The moral of this story is “Nice hotel but if you have a car, then DO NOT STAY IN THIS HOTEL unless you want a nasty surprise on your credit card!”
In June 2011 my wife and I stayed at this hotel for 6 nights at 150Euro per night and we parked our Hire car in the hotels car park, which is within the “Zona Traffico Limitato” (ZTL). We paid the hotel’s additional 14.00 Euro per day fee to park there. The hotel recorded the car registration number to pass to local police to ensure that you are allowed to enter the ZTL without receiving any penalty fines.
3 months after we returned home I received 5 separate letters from Hertz regarding 5 separate police penalty notices for driving into the ZTL. Hertz charged my credit card with 5 separate “admin fees” of Euro 36.00 each, for providing my address details to the local police. The fees related to each separate day we entered the ZTL to park in the hotel car park!
I contacted the hotel and they admitted they had incorrectly recorded the car registration number. Because the correct registration number was not on the police’s list of vehicles allowed into the ZTL, the police had duly contacted Hertz to obtain my address details to enable them to issue 5 penalty notices to me.
The hotel was apologetic and assured me they would sort this all out and I provided copies of various documents for the hotel to pass to the police. The police have taken no further action.
But I am still out of pocket in the sum of £161.20 (Euro 180.00) due to hotel’s error. The T & C’s for Hertz are quite clear about an admin charge if they have to provide information to the police and I understand that. However this all came about because of the Hotel’s error.
I have asked a number of times for them to sort this out and always get a polite reply, but no money. My patience has been exhausted after 18 months, therefore this poor review.
So the moral of this story is “Nice hotel but if you have a car, then DO NOT STAY IN THIS HOTEL unless you want a nasty surprise on your credit card!”

After deciding last minute to stay a night in Lucca, we found Hotel Palazzo Alexander in Frommer's and thought we'd give it a try. The family run hotel was warm and welcoming. The father and son team were extremely helpful and made our single night stay memorable. The antique furnished rooms were lovely and comfortable. We loved Lucca and wished we had stayed longer in the city and at Hotel Palazzo Alexander. What a unique find!

This family-owned small hotel is perfect for a trip to Lucca. We only stayed for one overnight, but appreciated the nicely appointed (and large room), in a hotel out of the bustle of the main streets of town, but close enough to walk. A good breakfast the following morning finished off a lovely stay. They also recommended an excellent trattoria nearby for dinner, which we appreciated, and gave us a 10% off coupon.

We stayed here for three nights. On checking in, we mentioned to the manager that we had stayed for three nights about 10 years before only weeks after the hotel opened. He upgraded us to a suite on the top floor with a terrace and a beautiful view over the roofs of Lucca. He and the other workers, one of whom was his son, were wonderfully helpful. They suggested restaurants and activities that were perfect to us. We went back, in fact, to one very small restaurant they recommended several times. The breakfasts were very good and the location was perfect. The hotel is very close to the center but the two- or three-minute walk from the central area lends it a nice quietness.