Hotel Provenza

Booked it the same day for one night, and it turned out to be really pleasant. Cheap, too. I liked the room, and having a double bed all to myself was nice. The bathroom was good as well.

The bed was clean and comfortable, but almost everything else about the room was rough. There was a sewage smell, damp patches on the wall and ceiling, and a large electrical box on the wall with its door hanging off. The wardrobe drawers were coming apart, and the toilet had a strange extra door outside it. There was a hole from building work outside the patio door, full of cigarette ends. When I asked for a different room because of the smell, the man came to inspect it, left, then returned with an air freshener. The plugs wouldn't fit the sockets, and the TV didn't work. The TV and fridge were the smallest I've ever seen. I was visiting my daughter, who was working on a super yacht in Ventimiglia marina for the weekend. The man at the hotel insinuated she was a working woman.

The quick, easy check-in and friendly, helpful front desk were good, but Provenza was otherwise just OK. The room was clean, though shabby and ready for refurbishment. The AC barely worked, and the bathroom tap ran brown water in the morning. It's handy for the beach, station and nearby restaurants, but the area itself is a bit shabby. There's also a Roman amphitheatre and museum nearby. For €8, you can find a better breakfast in town.

We were told on arrival that there weren't any rooms with two separate beds, even though Booking.com let us book one. That's really bad. It was noisy as well, so we didn't get a good night's sleep.