Hotel Centrale Trieste

We were really happy spending two nights here with family. The place was quiet and very clean, and Stefano and the team were so friendly.

We found what looked like a bed bug problem in our room, including visible blood and fecal marks on the bed and clusters of bites on our skin. When I told the receptionist, she brushed it off as mosquito bites and wasn't friendly about it. I emailed the hotel after we left and got no response. I also contacted Booking.com’s dispute team more than a week ago and still haven't heard back. The rooms may be pleasant, but this experience and the way my complaint was ignored were unacceptable. I strongly recommend avoiding this hotel.

The hotel is in a lovely location, which mostly made me want to leave rather than stay. Breakfast was poor, with microwaved croissants and cheese left sitting in the heat. One room was 32 degrees with the air conditioning apparently on but not cooling. The only staff member we dealt with insisted we were using it wrong, refused to check, and wouldn't offer another room, even though the hotel looked 80% empty. He also kept talking down to us. We waited 15 minutes at an empty desk to check in, got a weak apology, then he walked us to the room and pointed at the toilet, saying “toilet.” I've never encountered worse staff anywhere. He was lazy, incompetent, rude, and ignorant, all of which seemed to come from his own towering insecurity.

The location is great, so it may work if that's essential and you can live with the problems. There was no one at reception when we arrived, and the check-in guy walked around pointing at things and saying “toilet.” You also have to hand in your key. One room had faulty air conditioning, but he wouldn't investigate. The bathroom smelled of drains, and breakfast had some poor items, though the coffee machine was good. Staff went just 30cm outside the breakfast room to smoke.