Artist's suite

We ended up scrambling for another hotel at 11 pm, with no idea whether anything would still be available. This happened during our stay on February 12, 2023, which turned into a terrible experience. The house, around 60 m2, was cold when we arrived. We switched the heat on at about 4:00 PM, left for dinner at 8:00 PM, and came back around 10:20 PM to a cold house with the heating off. The lady we contacted said she had set a timer because she didn’t think the heating should run for so many hours, then offered vague, unconvincing explanations. We were also charged €20 in tourist tax, or €10 each for one night. Other hoteliers confirmed that the municipality of Bari had never introduced a tourist tax, so we have no idea what that money was for. At the start, the lady had asked us to take our shoes off and leave them on the landing. Awful stay.

Breakfast was just coffee, a dry piece of yeast cake, and a small croissant, and the owner watched us leave the room. Once she even filmed us going down the stairs. The whole setup felt completely unprofessional. The next night, she sent us chaotic messages saying her elderly mother had hurt herself lifting dishes over a 30-cm step, blaming us for leaving them outside the entrance. She said there would be no more breakfast and claimed she had to wash up after us, although we had washed our breakfast dishes and nobody had asked her to wash our cups. We did not get breakfast the next day. It was ridiculous. Earlier, while we were out, the owner had come into the apartment and taken dishes from the drying rack, which we found unacceptable. We left the dishes outside the door the following day. There was no check-in information, the place wasn’t marked, and the owner didn’t answer her phone. We waited outside the staircase for an hour trying to reach her. The lady said she hadn’t heard the phone. The flat is on the third floor, up high, narrow stairs. On entering, we were handed used slippers and told not to wear shoes or put bags on the floor. The owner didn’t speak English, and even with a translator we couldn’t communicate. We were left pretending to understand Italian. The room thermostat couldn’t be adjusted; it had to stay exactly as the owner wanted. The listing photos were misleading too. There were no beautiful leather sofas or nice carpet, just sad gray upholstery, a cold floor, and yellowing oilcloth on tables covered with tablecloths. The listing said the kitchen was equipped, but apart from a few mugs there was nothing there, and the rules only allowed making coffee or tea. There were no toiletries, tableware, or pillows like in the photos. By the entrance was a window looking toward the main room and bed, so you could see what was happening in the apartment.

We’d planned this trip with real excitement and booked the accommodation four months ahead, back in February. A week before we were due to travel, Booking customer service emailed to say the reservation had been cancelled, apparently because of overbooking. The owner never contacted us to explain. We sent several messages in Italian, the language they supposedly spoke, and got no reply. That left us feeling disregarded as customers and made us think money mattered most, since last-minute bookings are always more expensive and presumably more profitable than being honest. Having a confirmed booking cancelled at the last minute, possibly because someone else pays more, is unacceptable. It left us very little time to find another place, especially with most accommodations already booked. We expected the reservation to secure our stay after booking so far in advance. The uncertainty and lack of transparency made us distrust the accommodation, and we would never recommend it.

It felt like home, even when you weren't there. The owners were friendly, and everything was extremely clean and welcoming. Thanks for everything!