Milan
Hotel Marconi
(+) The location was around 10 mins away from the Milan Central station which made it extremely convenient. The hotel was surrounded by that of restaurants and cafes, not to mention a rather decent restaurant almost next to the hotel. The breakfast was included with the room and had a variety of things such as eggs, pastry, fruit, yogurt and cake.
(-) The property was old fashioned and out dated and over priced for what it was. No doubt the facilities were clean, but just needed modernisation. The minibar was extremely overpriced, as we ended up paying 12,50 euros for a small bottle of water! Talk about Daylight robbery!
Florence
Maison Bianca B&B
(+) You couldn’t go wrong with the location and the hospitality was amazing. It is just round the corner from Santa Lucia station, it took us 10 mins to get to the bed and breakfast. Even though it was considerably late in the evening, Giorgio was waiting for us at the entrance (even though the reception closed at 5 pm). Exceptional customer service. The breakfast spread was decent with a variety of cakes and tarts, and tea/coffee. The property was We had asked for the taxi to be booked for an early train and Giorgio made of point of personally being present early to make sure we got a taxi.
(-) We didn’t expect the property to be in a building (on the 5th floor of an apartment building). To be fair there were other B&Bs in the building as well.
Riomaggiore
Scorci Di Mare
(+) Firstly, the customer service was amazing. Not only were we able to check in earlier than we were expected to, we were given a brief about Cinque Terre, with print outs of train and bus schedules, and maps of the village and the region. The location couldn’t have been better – we were right at the harbour area and the views from the room window were breathtaking. It was a pleasant surprise that we have tea and coffee (and a kettle!) in the room. A couple of bottles of water and juice (and biscuits) were also provided free of charge. The bed was comfortable and facing the windows, which was great. Ample towels were provided and the cleanliness was immaculate. The rooms and bathroom was heated (and we didn’t expect a washing machine!)
(-) The room that we had booked was the sea view double – but we strongly recommend that you book the higher room with the terrace: reason being, because of the wooden floors and the stairs outside, it got noisy when guests in the higher room even moved around or used the stairs. There was a frosted window in the room (over the stairs) which lit up the room when someone lit the lights in stairs.
Tasha's Tales 