Italia House Hotel

We had to wait until 6.30 for the room to be “cleaned,” and watched them do it with the door open. They didn’t change the protective sheet around the duvet, which felt completely unhygienic. The room had serious problems too: neither the air conditioning nor the heating worked. The landlord promised every day through Booking.com messages to bring a heater, but never did, and it was freezing. The bathroom door and toilet flush were broken, and the flush was noisy all night. The damaged shower hose sprayed everywhere, including the wall-mounted hairdryer, which created a serious electrical hazard. Breakfast was included in our booking but was served just once during the whole stay. After we got home, the landlord marked the booking as a no-show. I believe this was done in anticipation of a refund request. Luckily, I’d kept property photos, a photo of the check-in document we filled out, and full proof of my daily complaints in the Booking.com app chat. When Booking.com asked why we hadn’t shown up, I sent the evidence, and they resolved it appropriately, acknowledging what we went through. Getting into the building was frightening. We arrived in the middle of the night, but it was locked, with no bell or instructions, and nobody answered our calls or app messages. The property is in a deserted alley, with a parking area beside it where around 20 stray dogs were gathered. We were alone outside and felt genuinely unsafe. Our taxi driver tried the landlord several times from a local phone. When he finally answered, he said he wouldn’t let us in and denied the early check-in, contradicting his written messages. Only after the driver mentioned calling the tourist police did someone open the door. At reception, they then refused to give us the room because it supposedly wasn’t ready, and tried to charge $20 for early check-in because the tourist police had been mentioned. We had to insist that we shouldn’t pay. Cameras clearly covered the entrance, so they could see us outside the whole time and still chose to ignore us. This was unsafe, unhygienic, and handled with dishonesty and intimidation. I strongly advise people to avoid this property.