Hotel Star

The food was a real letdown for this location and the people staying there. Lunch and dinner both dragged on, and the quality was poor. That’s a shame, because the value for money could have been good. The rooms had been renovated recently and were reasonably clean, and the bathrooms were spacious, with nice-looking shower stalls.

The bathrooms were nicely renovated and comfortable, but just about everything else went wrong. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were served at another hotel, and nobody told us ahead of time. The all-inclusive deal also included the beach and loungers, but we had to hunt them down ourselves and wasted time. Staff were often missing from reception, seemed unprepared for the season, and weren’t clear when answering questions. The manager was rude, and we never saw the owner. Other guests complained throughout their stays too. Nothing like this has happened to me in Cattolica. Never again, a complete disaster.

From the fourth day on, Carlo at reception was finally available and friendly, and head waiter Gerry and the other dining room waiters were helpful and courteous. Before then, for the first three days and nights, the hotel felt deserted. There was just a cleaner in the morning, who also worked at the front desk and spoke Italian poorly enough that we struggled to understand each other. Nobody was there in the evening, so anyone could come and go. There was no security. We stayed seven nights with our one-year-old son, and the room wasn’t ready until late afternoon even though we arrived in the morning. The crib listed in our quote came at 11 at night. They said it might not fit, so I had to move the double bed and nightstands myself. The crib was in awful condition. At the Splendid, where they sent us to pay, they said it cost €10 a day, though they didn’t charge us. They let us eat at the Star once, then sent us to the Splendid for lunch and dinner. The food was decent. The room cleaning was awful. By 12:30 each day it still hadn’t been cleaned. My husband and I had to dry ourselves with a towel for the first two days. They never changed the sheets or even shook them out. They were always sandy, so I did it myself. One morning I asked at the Star Hotel to heat water for my son’s milk. They told me to use the coffee machine but wouldn’t even give me a saucepan. When I paid at the Splendid, I raised all this with the blonde receptionist. She answered rudely and arrogantly, telling me to complain to the Star. But I had no contact there, and the Splendid was the only person I could reach. If I had to pay them, of course I’d raise my complaints there. This was a horrible experience, and I counted the days until we could go home.

We were welcomed warmly by the young woman who checked us in. She even let us use the room as a base on our departure day to make up for what happened. The room itself was a mess: the mini fridge didn’t work, and nobody dealt with it promptly after we reported it, so we drank warm water all night. The bed looked badly made and unclean; the balcony and closet were dusty too. Only the bathroom had just been renovated. The whole place felt like a construction site, with dust, dirt and workers around the hotel. Nobody explained that breakfast was at a nearby hotel. At one point the manager opened our door with a master key, apparently unaware we were inside, which was embarrassing. Maybe it’ll be perfect once the renovations are done, but right now it definitely isn’t.