Hotel Sofia in Catania

My wife and I booked two nights at the Hotel Sofia, Catania, for us and our 8 month old daughter.

After arriving last night at 2130hrs due to the late arrival of our flight, we eventually found the hotel despite there being virtually zero signage. We found our way through a large open gate, a dimly lit lift area and our way to the second floor. Shockingly, despite the initial impression of the hotel, we didn’t find a murdered corpse before we found the door to the hotel itself.

There was no-one at the hotel to let us in despite ringing the bell several times. Another customer arrived after 30 minutes and allowed us access to the “reception” area.

I called the hotel number from the unmanned reception desk and spoke to a gentleman who explained how to retrieve our keys from a safe in the main street. We then found our room. It was a very large room but looked like a dirty uncared for tip. The curtain was hanging down from the rail, broken at one end, the temperature was sauna like, there were exposed electrics in the shower enclosure and we had ants and flying insects to keep us company for the night. Had it not been so late and our daughter being exhausted we would have left straight away.

Overnight, the air-conditioning unit loudly groaned countless times to let us know that its end of life struggles were as painful as the matchsticks keeping my eyes open whilst on guard duty after someone tried to get into our room on two seperate occasions. Luckily for me, the air-conditioning unit was so poor that having a body temperature of around 300 degrees overnight assisted in being able to easily remain awake whilst on guard. Unfortunately, my wife and daughter didn’t find it so useful. My daughter is now petrified of rodents due to the bed being about to fall apart and sounding squeakier than a container ship full of rats.

The following morning, we fought our way through the plumes of smoke in the corridor to the reception desk, thinking that surely the hotel was on fire or amount Etna had erupted, about to engulf Catania and turn it into the modern day equivalent of Pompei. What we actually found was that in this non-smoking hotel, everyone, including the staff were happily chugging away on their fags.

We booked a different hotel after being unable to communicate with the receptionist on duty, because unfortunately my Italian is as poor as his English. We left, a day early and not soon enough.

If you’re thinking of booking a room for your ex-mother-in-law, with no vehicular access or parking whatsoever, with the distinct possibility that she will never return from the depths of this hellhole hotel, book Hotel Sofia immediately! If you’re asking me if I would return here, the answer is simply, not a snowballs chance in hell.

I’ve never been more frustrated on a trip , I was upset the entire day.
It wasn’t for the money it was the principle that they just take your money without explanation !
Arrived and they put me in another hotel across the stairwell with no city view but a view of garbage cans in an alley
I asked to cancel my second night and they refused saying it wasn’t possible.
At my time of booking I paid and extra 10 euros for a booking with cancelation if necessary. We guess what they wouldn’t cancel my second night.
Complete highway robbery.

The area is nice and there’s enough to do in one day but I don’t recommend to stay here.
The rooms are dated and the service , there is no service.
They go home at 8 pm and come back at 8 am. It’s a complete joke. It’s not a HOTEL.
It’s a HOSTILE

First of all, we were not accommodated in Hotel Sofia, but in a different property next to it - this alone was suspicious from the start.
Secondly, the room was in an unacceptable condition despite being presented as "ready." The bathroom was infested with mold, the curtains were stained with an unknown red substance, the walls were in shocking disrepair, and cockroaches were freely crawling around.
Be aware that even a small bottle of water from the minibar costs €2.
The TV does not connect to Wi-Fi at all.
Both the walls and the fridge were smeared with red nail polish, apparently left by some previous guest.
The towels and bed linen reeked of an awful smell, making the stay extremely unpleasant.