My partner and I stayed here to celebrate our engagement, what a huge mistake!!
We initally booked to stay in a hotel just outside of the city but decided to swap our hotels and selected this one as the location was a little more central and on the website the rooms looked quite pleasant. Imagine our surprise when on check-in we were shown to a door opposite the hotel with an iron grate across it, leading us up to a tiny room with two single camp beds and a shared bathroom! We immediately went back downstairs to speak to management as we'd booked and paid for a double en suite and figured there must have been a mistake. On seeing us the man on reception walked away and hid behind a staff door! After being ignored for some time we decided to go for dinner in the hope that when we returned somebody else would be on shift. Eventually at about 10pm we were spoken to - IN FLUENT ENGLISH!! - by another member of staff who changed his tone as soon as he realised we were complaining and pretended he did not understand, we then put our best efforts into describing the situation in Italian and after some time he understood that we wouldn't be giving up until we were properly acknowledged. We were offered 20Euros as a refund but no choice to upgrade as there were 'no other rooms available'
This was the hotel from hell, pervy italian locals would sit on the landing accross from the shared (ergh) bathroom every morning wearing next to nothing. Bugs, unwashed sheets, a huge broken fan (possibly the air conditioning advertised?!) taking up half the space in the tiny room and squeaky old camp beds. I am fully aware of the difference between 5* luxury and budget accommodation, considering the price we paid (£450 for 3 nights) I was not expecting butler service but a little cleanliness and a room that matches the 'professional' photographs would have been nice.
Venice is a beautiful city, do not ruin your holiday by booking a room here!!!!!
- Basilea Hotel Venice
