Being a regular user of IC, Hilton and Sheraton hotels—of all grades and types—we’ve been curious for some time to see how a Marriot would compare. In the event, our opportunity came with my wife’s week-long conference in Pisa, where we stayed at an AC version of the Marriot brand.

The best thing about our stay, by some measure, was the room, which was comfortable, clean and nicely designed. The bathroom was equally slick and clean—they compared well with a top-end Holiday Inn or an average Doubletree Hilton.

A mini-bar stocked with complimentary soft drinks, fruit nectars and mineral waters (still and sparkling) was restocked every day.

The only disappointing thing about the accommodation was the towels, which were thin and often warn.

The public spaces of the hotel looked good and were nicely furnished and reasonably comfortable. A nice touch in the lounge / bar area was—from 5pm onwards—free nibbles and light snacks, which went someway to lessen the pain of the over-priced drinks (in fairness though no worse than comparable establishments).

On the negative side however, there were several issues. The Wi-Fi was not free anywhere within the hotel and was exorbitantly expensive. From what I could gather, the situation wasn’t much better for loyalty scheme members. It’s rare to find a hotel anywhere these days which charges for lobby Wi-Fi and it left a mean impression on the part of the hotel.

The complimentary breakfast was just about okay so far as the food went—better than a Holiday Inn Express but humble in comparison to a paid breakfast at a comparable establishment. The coffee however was just plain poor, and might even have been instant. Unfortunately, even if one asked for a specially made espresso or cappuccino the quality was no better, and this applied to the coffee available in the hotel throughout the day. What puzzled me was that there was a state of the art coffee machine behind the bar which was never turned used. All the dreadful coffee emerged from the kitchen and outside of breakfast time was 4.50 Euros plus for a cup…

On our final evening we tried the hotel restaurant. Our starters were acceptable, but my main course which was advertised as half pound beef burger turned up as two cheap and nasty preformed processed patties (which I presume had started life as quarter-pounders)—of the sort one might expect to get outside a football stadium. Quite dreadful. My wife’s spaghetti with “fish” sauce emanated in fact as a spaghetti with a sea food sauce. This wouldn’t have mattered, especially as the sauce was excellent, but the portion was miniscule with barely a handful of sea food elements.

Finally, the Marriot blurb implies that the hotel is in the heart of an exciting and happening part of modern Pisa. Well, NO, in actual fact, unless one gets excited by the idea of the shopping mall next door. In reality, this is just a typical edge-of-town business hotel for people with cars, a good half an hour walk from the centre of old Pisa. There is a bus which runs about every ten minutes, but it stops running at 8.30pm, which means that the only way one can get back to the hotel after a supper in Pisa is on foot, or by taxi.

Overall, I would say that despite the nice room and even allowing for the complimentary breakfast, one gets more for one’s money at an equivalent standard Doubletree or Holiday Inn, where one is also generally made to feel more welcome and more valued by the staff (the staff at the AC Marriot were mostly gruff and / or uninformative).

Summing up, I would only recommend this hotel to businessmen and women on an expense account that will cover the Wi-Fi and poor value restaurant and the taxi fares—assuming they don’t have a car.

We booked through Trivago and got room for about 90 Euros per night. The meal came to about 80 Euros. Unfortunately, the nightly taxi fares nullified the thrill of getting the room so cheap.

We stayed in this hotel for one night while transiting through Pisa to Cinque Terre. Our flight arrived late so we wanted somewhere to stay for a night before catching our train the next morning.

This is an excellent business-like hotel with modern furnishings. The bathroom is large and new and the room itself is well-furnished with hardwood floors. The room was very clean.

The location is not that convenient, but this is reflected by the price. For our purposes of requiring a nice room to stay inn for a night, this worked well for us. We took a cab to the Leaning Tower of Pisa (approx. EUR 10) and a taxi to the airport cost around EUR 12.

The quality of food served in the restaurant was poor - too salty! There was, however, not much else open around the time we arrived (10.30pm on a Friday night).

Overall I would recommend this hotel as it represents good value and a good night's sleep. However, be aware of the locations and you will not be disappointed.

Half Decent hotel. But very minimalist, in terms of included services, less than what you would get at a Holiday Inn Express in the U.S.

Safe deposit box in lobby, not rooms ??, and could not fit my laptop in their safe deposit box. Therefore I had to leave laptop in my room unsecured, So I did not allow maids to clean or enter room for entire stay!

Small room, but not sufficient to fit large suitcase on suitcase holder and still be able to walk through the room. Had to put suitcase on floor, which completely blocked access between bed and bathroom.

Pay a lot for Internet, 9 euro/day for iPad, 18 euro/day laptop.

Breakfast buffet, not included, is not good and not recommended.

no ice on the floor, did not want front desk bringing it to my room, so skipped the ice.

Last night there got home at 11 pm. Smelled cigarette smoke in hallway, told front desk. He would not do anything about it, deferred me to morning manager. Fell asleep, woke up to horrible smoking smell INSIDE my room, that person's odor had totally permeated my room by the time I woke up, and I was nauseous and dry heaved from the smell.

Called in morning, manager said he would investigate.

Location is on strip mall like area, cab costs 17 euro at least, after tip to airport. Not close to tower of Pisa or city center. however I did not like the center of Pisa, it felt run down, and this removed location was actually better.

Stayed in the AC Pisa in August 2012. Easy to get to from the airport via taxi costs 12euros. The taxi's in Pisa are very honest and always use their meters! The good points of this hotel are the breakfast was very nice, the hotel staff were helpful and friendly, free daily minibar of soft drinks, short bus ride into central pisa and beautiful rooms. The bad points were that the shower is designed as a wet room however it did not drain well and left the bathroom floorboards wet. The last bus from Pisa to the hotel is about 8pm midweek so If you are out in Pisa on a night you have to get taxis back. We visited Florence and Luca whilst in Pisa for 4 days and both are well worth a trip. Pisa can be done in one day then it is easy to get a train to other parts of Tuscany.