Review

The Luxury Master Penthouse Suite and the poolside Garden Suite make Palermo 1551 sound like an internationally renowned boutique hotel. Think again.

This is a slightly underground playboy pad, formerly a family residence, with two souped-up rooms and five others not worth booking. Aside from the Costa Petit hotel and Home, you will not find two finer love dens in Palermo Viejo.

The hotel’s layout comprises a two-storey building overlooking the pool and the toolshed-cum-Garden Suite. Service-wise, the attitude is quite laissez-faire, but at least cleaning staff keep things tidy.

Obnoxious and fun, the Luxury Master, reached via a rustic depot lift, includes a jacuzzi, an out-of-place urinal, its own sun deck and a king-size bed which overlooks the pool garden. The Garden Suite is less pimp palace, more Casanova den, with wavy white curtains hanging from all corners of the bed, but with more of a bath than a jacuzzi.

The garden needs some work, and the huge sitting room is a mishmash of styles, but this is the authentic how’s-your-father pad: slightly messy, with an element of boisterous finesse.