Pikaret Bed Breakfast

A few weeks ago, my partner and I stayed in the stone studio and really liked it. It’s rustic and charming, with the same sort of appeal as the pricey stone rooms in the Sassi of Matera. We wanted somewhere peaceful, and the separate space gave us that. The location is very central, too.

The bathroom wall was peeling, the neighbors were shouting, and we could hear everything. There was no mini-bar or bed covers, and the bathroom had no bidet and a broken flush that worked with a makeshift cord. The shower gel and hand soap were watered down, and there was no Wi-Fi or even a signal. Cleanliness was awful. We’d told the owner beforehand that we had a dog, but when we arrived he seemed completely out of his mind and demanded extra money without having mentioned a fee. He also yelled at us because we couldn’t reach the place in the restricted traffic zone. Then, under the blazing sun, he made us withdraw money for the missing 30 cents and asked us to cancel the Booking.com reservation so we couldn’t review him there. We’d said we might stay an extra day and would let him know, but he kept calling from 7 a.m. until midnight, when we were already asleep. At 8:20 the next morning, despite checkout being at 10, he opened our room door without asking. This “entrepreneur” has very little manners.

The room we were given was on the ground floor facing the road, apparently converted from a warehouse. It smelled musty, had mold on the walls, and was dirty. The bathroom was tiny and in poor shape, with no bidet, a small sink, and a broken toilet operated by a pull cord that looked like a permanent fix. There was no bedspread, and the pillow covers were being used as pillowcases because the owner said they held up better in the wash. He said it was summer, so no bedspread was needed. My wife and I had booked from June 26 to July 1 through Booking.com. A few days before, I called to confirm and the owner said our room was occupied by a previous guest who had extended their stay. He offered another room, supposedly bigger and more expensive, for the same price. I accepted and naively cancelled as he requested, which meant I couldn’t leave a Booking.com review. After this and reading other reviews, I suspect he uses that excuse to get bookings cancelled. On arrival, the man seemed rather arrogant and rushed us through the room. He showed us the water-heater switch and said to turn it off after using hot water because the meter wasn’t up to standard and the neighboring apartment would lose power too. He even suggested cold showers since it was summer. He photographed my ID, asked for €95.00 in cash without a receipt, and left right away. I strongly discourage staying here. The owner surely knows the game of getting people to cancel so he can assign them this shack without them being able to review it. Be very careful, and if you can, report it to Booking customer service so the listing can be removed from the platform.

The bathroom was a dump, with a shower in the hallway that was hard to get into, and the water wouldn’t drain. The room felt more like a stable. The bed had no sheet, pillowcases, or bedspread. There was only a tiny, wobbly plastic box for a bedside table, no lamp, no switch to turn off the bedside light, no fridge, and no breakfast. I’d really like the manager to take these bad reviews seriously and make things right.