Casa Vacanze Giramondo

We had a terrible stay and I'd tell people to avoid this place. The photos may make it look nice, but it's quite dated. I don't think it can properly accommodate more than five people, since the extra beds and couch are old and broken. The couch and mattress looked dented and broken, and I don't think the photos show their current condition. My grandma had mattresses like that, and she died over 10 years ago. The floor might be more comfortable. Staying somewhere else definitely would be. They charged us extra because we booked a child, whom they said counted as an "0-year-old." Booking.com says a minor is anyone up to 17, so be careful if you're traveling with children. The so-called breakfast was just packaged pastries and juice. There was no flexibility with check-in, arriving early, or leaving our suitcases. Then there was the key issue others mention. There were seven of us, but they wouldn't give us the main entrance code so we could leave the key inside, and they left us only one set of keys.

My parents were turned away just 15 minutes after midnight and left to sleep outside. They had to find another place in the middle of the night. It was a terrible, stressful experience. How can a place near ROME's international airport not provide access codes in advance, knowing guests' flights may be delayed? The host cancelled the reservation, so I can't leave a comment on Booking. The money, of course, is safe in the host's bank account. After reading the comment below, it seems this might happen to others too. It's sad to see how little humanity people can show.

We ended up staying at another hotel after a really stressful arrival. We landed at 1545, which the hostess knew, but didn't hear from her until 1730. By then my phone had died, and we'd already made several calls and sent texts. We had to figure out how to get our own shuttle and stood outside in the cold with our luggage for over 30 minutes. I had told her my phone was dead and we had no WiFi for calls, so my brother had to pay for data to contact her. When she finally called his phone, she gave us the wrong lockbox code, and it took another five minutes to get the right one. The Booking.com reservation said someone would meet us at the property. If the hostess had shown up as stated, this could all have been avoided. Once inside, we still couldn't connect to the WiFi. The password was correct, but our phones flagged it as suspect and wouldn't connect, so we couldn't download train tickets or get sightseeing tickets. We had to use my brother's phone to reach the hostess again. She insisted the WiFi worked for everyone and told us to type the password correctly, even though we'd sent screenshots showing the problem. The service had me so stressed that my whole family had to deal with it, and my brother called another hotel to find us rooms. I asked for a refund. Who thinks it's acceptable to ignore clients' texts for over an hour in a foreign country, especially when Booking.com said someone would meet us? I have screenshots showing that we were ignored and left to fend for ourselves.

We asked for a late check-in when we booked because our flight was arriving at FCO. The property confirmed the reservation, then waited until after the free cancellation period to say they wouldn't stay open to let us in. They only told us on the day we were due to arrive, leaving us in a terrible bind. They had plenty of chances to make this right but didn't, and wouldn't refund us despite the late communication. We booked through Booking.com, but the property contacted us on another platform, so none of those messages were officially recorded. That left Booking.com unable to do much to help. Since the property closed before we could arrive, we never officially stayed and couldn't post a public review there. I'm sharing what happened here because I don't want anyone else to have the same awful experience at Casa Vacanze Giramondo.