This hotel was our last hotel out of four in Italy over a two week period. We'll get right to the point - issue first:
1) Directions to and accessibility of the hotel: This is the only time we were lost during our whole trip and it was a costly situation as no matter from where you approach the hotel (bus or train), it is uphill while lugging bags through windy, narrow, and busy streets. Even when we tried a cab on our first night, we had to lead the driver by the hand. Also, St. Peter's and the Vatican are a nice walk getting there but is a very long walk returning after touring, climbing the dome, visiting the tombs, and the local sights in the vicinity. At the end, you still have to climb back up to the hotel. Also, not many places to eat dinner nearby that any local would recommend.
2) Variable service by the staff : We had contact with 3 different staff members. Our first contact was after we arrived exhausted from getting lost and dragging our bags up there. The desk was abandoned. We each went a different way and no one. So, as last resort, I called the front desk and there she arrived. I stopped her from answering the phone to save myself the phone charge and she was not too happy. I explained that we had spent 10 minutes looking and had no idea when someone would return to the desk and that we had gotten lost and were very tired. This particular employee also did not help us to find the laundramat (back down the hill - like we really wanted to do that again that same night). Luckily, we finally found a local to help us find it.
The other female staff member we came across was very professional. We got the feeling that she was very knowledgable.
One night there was a man was at the desk who understood little English and was not informed as to hotel policies. Tried to get internet access from him (the wifi they talk about is 10 Euro for 3 hours-highway robbery compared to local internet shops). He had no idea how to give us access and did not understand that we needed a password and id. It was very frustrating even if he seemed like a nice man.
3) Carpet Issues in Room 105: See our pics - it was like something was spilled and something ground into the carpet near the window/bathroom. We wore shoes or socks to protect us from issues. Hint: Every 2 star we have stayed in in Italy has marble or tile floors throughout - no carpet. If you see carpet - may be it's better to try someplace else. We did not dicuss the carpet with management as we figured that any manager should already know that the carpet should have been cleaned or replaced.
4) We were not informed that the separate remote was for free TV. The brochure in the room displayed pay movies and porn. So we watched regular tv with snow and only CNN.
The okay part -
1) The bed was not bad to sleep in especially after climbing hills - could have slept on a rock slab after that.
2) Breakfast was fine as we learned to hit the supermarkets for 100% juice and great meet and cheese to supplement breakfast. (FYI: Mortadella - one of their breakfast meats - is a contains pork tripe. Never keen on eating it let alone when it is sitting out on a table unchilled.)
3) The taxi to the airport they order arrived within 5 minutes of scheduled pickup.
4) The other good part is that by the time we got there, we had already learned a bit of italian and were able to take care of our own needs and did not rely on their staff after dealing with the two poor staff members. We came and went using our own initiative.
Of all our stays, this is the hotel that we would not return to mainly due to the location up in the MONTE and lack of surrounding support (Dinner, computer, etc.)
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