We stayed here Sept 7 &8 with our Insight bus tour. Our guide warned us that it might not be what we were used to and nothing on the scale of the hotel at we had just stayed in Rome, because Alberobello is such a small, country town and the accomodations are slim for large groups. Therefore, we were prepared for a dive, but were pleasantly surprised and found nothing wrong with the hotel or our room.and it was much better than our expectations. One man on our tour said "Now, THIS is my kind of hotel."

Family owned and spotlessly clean throughout the hotel. Comfortable seating in the bar area with a TV and couple of tables. The location for walking into town and restaurants cannot be beat. Post Office and ATM right down the street. Also, if you are taking the train, it's perfect becuz the train station is right behind the hotel. However, we never heard a train (never woke us up.)

Our room was not cramped by any means and the bathroom was fine. Furnishings were not as in a 5 star hotel, but were not ancient, not broken, not beat up. All in room was dust-free and clean and we had room for 2 large suitcases without having them in our way, with room to walk around. Mattress was fine -- no problems. Air conditioning worked.

Staff: One day a lady was cleaning the marble stairs by hand, on her hands and knees. The family takes pride in its hotel. I called front desk for a roll of TP and it was delivered within 5 minutes. One afternoon, after being out, I asked the front desk if they served coffee. (There was an espresso maker in the bar.) He stopped what he was doing and asked if I wanted espresso, cappucino, latte or Americano. Couldn't have been any more accomodating.

Breakfast was included in our tour and was the average "American" breakfast buffet choices.

Should we ever be in the area again, we would definitely stay at this hotel.

We found the Astoria on Ryanair's website but booked it through another website because it worked out cheaper.

It isn't what you'd call a "destination" hotel but it's clean, the food is good and it is near the town.

We stayed in Alberobello for six nights but you could easily see all there is to see in two or three and the Astoria was our base for the stay.

We had one evening meal there which was very good indeed - pasta starter, fish dish and dessert - total cost for two adults and young daughter around £40 - and that included a bottle of wine.

The hotel seems to be used as an overnight stop by coach tourists coming to see the town's famous trullis and because of this the Astoria can seem a little impersonal at times.

The bar/lounge area is a bit quiet and isn't really the type of place to spend an evening in. This isn't because it is unpleasant - it just lacks atmosphere because it always seemed to be empty and rarely staffed.

This didn't matter too much though as the town is close at hand with a variety of bars and restaurants - also the town's railway station with trains to Bari (worth a visit despite what some guide books say) and Otranto is close at hand and the service is fairly regular.

The only problem we enountered at the Astoria was the inability of the breakfast coffee machine to keep the coffee warm!

As a base for a couple of days touring this hotel is just fine and reasonably priced. The Casa Nova restaurant in the trulli quarter is also worth a visit.