Hotel Pension Arche

We went in to cancel our room bookings after the booking app told us to contact the property. The receptionist was very impolite. She insisted on taking our passports even after I said we were there to cancel, then made us fill out a check-in form. After making a few calls, she told us, “you can go.” I asked whether the bookings were cancelled, and she said yes. The next day I got a message saying I’d been charged for a “no-show,” even though I had gone to the property in person to cancel. The service was absolutely insolent. 0/5, would not recommend.

We stayed for a few nights and found it decent, with easy access to everything. Parking can be tricky, and the trees drip all over your car while it’s parked, leaving a mess.

The room smelled of smoke, the stairwell had a stale odor, the bathroom door handle was broken, and the carpet clearly hadn’t been shampooed or steam-cleaned in a long time. The key collection process was very convoluted too. I paid for the room through Hotel.com. When we got to reception, they asked for my card. We thought they only wanted to put a hold on the funds, but they charged us. When I later asked for a refund, they refused. Management and customer service were very poor, and they seemed unscrupulous and highly unprofessional. There are much better options elsewhere. Don’t book here!

We had low expectations and were still disappointed. We arrived to find the hotel was managed by another hotel, but nobody asked us for identification. The reception, which was supposed to be open 24/7, was in a different building run by their partners, and they explained where we needed to go. The actual hotel is beside a barber shop in an area that didn’t feel nice, especially for girls. There was no security: the front door was open to anyone, facing a busy road. The building’s wooden doors seemed easy for someone with bad intentions to get through, especially given the area. There’s no lift, so we had to carry our bags up to our floor. In the room, the window was visibly broken on the outside, perhaps from an attempted break-in. It faced scaffolding, so that possibility didn’t seem far-fetched. We also found used toilet paper in the WC, poor cleaning, broken lamps, and an unpleasant atmosphere. We refused to stay because we thought it might put us in danger, and it certainly wasn’t worth the €604 we paid for three nights. At the front desk, we were treated badly and not taken seriously. They told us to email a “manager” but didn’t give us an address. We showed photos and videos of the room, and the receptionist didn’t seem to care. We explained that the false information on the website had left us, four young female tourists, with nowhere to sleep, no compensation, and in a very difficult position. It was the worst experience we’ve had as tourists. I wouldn’t recommend it at all.