Park Hotel Ristorante Ca' Bianca

We stayed seven nights at Ca’Bianca in Istrana with our two boys. My uncle arranged it because he didn’t have room for the four of us at his home. We had two rooms, one for us and one for the boys. The facilities weren’t the problem. It was the owner’s crass attitude and the poor service. I wouldn’t recommend staying there. It was the last week of May, and the area was hot and humid, reaching 100% humidity on some days and over 31C, with the humidity feeling closer to 36C. We asked to have the air conditioning switched on when we arrived. They told us, and later my uncle, that they couldn’t because it would cool the whole building and other guests would complain. That was a complete lie, since every room had its own unit. It seemed they just wanted to save on energy bills. We had to threaten to leave before they turned it on, then they switched it off while we were out, so the rooms were sweltering when we came back. They also turn off the hot water during the day, so before 6:00PM we couldn’t take anything but a very cold shower. One day we had to leave our son, who gets migraines, at the hotel. A tall owner with overly dyed hair asked what was wrong. When I explained about the migraines, he seriously said only women get headaches, then started telling me how to raise my children. I know that coming from North America my expectations for service may be higher than some people’s. But at the other hotels on this trip to Italy, we had no problems. Here we were treated poorly.

We live abroad and wanted somewhere to stay whenever we’re in town, but we won’t set foot in this ridiculous place again. The staff were so rude and unfriendly I couldn’t believe the hotel was still open. It feels like it belongs to another era, when perhaps the staff could still think straight. My boyfriend left some clothes in the closet and called to ask whether they’d been found. They accused him of trying to steal the clothes he’d left behind, saying he might call different hotels and claim he’d lost a golden watch to fish for it. They really told him that, and they weren’t joking. Stay away. If you somehow have to sleep there, make sure you don’t leave anything in your room.

We called ahead to say we’d be late while driving from Roma to Venice, but at 2 am the hotel was closed and nobody answered our calls or the door for almost two hours. We were stranded outside with our kids in a scary neighborhood. Eventually a staff member opened up angrily and blamed us for arriving late. We even had to use Google translator from English to Italian to communicate with him. We also asked for an extra hour to check out and were rudely refused. The staff were very, very rude, and I wouldn’t recommend this hotel.

Good value for the price. Breakfast is generous and has Italian specialties. If you ask, they can serve ham and cheese.