Hotel Youri Il Magnifico

From around 11 pm each night, there was a steady racket of slamming doors, arguments, mostly about payment, and high heels clicking, and it went on until dawn. After a short walk around Genoa after dark, we thought we understood the comings and goings: prostitutes. As two young women travelling alone, we didn't feel safe leaving our room at night. During the day, sometimes as early as 10 am, there were groups of prostitutes in the neighborhood along with other sketchy characters. I'd urge families and women travelling alone to avoid the hotel or at least be extremely cautious. You get what you pay for. We stayed in the economy double room. At first, the private toilet, in-room shower, and AC were a nice surprise. But after dinner at about 10 pm, we found the door seemed impossible to unlock, even after a long, repetitive phone call with someone we took to be the manager. There was nobody inside to let us in. We eventually got to our room, but the lack of a receptionist who was consistently available remained an issue throughout the stay.

The room wasn't soundproof, so we heard everything, including the very loud cleaning service starting at 7 am. It felt like they wanted us awake and out. Smoke from other guests' rooms reached our room, the hallway, and the front desk, and staff didn't seem to care. At 11 pm, the toilet in our room overflowed. We had paid for a room with a toilet, but the staff weren't sorry and didn't try to move us. We had to use the hallway toilet afterward, and got no refund. In the morning they just wanted us out as soon as possible. They wouldn't even let us leave our bags there for the rest of the day, the first time in my life a hotel has refused that. Such a sad way to end our lovely holiday in Genova :-(

The service was very helpful and accommodating. Michael, the concierge I dealt with, was kind and helpful. The hotel also has a fridge in the room, handy if you want groceries from the supermarket about six minutes away. You can reach it by elevator or a beautiful marble staircase with an ornate railing. Via XX Settembre is one of the city's main roads, and the hotel is within walking distance of what Genoa (Genova) has to offer. It's about 10 minutes on foot to Genoa Brignole station and roughly 25 minutes straight along to Genoa Principe. A solid choice for a budget stay without paying for amenities and services you don't need. It was the best room of my seven-country Europe 2023 trip.

The rooms were clean and beautiful, with W-lan and smart TV, and checking in was really easy. Parking was nearby and inexpensive. Unfortunately, some very loud guests came back in the middle of the night, and we couldn't sleep from midnight until 2 am. That's not really the hotel's fault.