There are many better appointed and modern luxury hotels in Palermo, but none are as centrally and conveniently located to everything than this place. We were initially disappointed and let down by both our room and the service, e.g. the front desk did not offer to help us with our luggage (though we had only carry-ons). But to not have a porter/bellboy, etc. in a 4 star hotel is unusual. If you go, know that this is not a 5 star place, it's a 4 star hotel, which shows its age, has a tired sort of feel to it, and though the customer service is decent, it's not something you'll rave about. The breakfast is lavish, though oddly lacking in that because it's Sicily with its sweet tooth, it's very heavy on the pastries and baked goods. The reason why I'm giving it a 5 star review is for how they handled our being disgruntled and our complaints: on our first night, we were woken up at 5:am by deafening construction noise. My husband went down to complain, and say that there'd be no way we could stay all 5 nights if we were going to be woken up each morning. They moved us free of charge to their penthouse suite with a private balcony/terrace with a view. Unbelievably kind and gracious--this made up for a multitude of other drawbacks. If they had responded differently to our issue, e.g. refunded our money and left us to go to another hotel, or charged us for the upgrade, I would not be giving it a 5 star. This was an actual palace converted to a hotel, it's opulent and grand, but as I said, if you adjust your expectations to want to live in a place of historic interest and get a kick out of how royalty used to live in such majestic surroundings, corridors red carpeted that stretch out forever, massive crystal chandeliers, huge swinging wood doors, grand ballrooms that are now breakfast sites. If you can rejoice in that you are walking distance to pretty much everything--and if you let go of expecting to be cosseted and fussed after, you'll be good here. Btw, the prices are, despite the euro to dollar conversion rates, eminently reasonable, especially if you go in the off season, e.g. not at the peak of summer. read more