Ciao Bella Stella

The location was great, but the owner offered very little support. The photos gave a misleading impression, and the place wasn't clean. The listing said there were two rooms, but there were no proper walls between them.

The apartment was still under construction, with building materials left out and electrical work unfinished. The AC didn't work when we arrived, and though we told the host right away, he didn't respond at first. It was 85F (30C), and nobody could sleep. He eventually said he'd move us the next night, to a room where the AC only partly worked. We followed the check-in instructions in advance and thought everything was settled. The day before, the host asked what time we'd arrive, and we said 5pm. Nobody was there when we got there around then. With our bags and two children, we had to find WiFi to keep trying to reach the host, who mostly seemed to ignore us. All he needed to do was send us two door codes, and he should have included them in the first message. It took about an hour before we could get into the apartment. Don't stay here. The service was terrible. It's an unstaffed apartment, not a hotel. I only just saw the reviews mentioning bed bugs, and wish we'd stayed somewhere else.

We'd booked five nights but left after just one, and the "hotel" refused to refund the 1,500 EUR I paid. The hotels we switched to had previously received guests from Casa Bella Pantheon. The website photos are completely misleading. I've stayed in hotels more than 70 nights a year for work and leisure, I'm a Gold Member on Hotels.com and Top Level in another hotel chain, and this was easily the worst experience I've had in 20 years. The place was dirty, with mold in the bathroom and sagging mattresses. The poor soundproofing in the windows meant we could hear street conversations two floors below. This is not a hotel. Save your money and energy, and book somewhere else.

After we'd booked and paid well in advance for both rooms and the next three days, we were told the owner had cancelled one room on his own. We could pay the city tax for only one room, and when we asked why, he said it was his property and he had the authority to cancel as he wished. He also claimed the booking agent had been informed. We were travelling with family from another country for the first time, and this was extremely uncomfortable and upsetting. There was no one at reception to explain where to go or how to reach the rooms. After speaking with a family who was staying there, we tried to contact the owner and received an email with self check-in instructions. In the end, we were denied a room for our family of four and only one room for two was confirmed. We had to find different accommodation for all four of us, which took at least four hours out of a holiday meant for relaxing. It was already difficult to reach the destination, and we spent at least two hours confused. It was shocking and completely unexpected for the company to create this confusion for unsuspecting tourists in a new place. Please don't recommend this location.