Grand Hotel Parkers

It makes me very sad to write this review. The Grand Hotel Parker's is a beautifully appointed hotel with super friendly and professional staff. The 6th floor balcony has amazing views out across the city and the Bay of Naples, and offers a geninely 5 star breakfast service. Our 5 night stay should have been a delight. But it wasn't. We arrived to find that every floor but the 1st and 2nd was undergoing - major; noisy! - renovations. Our 2nd floor room was filled with the sounds of drilling and hammering and you could feel vibrations in the floor. The staff kindly offered to move us to a quieter room on the first floor, which had already been renovated and was considerably more stylish and well equipped than where we were previously. Unfortunately, the room came with two french beds instead of a double and a child's single, so sleeping rrangements for a family of three (11 year old son) were a bit cramped and inconvenient, but at least it was quiet. Or so we thought! We swiftly discovered that despite the renovation of the room, the newly installed aircon system did not work, and the room was kept at an immovable 26 degrees C at all times. (I asked among the other guests at breakfast the next day and discovered this was a problem common to all the rooms, not just ours). I imagine that for citizens of Naples, 26 C is probably considered a nice standard temperature, but for us it was very uncomfortable and made sleep almost impossible. The only solution was to leave the blacony window wide open all night, but the hotel is on a major urban thoroughfare and the noise of traffic was intense until very late and from very early the next morning. Our choices were broken sleep via either heat or noise, but broken sleep nonetheless! We contacted our booking agent, but we had paid in advance and there was no way to get a refund and move somewhere else, and to be honest even if we had been able to do this, it would have put a severe crimp in our short stay. The staff, as I have said, were very solicitous and did what they could, but in the end this did not amount to very much - the offer of a free drink in the 6th floor restaurant and a lot of apologies, which though heartfelt, did not make up for the mess. We slept badly and were never at any point offered a refund or discount. We paid well over £1500 for our 5 night stay and, frankly, we felt badly short-changed. In my opinion, the hotel should not be booking rooms without making it clear that the building is under major renovation, and has no aircon. I would happily return to the Grand Parker's once it has been refurbished and is actually delivering the service it claims to offer. But for now - avoid!

My husband and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary in Italy. We began in Venice, continued to Naples and ended in Rome. We decided to spend the extra money and stay at the Grand Hotel Parker's in Naples due to it being the only recommended hotel by AAA and because of travel guides mentioning that where you stay in Naples can make or break your trip. While we didn't let this disappointing stay break our trip, it did have us upset that we spent so much money to stay here. Especially since we spent half the price on the hotels we chose in Venice and Rome and had very enjoyable experiences at both. I'll begin with the good as it's a shorter tale. The hotel façade is beautiful as well as the lobby and the view is spectacular from the 6th floor terrace restaurant. The rest was extremely disappointing, especially for the cost of this "luxury" hotel. I expected the hotel to be old and historic. However, I didn't expect it to be dirty and dingy with questionable practices. The hotel staff and website are extremely misleading. Prior to our trip, we set up a private transfer with them from the train station to the hotel and back. It cost us 70euro each way and we were told that THEIR PERSONAL "luxury" Mercedes E Class car was to pick us up. Instead, a dented, dirty regular taxi van was waiting for us. I booked our stay trough Expedia and my booking showed that I would receive my Expedia VIP welcome gift when we checked in. The woman checking us in asked if we were celebrating anything and we told her we were celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary. She congratulated us and said that she was giving us a complimentary bottle of wine since we were celebrating our anniversary. I had forgotten about the welcome gift from Expedia and later when we were leaving to go out, I stopped to ask about it. She gave me a 'deer in the headlights' look and then finally said that the bottle of wine was my Expedia VIP welcome gift. While checking in, she also took our passports for "a few minutes" and said they would be returned shortly. This is standard so we didn't have an issue. However, a few hours went by and our passports still hadn't been returned to us. When we called the front desk, they told us our passports were already returned and hung up. We then had to go down to the front desk and argue with them for several minutes because they insisted that we had received them. Finally they found our passports and returned them to us. No apologies, no explanation. The room was the biggest disappointment. It looked and felt dirty and unkempt. Black scuff marks and chipped paint covered the walls, the carpet felt disgusting under my feet. The bed was as hard as a rock and the pillows were very outdated and lumpy. We woke up so stiff and sore each morning that it made it feel like we didn't get any rest. Even though it was the beginning of October, it was around 80+ degrees and sunny so it was hot. There was practically no air conditioning, even when it was on the coldest and highest setting. Another couple that was staying across the hall from us also mentioned how hot their room was and how they contacted the front desk about it but were given no solution. I can't imagine how hot the room would be in the summer. The shower/bathroom was even worse. The tile was broken, the grout was clearly moldy, and the fixtures were broken. Our faucet in the shower was held together with duct tape. The shower head was mounted on the wall past the glass half wall in the open section of the tub. Not smart. We had to wedge ourselves in the corner on the sloped back portion of the tub in order to attempt to keep the water in the shower, which didn't work. I almost fell through the glass wall trying to turn around. Water would go all over the floor making it a sloppy, slippery mess. The outlets were covered by a thick black cover with a gold plate. The gold plate would fall off anytime you touched it and the button to open the cover to access the outlets was broken, which made it very difficult to use the outlets in the bathroom and turn the lights on/off. The terrace restaurant was nice with a great view and good food but we had to request menus and drinks several times from certain staff members as they would just go about waiting on others and not return with the requested item after 20-30 minutes of waiting. Antonio was the exception. He was always helpful and welcomed us back each time we saw him. The transfer back to the train station again cost 70euro and a "luxury" Mercedes E class car was to pick us up. Again, a regular, dented, dirty taxi van was waiting for us. We questioned this with the hotel because we paid extra to have their personal "luxury" car and they said that they were providing us with an "upgraded vehicle so that our luggage would fit". To be clear, all of our luggage fit in the trunk of my Mazda3, so a van was not necessary. It wasn't even a Mercedes or luxury van and again, it wasn't their own car. It was a regular taxi van, one that we could have hailed ourselves and would have cost MUCH less. The worst part of our transfer back to the train station was the driver. Before getting in the van, we confirmed with the bellhop, front desk staff and driver that the driver would be taking us to Napoli Centrale. However, my husband had to ask over and over while we were in the van that he was taking us to the train station as he was driving us in the wrong direction. Finally after 20 minutes of him driving in the wrong direction and my husband insisting that he pull over, he entered the train station into his phone to get directions and turned around. This is extremely unacceptable. A driver should know how to get to major locations like the train station! He also took the longest route with the most delays instead of taking the more direct route that all of the other taxi drivers used to get to the city center. He also refused to take us to the train station because of the traffic. Instead, he stopped down the street, in the middle of the road and we had to drag our luggage through HEAVY CHAOTIC traffic by ourselves. Because of all of this, we almost missed our train. The train started to move less than 1 minute after we boarded. Save yourself money and use a regular taxi. The "luxury" car that you're paying for through the hotel is just a regular taxi with an inflated price. All in all, staying at this hotel was a disappointment and I wish we had saved money by staying elsewhere.

Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful I’ve stayed in 5 Star hotels in Asia and Europe as well as 3-4 star hotels during my travels. This Hotel makes you feel good, everything about it makes you appreciate your vacation. It is a beautiful hotel with a wonderful staff. Sensational view of the Bay of Naples. It is not an ultramodern Hotel, it is beautiful and graceful. Thick walls so you do hear your neighbors in the next room. Beautiful high ceilings with detail. A lovely 20 min walk along the waterfront park will get you to the Castle Del’Ovo and Via Toledo. A beautiful and charming front desk staff. The restaurant is a Michelin star with indoor and outdoor seating overlooks the Bay. Sensational. Antonio is in charge of the Bar and dresses in a white dinner jacket ALA James Bond, great drinks and reasonably priced. I cannot say enough good things. The staff was fun to be with and very attentive. There was some minimal work being done to some rooms. They started at 8am but honestly i would not known they were there if I did not see them going into the elevator from my floor. As for Naples it is a wonderful vibrant city, with lots of energy with very warm people. If you are a sophisticated traveler you will love Naples. I never felt in danger. I think people have the wrong impression. High end shopping if you want it and lots of shopping for the average person too. This trip we stayed in Rome and on the Amalfi Coast in addition to Naples. We loved Naples so much that we will be returning again next year and will gladly stay at the Parkers. You have to ask yourself what is it you want in a Hotel. Here they appreciate your business, it is beautiful, the staff is wonderful, Great restaurant with a view of the Bay, wonderful drinks, it is convenient (a taxi stand outside if you want one). It has everything that you are probably looking for. Hopefully you will feel what I did, a special place. Thanks for reading.