Palace Hotel San Pietro

Super

Whilst this is undoubtedly a beautiful hotel, very cosy, excellent amenities and friendly staff DO NOT STAY in the executive suite. We booked this room as we thought it would be an upgrade to a standard room. Definitely not executive and not 4 star. It was dark, small and stark with no natural light as in a corner of the ground floor, the air conditioning wasn’t working so we had to have a window open which was directly onto the pool area and a row of beds with ashtrays so the stale smell came into the room. Woken by pool pump very early and sound of maintenance guy cleaning. The bed was hard and we slept badly. We asked to speak to the manager but he would not/could not make himself available. Very poor customer service. We were meant to stay for 4 nights but checked out after 1 as they couldn’t accommodate a different room. Charged €266 for a room that definitely doesn’t deserve to be classified as an executive suite. A king-size bed a dining table and chairs which you would not sit at as it was so dark and claustrophobic.

This hotel was nice enough looking. But the amenities were not there. All hotels I have been in have had a electric tea kettle with some tea and some coffee that you can make yourself in the morning. There was nothing there was no for my clothes. The cleaning was almost nonexistent. We had them come in after about two days or three that we were there. They did not change the sheets. They did not change the pillowcases. They did not clean. The only thing they cleaned was the bathroom no vacuuming, no dusting left a glass that I had used that was given to the room, I am not used to that that is not proper.

The location of this hotel is good and the pool is nice. Be aware most of the sun beds are in the shade from midday onwards. It was heated to 28 degrees which seemed crazy. The reason for 3* is the low quality of the room. For £200+ a night we have stayed in beautiful hotels in Lisbon and Ljubljana recently for example. This was so basic. It was meant to be a superior room. The walls were completely bare (see pics). There were no tea/coffee making facilities. The TV was tiny and had just one English Channel (Sky news). The walls were so thin I could hear our neighbour snoring every night and the restaurant on the floor above prepping the breakfast from 7am each day. There is a fridge in the room with a bottle of sparkling and still water which gets replaced each day. The fridge makes noises on and off through the night and there’s a flashing LED on the smoke alarm directly above the bed. The hairdryer was tiny and hopeless. The air con worked well and the bathroom was nice. There was free shampoo and conditioner but no body lotion. That’s about all I could say for the room. Often on reviews like this there is a reply asking why this wasn’t brought to staff’s attention at the time. On check in we immediately asked if we could pay to upgrade our room as we weren’t happy with it and were told the hotel was fully booked. The original room we were given smelled of cigarettes so we were given one two doors away which was the same without the smoke. Once they cleared the flies and we checked in later it was ok. Breakfast and service / bar staff were lovely. My husband drank their bottle of Disaronno dry and we were surprised they didn’t have another still a day later - weird thing to run out of in Italy. Reception staff weren’t helpful. We asked about bus services - they just said to go and have a look at the tourist info place without really indicating where it was. I asked if there was a strike the next day as I’d seen something about a public transport strike. They looked a bit blank and clearly googled it and then said oh yes, it’s on strike tomorrow. They confirmed it would also affect the boats but they turned out to be running fine the next day! Pre arrival we arranged return transfers to Verona airport through the hotel at 70 EUR each way and they were excellent. Overall the hotel didn’t feel worth the money.