Hotel Dolomiti Madonna

The room was large and comfortable, with good heating even though it was 7-10°C outside, and we had a great mountain view. The hotel is at the edge of town, which worked perfectly for us, with a supermarket right across the road. There’s also a nice pizza place and an Italian restaurant about 50m away. If you want dinner at the hotel, book 1 day ahead since there’s no chef onsite. The odd thing about the bathroom is that the bathtub doubles as the shower, but there’s no screen and no floor drain. Water ends up all over the floor and stays there. Very strange design.

For what I paid, I felt I got my money’s worth, but I don’t think I’d stay here again. The hotel is near the bus station, with a grocery store across the street. I stayed four nights. My main frustrations were the painfully slow room wifi, like 1990s dial-up, and the shower, which had no curtain and left water all over the floor each morning. The bathroom door and frame already showed water damage from repeatedly getting wet. I ate there each day. Breakfast was good, but when food ran out, the staff could take 15-30 minutes to bring out more, including scrambled eggs. Several large groups were staying, so things disappeared quickly, and it was hard to get anyone’s attention when I wanted coffee. A coffee dispenser seems like it would be one less task for staff. Dinner was decent, but after four nights I’d had enough. Much of the menu didn’t seem local, like turkey with curry sauce, or tasted as if it came from a can. It also seemed odd there was no water dispenser at breakfast or dinner. When I asked for water, they brought a glass bottle, marked it with my room number, and left it on my table the next day. The hotel seems family-run, but most of the front desk people I met weren’t especially friendly at check-in or checkout.

The room has a lovely dining area overlooking the main street, plus a balcony with amazing views of the cable car going up to Alpe di Siusi. There’s lift access to the rooms. The hotel is quiet at one end of town, with free onsite parking, and close to the main square. Despar is just opposite. It’s an easy walk, 500m to the Alpe di Siusi cable car station and 700m to Seceda station. The onsite restaurant doesn’t open every day and sometimes needs a reservation, so check ahead. The wifi is the only downside, it’s poor.

The beds were comfortable, and we liked the balcony over the main street. We stayed two nights in a corner room, where wifi only worked when I stood in the bathroom. The walls are so thin we could hear neighbors plugging a charger into the wall. On checkout morning, with an hour left before checkout, a maid unlocked the door and walked into our room while we were asleep. She didn’t knock.