Mareluna Penthouse - Luxury Suites

The city tax payment left a bad impression. The host wanted cash, which we didn’t have. When we offered to pay by card, he suggested PayPal but wouldn’t give us a receipt. Later, despite staying two nights, our booking showed as “no show” and then as a cancelled booking. Aside from that, the stay at Mareluna Penthouse in Salerno from 2nd to 4th October was pleasant. The room was clean and spacious, with a huge balcony overlooking the mountains and part of the sea. It’s a great location, a short walk from Salerno train station and the port for getting to Amalfi. Breakfast was basic but nice, and the room was cleaned every day.

Within five minutes of arriving, my partner and I spotted bed bugs. We asked to move rooms, but the owner said the property was full and expected us to stay in the infested room. We had to find somewhere else to stay. Even so, we were charged the full amount, and the owner then claimed we’d never checked in. This felt false and misleading, and the infestation made the property unsafe. Don’t stay here.

We had no working air con and only asked for a different room. The staff and managers were awful: they kept lying to us, making promises after supposedly trying to help, and never came through. They were rude and shifty. Wouldn’t recommend.

The room was unkempt at best. The ceiling was peeling, there was black mould on the shower ceiling, and the bathroom’s cups for utensils and toothbrushes should have been thrown out ages ago. The extractor fan was packed with dirt and dust, and I won’t even get into the toilet brush. The word “Suite” appeared repeatedly in the advertising, my Booking.com reservation, and its price details. I expected four of us to have a set of rooms, but instead it was one room with four beds, two of them folding camp-style beds crammed in. Looking into it afterwards, I found other reviewers saying things like “The penthouse suite is nothing like in the pictures,” “Basic room and facilities, not a luxury suite,” and “It stated ‘luxury penthouse’ and this was far from that.” The proprietor also sent messages through Booking.com trying to scare me off with the threat of legal action because I messaged him there and asked for compensation. Google Translate rendered his message as: “We have forwarded the messages and the case to our company's lawyer and we reserve the right to request damages and compensation for our image as well as stress caused by the continuous messages and unfounded requests for reimbursement.” Am I bovered? Nah. In my opinion, I’d obviously ruffled feathers, and the proprietor got agitated or irritated because I had the nerve to complain. Update: I still haven’t heard from the proprietor’s lawyer. Maybe the letters got lost in the post? My credit card company has agreed to make a chargeback claim for me, though it would be against Booking.com, since that’s who I paid.