I'd give this hotel a 1 star rating if not for two things: the location is excellent and the lobby is beautiful. Even though this was rated 21st (of 66) on trip advisor, we thought it would be ok. We were wrong. We stayed for 2 nights in early January 2012. We chose a Superior room, and got the smallest room we had of all our stays in Italy during our 26 day vacation. The 8' x 10' room was covered in hideous flowers from floor to ceiling. The two chairs, drapes, and bedspread, pillow cases were covered in the exact same pattern, and the two mirrors gave it a scary multidimensional flower-tunnel feel. We had room number 5, which faced the piazza, and had constant noise from the carousel and ice rink right outside. The shutters did nothing for the 10am-10pm noise. The room also had no climate control, save for opening the window and letting in the frigid air (which we did since the radiators ran all the time without the option to turn them down or off). The hot water for the bath is tepid at best, and is cooler than the water which ran through the radiators. There's also no shower, just a handheld showerhead, which only served to get both towels and the floor sopping wet. The breakfast was lackluster (yogurt, cheap ham, cheap cheese, and bread in vending machine packs). This was also our first hotel that didn't provide cappuccinos in the morning, just coffee from a buffet serving kettle. We almost abandoned our second night as this hotel really tainted our view of Lucca. In hindsight, I wish we had. Our recommendation: stay anywhere else.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
16 January 2012
Dear Guest, thank you for reviewing us here. I’m glad you liked our location in the city centre and our 18th century lobby. We really take care of our guest’s opinions and it goes without saying that we are really sorry in reading your comment. The building that hosts the hotel was built around 1700 and became an hotel in 1857. Since then many changes were made. Due to the historical nature of the building the rooms vary in terms of shape and size and kind of furniture. The rooms that you are mentioning has a victorian looking floral print on the walls and ceiling that remember the 18th century soul of the hotel. I’m sorry if you didn’t like it at first sight and I’m sorry you didn’t tell us when you were here because we would have gladly changed room for you and gave you another of our different rooms. The hotel is an historical hotel, we have a lot of modern comforts but we are not a super modern high tech hotel and people like us for the atmosphere of antique grandeur. Our climate control is centralized and we have operating hours for the heating, it doesn’t run all day and all night. Bathroom is a typical italian bathroom, with bathtub but we also have rooms with shower. I’m sorry you didn’t tell us about your preferences about the shower, we would have gladly assigned a room with shower. Sorry for not asking. Breakfast is provided, included in room rate, and is a buffet breakfast served from 7.30 til 10.00 in a beautiful room facing the Ducal Palace and Napoleone’s square. We don’t have vending machine, maybe you are confusing us with an other hotel? If so, please change your comment because we serve different kind of fresh breads in the morning.
The cheeses and cured meats on the buffet, which we take from the farmer in a nearby area, the Garfagnana, are fresh and I'm sorry you didn’t like them. Every morning there’s a Lady who attend to the buffet who is there to prepare Espresso, Cappuccino, Tea, and every other kind of hot and cold drinks. As you know we can’t put cappuccino on the buffet because it must be freshly made up so you only need to ask it to that Lady and she makes it for you. We are very sorry you have such a bad opinion of us and we hope you will decide to come back again to give us a second chance. Marianna Marcucci – Hotel Universo
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