Yome - Your Home in Florence

The rooms looked beautiful but weren't practical. Apartment 4 meant carrying my 25 kg bag up four floors, and I was still trying to find the light before it went out. The Wi-Fi was terrible and useless, the shower barely had a trickle, and the heaters didn't warm the rooms enough. The rooms were clean, but outlets held adaptors loosely and some tiles were lifting. Their best apartment, the six-bedroom one, smelled of sewage because the shower drain was blocked.

The stairs are no joke, about 75 very steep steps to the top-floor apartment #4. The Wi-Fi was weak and unreliable, and cell reception wasn't great either. The shower is tiny, and those complaints about it swinging between scalding and freezing are accurate. Maybe the faucet can't mix the hot and cold lines properly, though I'm no plumber. That's why I can't rate it higher than three stars. A decent shower matters, even though there is a bidet. On the good side, this is a cute apartment in a historic building with a perfect location. We had a small rooftop terrace with a view of the top of the nearby Duomo, and loved hearing the church bells. Our hostess Patrizia was accommodating at check-in and check-out, communication was easy, and the heating worked well in December. I found the bed very comfortable, but my partner thought the mattress was a bit too firm.

We were still itching like crazy three days later, covered in bites that we learned from a dermatologist were bedbug bites, not mosquitoes. I posted the full story at the company's alternative Yome listing on Booking, but the bedbugs were at Via del Corso, on the first floor. I want people to avoid this place, or at least check the beds and pillows very carefully. The apartment was dirty when we arrived: the walls were grimy and the couch, which also served as a second bed, had gross white stains. The floors were sticky. It seemed the cleaning between guests was just changing sheets, taking out trash, and cleaning the bathroom. We didn't mind the busy commercial street, the narrow stairs up to the second floor, or the smell of smoke despite smoking being prohibited. We also didn't mind a tenant arriving in the morning and waking everyone at 7 am by furiously ringing all the bells and pressing the panic button while waiting for a host who was clearly late. But bedbugs were beyond what we could accept. When we reported them and asked for a refund, the owners called us liars and said we wanted a free stay. They said these things happen and are part of the game. That response showed no respect for hygiene or for the people paying to stay there. We had costs for doctors and medication, and had to sterilize our home because bedbugs can come home with you. We don't need the refund, though my boyfriend wants one and will contact ECC. We need them to respect people's health and hygiene. The owner said they were sorry, but that doesn't change this. This is disgusting, and I say stay away for medical and moral reasons. I've traveled frequently and never written a negative review before; my positive reviews are on Booking, Airbnb, and elsewhere.

Our top-floor apartment gave us a glimpse of everyday life in Florence, and the view made climbing the stairs worthwhile. My fiancé and I really enjoyed staying here, and we'd happily return.