato or cucumber served during the whole week. I felt like being in some Nordic country with a shortage of fresh ripen delicious local vegetables. The cherry on the cake was water coming from our bathroom floor. We literally grabbed our suitcases and all the other stuff and put them on our bed. The smell was not welcoming either. Ok, that can happen anywhere, but apologise nicely, offer some trifle as a compensation. Forget it. Didn't even bother to come up and inform that the room is ready, if it can be called ready, the smell was still there, the floor was wet. But it was our last night, so we just finished packing and slept a few hours trying not to think about the smell. One more thing, don't put too much food on your plate during breakfast or you may receive a comment from the co-owner that you put too much food on your plate. The best thing about the hotel - the holiday is over, we are back home and happy. I'll never ever go there again. P.S. To be fair the staff is really friendly and nice BUT not the owners.