Velia Mare

They only mentioned the lack of a POS terminal and Wi-Fi when we arrived, not when we booked. Even the cheapest places in Italy can offer electronic payment and Wi-Fi. The room also wasn’t clean enough, and the blankets didn’t seem sanitized as required during the pandemic. Being right on the main road made it noisy both day and night. For the same price, there are better options in Numana.

The room we were given at Velia Mare Elite was very dirty: hair in the sink, urine in the toilet, dust everywhere, and a bad smell. We called the woman in charge, and she came to “clean” the bathroom in under five minutes with a rough rag. We then wiped things down ourselves with sanitizing wipes, which turned yellow. That gives you an idea of how clean it was. We had originally booked through Booking.com. Before we arrived, we called the number in the reservation and were told a room had been “kindly” set aside for us at her other property, Velia a Mare Elite, closer to the beach. When we got there, she said she was doing us a favor by giving us a sea-view room for the same price, but only if we immediately canceled our Booking.com reservation. We felt put on the spot and saw no alternative, so we canceled in good faith and paid in cash, as she wouldn’t accept a POS terminal. The whole experience was awful. We reported it to Booking.com, and later saw Google reviews describing similar behavior. We suspect that asking guests to cancel through Booking.com leaves them unable to post a negative review there, so the property keeps only positive ratings on the site. Crafty owners at the guests’ expense. I hope this helps someone avoid what happened to us.

We stayed in the central building with friends and had a comfortable, lovely time. The rooms are simple and charming, clean and equipped with all the comforts, especially air conditioning, which mattered in this year’s scorching heat. The location is great for reaching Frate and Spiaggiola beaches, and there are bus stops nearby for Sirolo and other beaches. Bianca Maria and her son Gianluca were helpful and gave us all the information we needed. Good value for money.

The room and the welcome were as we expected. The two letdowns were the bathroom, which had no shower gel or shampoo and only a nearly empty bottle of hand soap, and the breakfast voucher. It was for a café 700 meters away and covered just one coffee or cappuccino and a croissant. I had to pay extra for a slice of vegan tart.