Palazzo Victoria

After Frankfurt, Cannes, Florence and Venice, our babymoon journey continued to Verona. I'm a big fan of literature and some of you know that Verona is quite famous for being the location of Casa di Giulietta or Juliette's house, a 12th century style house with a stone balcony (this house is also a museum now) that was said to have inspired Shakespeare. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to visit Verona. I was happy enough to have seen the famous landmark, but I was made even happier to find out that the landmark itself was a short walk from our hotel, Palazzo Victoria. Such a beautiful hotel. We were very happy with our room and very very happy with that the hotel is close to everywhere! We took the train from Venice's San Lucia Station to Verona' Porta Nuova—which was only 5 minutes away from the hotel! Me and my husband could literally just walk wherever! We highly recommend this hotel to anyone going to Verona and will definitely come back in the future to introduce our new son/daughter to the beauty that is Verona. Ciao! x Armand & Celina

We were recommended this hotel by friends. Have to agree with them that it is well located, but that is the only plus. It was very expensive, the rooms were poor, and the service was often laughable. We paid extra for a grand deluxe room, thinking it might be spacious -- it was not. There was no room for easy chairs, we just had 2 dining chairs in a corner squashed against a small table. The wardrobe was tiny, so much so that we had to hang half our clothes on a coat stand in the room. The bathroom seemed quite modern, but was a triumph of form over function. So there was a jacuzzi bath, with a shower over. The bath was waisted, and the shower was within a plastic contraption at one end of the bath, with a door, which you were supposed to close, to make a circular shower cubicle. It was the most uncomfortable and impractical arrangement I have ever come across. A simple walk in shower and forget the rest would have been so much better. Except for the lady who checked us in, all of the staff were somewhat reluctant to help, and breakfast was very difficult. One morning, despite repeated requests, we had to wait over 15 minutes for a coffee. They also insisted on playing music, loudly, in breakfast, both inside and out. I was woken up in our first floor room at 7.45am one morning. I could go on and on about the failings, such as no tissues in the room, poor replacement of products, missing turn down services, etc., but there is little point. Suffice it to say this was the most expensive hotel in an extended trip, (it cost us over £1100 for 3 nights) and provided a small room, poor service and a poor experience. When we checked in we were told there was no room for us in the hotel garage. That turned out to be a good thing. We paid 36 euros for 3 nights in a local car park, as opposed to the 120 euros the garage would have cost us. The comparison of the staff attitude in Verona with staff at later hotels, and their inability to smile and be helpful, was most marked.

The hotel is fine and very Central which is why I can't really comment on the facilities as we were out pretty much all the time we were not sleeping. But whatever you do do not book the standard deluxe rooms, there is literally no room to swing the proverbial cat and the bathroom was the tiniest I have ever seen. We managed to pay to move for our second night to an upgraded room and it was the best 150 Euros I have ever spent traveling.

On reflection, Mrs Anthill made a wise decision to pass on this two day business and pleasure trip to lovely Verona. This 3 star+ hotel, masquerading above its station, lost my trust within the opening minutes of arrival. I booked a Grand Deluxe room paying around £800 for two nights-room was pleasant, although the thought of having paid 100% of the rate in advance some three months earlier always rattles me, even though this is somehow considered standard business in Italy. What recourse for the poor customer if the hotel fails to deliver as is so often the case? Wi fi was poor to non-existent, problem here …as I needed to work. After the usual excuses made up on the spot eg the hotel is sold out and an alternative room cannot be found, or there was an issue with the outside telephone lines (minutes after the signal in the lobby bar was working perfectly well) ,or we shall 'reboot' the system (code for unplugging) etc etc, I elevated the complaint to the manager (impressive lady) and was moved to another room which had an improved signal but had alas, a rather musty odour. Finally a third room was found with an acceptable level of signal albeit a temperamental one. Closing frustration was upon check out when the rather lame front of house staff refused to provide me with a receipt for the room rate on the basis that the booking was made by a third party agent. Now this was a new experience. Blood pressure rising fast. Now, we all know Italy has its charms but it does suffer a rather demanding business culture, but honesty costs nothing. Explain the problem and customers will usually accept the situation. Whereas, hide behind multiples of ever changing ,fluid excuses, and customer confidence evaporates. This was certainly the case here and wow, it upset me. Hotel is pleasant enough, although suffers from a rather disjointed interior design. It’s a shame, but I simply won’t bother staying here again when I need to work. I cannot recommend, life is too short.

We stayed in this beautifully renovated hotel in July. The service was excellent and the room was outstanding, quite the best bathroom I have ever used! On return to the hotel after dinner on our first night we were met at reception by Mr Loro, the general manager. There was a leak from our room and we had to change rooms, for an upgrade. This was no real problem, yes it was a little inconvenient but I'm in business, these things happen. There would be no charge he said (I presumed for the upgrade) and lunch or dinner is on us, drinks excepted. Porters moved our luggage to a room with a view over the city gate and all was well. Over the next day or two it became evident that they were not intending to charge us at all. In my view an overly generous offer , I offered to at least pay half. The hotel wouldn't hear of it. This Hotel is obviously a labor of love by the owner. It is exquisitely renovated, the food is superb and the service is outstanding. I will stay nowhere else when next in the beautiful city and neither will my friends and family.