The Sydney Hotel

Avoid this place. The receptionists were rude and unprofessional. The hotel is far from the center, so I asked reception to call us a taxi. My son was playing with my phone, and it slipped out as we were getting out. The taxi drove off straight away with the phone inside. We asked reception to make a quick call to alert the taxi company, but they refused to help. It was really unfortunate and ruined the rest of our days in Bologna. A passerby was much more helpful than the staff.

The hotel is fairly close to Bologna airport, around 15-30 minutes away depending on traffic, and prices are fair. Staff were friendly and helpful, and the rooms were a decent size, though cleanliness was only average. The bathrooms are spacious but quite worn. The beds didn't work for us, especially the pillows, which were rock hard and very flat, so we slept badly. Breakfast was average at best, and the coffee was surprisingly bad. The biggest limitation is the location. The hotel sits between highways, so once you're there, you can't really walk anywhere and are stuck with the hotel and its restaurant. We probably wouldn't recommend it.

The roadworks outside the hotel were expected to last several months, but nobody mentioned them when I booked. They made getting to meetings take longer, so you need to arrange taxis. The pool stayed closed the whole time. The gym was tiny and hot, with mosquitoes, a broken exercise bike, and an unstable bench. I ate at the restaurant twice. My crab dish still had pieces of shell in it, and the staff didn't seem to care, so the service was poor. There's also a cover charge, which isn't a problem in itself, but it wasn't clearly explained anywhere. The ironing service was awful. I paid 15 euros for one shirt and a polo, and both came back with several crease lines on the sleeves and deep creases still in them. I raised it with reception, but they were rude, especially zoe. There was no need for two staff members to argue that the ironing was acceptable. One receptionist said she'd refund the 5 euro service charge, but that never happened. I've ironed these shirts myself perfectly, so it wasn't the material.

We had a nice stay, with comfortable beds, a clean room, tasty breakfast, and helpful staff. Getting into the city was less convenient: it's quite far from the center, and the nearest bus stop is a 15-20 minute walk away. Sometimes there was an unpleasant smell from the toilet and shower, and the air conditioning in our room didn't work.