Grand Hotel Timeo, A Belmond Hotel, Taormina

Good view, good location, good service! We meet their staff Noemi at front desk, she is very nice and helpful! Very good experience! Will definitely come back again!

This is our fifth stay at a Belmond hotel and the previous three stays have been phenomenal. This is why we chose the Hotel Timeo over the Four Seasons in Taormina. However, if this was our first Belmond experience we would never be back. Before our arrival, we were e-mailing the concierge to figure out parking cost. In our e-mail exchanges, the concierge never mentioned the issues with finding the parking entrance to the hotel. We put the hotel in Google maps and it led us to the city center and we couldn’t get to the hotel. We ended up driving blindly around the narrow streets until we by chance found the back entrance where you can pull in with a car. Given the difficultly of finding the parking lot, one would think the concierge would include instructions when we were e-mailing back and forth about parking. Upon arrival, we were told to sit in the bar area and someone would come check us in. We just sat and waited for 15 minutes with no one coming and not even an offering of champagne or some other welcome drink. Not the type of service or welcome we’ve ever seen at a Belmond. The front desk as a whole seems to be lacking compared to other properties. We booked transfers to the other Belmond property on the first day and they were just not in the system when we went to confirm. We also have a very early flight out tomorrow morning so asked the desk about our luggage and car for the very early departure. Their response was to just call down when we are ready and someone will come. No proactive effort to handle our check out but rather a sense we can just figure it out at 3AM. Our biggest issue is the room. While recognizing we booked an entry level room, one would still hope a €1,300 per night room would be nicer than your standard Marriott. The room is extremely small even for us coming from NYC with the bed right next to the front door so you are woken each morning by people in the hall. The bathroom is very tiny along with the shower. I’d take a chain hotel’s shower over here. While I know Belmond will say it’s a historic hotel, all Belmond are in historic structures but they don’t make their rooms cramped. In addition, the room is extremely dated and in need of a refresh. There are no charging ports by the bed and the whole aesthetic shows it has not been updated in probably 20 years. Lastly, as other reviews have mentioned, the hotel seems either understaffed or just lacking in a sense of guidance. Staff seem to just to the absolute minimum with no one coming to refill drinks at breakfast and in the evenings needing to ask for the complimentary canapés to be brought over.

Good property with very poor front desk service. The room booked was not given because "they were full" and the attitude was very poor

Must dine at the restaurant. Great views, food and staff. Daniele was taking care of us and provided truly exceptional service. He was wonderful and very accommodating. Highly recommend ordering the artichokes and tortellini with prawns. Cheers!

Dined at the restaurant and Daniele was an incredible server. He took care of us from A-Z — so knowledgeable, helpful and friendly. Would definitely come back here for the service and delicious food. Thank you for making my honeymoon special, Daniele!

My wife and I have stayed here twice previously. We’ve stayed in other five star hotels in Sicily, but we think this is the best.