I Portici Hotel Bologna

Check-in: when booked we asked for our 2 rooms to be adjacent or at least closer to one another. Upon arrival, we were given rooms that couldnt be further away, but at least on the same floor. Breakfast experience: we had booked B&B and in the morning at 9:40am upon arrival at the restaurant, we were told there is no seating availability for breakfast and to return in 10min, however we decided to wait. Shortly after we realized venue is open for external visitors, not only hotel guests. At 9:53 we were given the table. Warm breakfast (scrambled eggs) was already out. At 9:55 my wife was told that buffet is over and only after a small quarrel did she take pastry for her and kids. At 10:05 everything was taken from the buffet I applaud the operations, but guest experience is horrifying.

I would absolutely NOT recommend staying here. The rooms and service are not worthy of a 4-star hotel. Its a total hit-or-miss. My first 2-night stay was ok. I had booked it because I wanted to be close to the train station. I wasnt quite satisfied with the breakfast, which was lackluster and rushed, and it was hard to spot staff to get beverages. Also note you get a lot of noise from the street and nearby bars. A couple of weeks later I made the mistake of booking a room for one night as I needed to be close to the train station again, and even though this second booking was at a lower rate because they did not have any rooms at the higher rate the room I was provided was simply not acceptable for a 4-star establishment. Hard to believe that a 4-star hotel would have rooms right next to the lobby at street level with the only windows facing the lobby and reception desks and even with the door and these windows closed you hear and can see the full activity and drama of the reception area and the lobby. The side corridor these rooms are located on is directly off the lobby, so the corridor acts like a wind tunnel and sucks in all the noise from these constantly active public areas. Its impossible to have a moment of calm and quite while you are in the room. It also did not feel safe to be so close to the hotels main entrance. Someone can easily bypass the lobby and wonder in to this corridor full of subpar guest rooms. Note that there are several homeless people that congregate and sleep on the sidewalks in front of the hotel. When I complained I was shown a room on the first floor which was directly looking over the busy and noisy street and felt more like staff quarters then a guest room so I decided to seek accommodation at a completely different hotel. Despite all this major inconvenience late in the evening and the fact that booking.com took care of the cancellation on my behalf the hotel refused to refund me.