thomas199023

There do not seem to be many chain hotels in Verona, except some BW and one CP out of town. I remember there being a HI but has it since left the chain?

Can anyone recommend a decent hotel in Verona? At the moment I am booked into the Hotel Giulietta e Romeo which has good reviews and seems to be recently renovated.

Normally I would stay in a Agriturismo out of town, but as I am traveling with my GF I would like to stay in Verona Center.

KLouis

I would like to elaborate but FT rules forbid this kind of discussions...

Perche

It's difficult to say without knowing when, budget, what you are looking for, how many times you've been in the region, and why you are interested in staying at a USA chain hotel like Best Western or Crown Plaza in Verona.

Your link to reviews goes to TripAdvisor, which is almost as worthless for hotels as it is for restaurants. You have no idea what the people who post those reviews are looking for, or what their budget is. That's why some of the worst hotels are ranked very high (someone was very happy with what they got for 60 euros), and some of the best are rated low (someone was disappointed with what they got for their 500 euro per night hotel).

There is also the notorious problem with fraud. The Italian Justice Department levied a huge fine against TripAdvisor for fraudulent hotel and restaurant reviews but on appeal a Tribunal decreased it to about 7 euros, saying TA has never claimed that its reviews are accurate. They basically ruled that, "TripAdvisor reviews are bogus, but within the limits of their technical possibilities they make every effort to limit them.
http://www.repubblica.it/economia/20...83/?ref=search

Italian restaurants and hotels are so upset about bad venues getting good reviews, and decent ones suffering, that they recently invented a restaurant in the Brenta region called La Scaletta. They posted fake reviews, gave the non-existent restaurant the phone number of a police station in another town that had long since been closed, and posted fake pictures. In a very short time they had the imaginary restaurant ranked as the regions best restaurant. And that happened even with them fake reviews by people pretending to have severe dyslexia and misspelling everything. http://www.repubblica.it/viaggi/2015...97/?ref=search

There was even the case of a restaurant run and owned by Texan expats on methadone who manipulated their restaurant into the position as one of the highest rated restaurants in all of Italy.

If you own a hotel or restaurant in Italy you will receive a letter from companies that promise to optimize your ratings on TripAdvisor, for a fee, such as this one:
"“Salve, le scrivo a nome di Promoutility agenzia di consulenza che si occupa di meglio posizione hotel e ristoranti nei siti di recensioni. Abbiamo la possibilitŕ di far crescere la sua attivitŕ in classifica con recensioni genuine e scritte da potenziali veri utenti."

Greetings, I am writing in the name of Promoutility consulting agency that deals with hotels and restaurants that are considering the need to have the best position on review websites. We have the ability to grow your business with reviews that will seem to be written by actual potential customers.

"Con solo 10 posizioni positive si sale su siti come Tripadvisor in maniera sostanziale con un immediato aumento dei clienti."

With only ten positive reviews you will jump a in a substantial manner on TripAdvisor with an immediate increase in customers.

"Risultati garantiti al 1000×1000. Aiutiamo i nostri clienti ad essere visibili."

We guarantee this 1,000 times 1,000. We help our clients to be visible.

"La stagione estiva č iniziata e l’Italia č presa d’assalto da milioni di turisti, quest’esercito di turisti agguerriti di smartphone non si affida piů al consiglio di un conoscente per scegliere un ristorante o un posto dove dormire, clicca su TRIPADVISOR e il primo locale che trovano in cima alla lista con un buon numero di recensioni viene scelto come meta."

Now that summer has begun Italy will be taken by an assault of millions of tourists, an army with smartphones that doesn't use the advice of people who know something about food when they choose a restaurant or a place to sleep, instead they just click on TripAdvisor and the place they find on top of the list with an good number of reviews is chosen for where to go.

"D’altro canto basta leggere le diverse recensioni che iniziano cosě, “abbiamo scelto questo locale in base alle diverse recensioni ecc. ecc.” difficilmente troverete “abbiamo scelto questo locale perché ci č stato consigliato da un conoscente ecc.”

The other song that you read plenty of on TripAdvisor begins, "we chose this place on the basis of many reviews, etc., etc.," "The place is very local and difficult to find," "This restaurant was recommended to us by locals in the know."

"Poi c’č un aspetto molto importante da non sottovalutare, con le recensioni mirate potete far conoscere i vostri piatti e influenzare anche la scelta degli stessi da parte del cliente."

Another service provided by us that should not be undervalued is that we can provide reviews about particular dishes on your menu and influence your clients to choose those same dishes.

"Le recensioni vengono rilasciate una al giorno o una ogni due giorni, in italiano e anche da utenti stranieri, verranno rilasciate tutte recensioni a 5 stelle, prima di pubblicarla, vi verrŕ mandata in anteprima la recensione al vostro indirizzo email."

We will release a new review every day or every other day, we will write some in Italian, some in various other foreign languages, all will be 5 star, and before we publish them we will send them to your email address for you to review

"I prezzi sono i seguenti:

10 recensioni € 70
20 recensioni € 130
30 recensioni € 200"

Our prices are as follows:
10 reviews 70 euros
20 reviews 130 euros
30 reviews 200 euros

"Inoltre noi ci impegneremo a vendere il servizio a 1 solo cliente per localitŕ.

Offriamo e pretendiamo serietŕ e correttezza“.

We will strive to only write our reviews for one hotel or restaurant in any given location

We offer this serious offer to you with our courtesies.
http://www.dissapore.com/grande-noti...p=1&sro_q=2802

That said, below if a picture of the Giuliette and Romeo hotel. It is down a not very scenic alley. It seems to be in a nice location, not far from the Piazza Bra and ancient Roman arena. Bra is a chain cafeteria in Italy. For the price, they are actually pretty decent. If you look at the apartment immediately above the Bra cafeteria in the plaza, that is the apartment where Maria Callas lived during the early part of her career, which was based in Verona.

Everything in Verona seems to key around Romeo and Juliet, even though Juliet never existed and her balcony is an invention to attract tourists in order to see them Romeo and Juliet souvenirs. Many people apparently think that Juliet actually existed and that the balcony is real. There are tens of thousands of post it notes all over the building stuck to the wall using chewing gum by people making professions of love. A few years ago they passed a 500 euro fine for sticking a notes on the wall with chewing gum because it is so unsightly (see picture below).

People started doing something worse, sticking locks on anything they could and throwing away the key. That's now banned too. I guess there is nothing wrong with people falling for a myth, but I personally would be leery of a restaurant or hotel that has the name Romeo and Juliet in it because it is obviously just aiming for the tourist dollar. That doesn't mean that the hotel you reserved is bad, but I wouldn't expect it to be very italian, and also because anything rated highly by TripAdvisor warrants deep suspicion.
Below is a picture of the hotel you chose, and a picture of the wall of "Juliet's" house.

Giggleswick

I think you're talking about the Brek cafeteria in Piazza Bra. The piazza is not named after a cafeteria, nor vice-versa. I'd been told that the piazza's name derives from a local dialect word meaning something like "open space."

Perche

You're right, thinking about Brek and Bra gets confusing. Maria Callas former apartment is right above Cafe Brek, in Piazza Bra.

thomas199023

Thanks for the extensive reply Perche! Very interesting to hear about TripAdvisor. I didn't know it was that corrupt.

Unfortunately for the dates I am traveling this week the CrownPlaza is sold out and the Best Westerns are nearing 150-200 euro per night. Looking at the pictures on TA and the reviews on booking.com I will still stay at the hotel I booked as I cannot find a better alternative. I will comment on it later this week. Luckily am only staying there for one night, (staying at th eboring AC Brescia the night before, but only because I have a business meeting in the vicinity of that hotel.

Do you know what happened to the (not so good) Holiday Inn in Verona? I remember staying there a few years ago but cannot find it anymore.

JMN57

I can recommend Hotel Villa Malaspina which is not in the central area but on the outskirts. It is a nice hotel and generally well priced. If you have a car it's not a hard drive into town and there is a big garage close to the central walking area.

The AC Brescia is in a more industrial feeling area (many of the AC's are) but is a nice modern hotel and comfortable. I can recommend Trattoria Santa Giulia for a meal. It's on the other side of town but if you have a car not a difficult drive. Quite charming and good food as well.

smooth

Hard to suggest any hotels without knowing your taste and budget. However, if you are looking for a perfect location Hotel Accademia would be hard to beat. I stayed there a couple of years ago, during the month of May. Back then, the rate was around $200/night, with breakfast. It was not exactly a 5-star hotel but I can't say anything bad about it either. It was clean, comfortable and right in the middle of everything. Sort of like an up-scale Best Western. I would stay there again without any concerns.
Verona is a fantastic city. Have fun, I envy you.

thomas199023

Stayed at the Giulietta e Romeo in the end. http://www.giuliettaeromeo.it/index.cfm/it/
I was really pleased with the hotel. Was upgraded to a "whirlpool room" It was indeed recently renovated, the room while basic was very clean and came with a big bathroom.

Best part about the hotel was the location, less than 50 meters from the Arena, in a side street. The hotel was easily reachable by car, and provided valet parking in an indoor car park for 24,- Euro per 24 hours.

Staff was friendly, spoke good English and was helpful with suggestions of sites to see. Yes it is a hotel catered to tourists, but it was totally fine and would not hesitate to stay here again. I paid 110 Euro per night for a double room.

PWMTrav

In the end, all hotels cater to tourists or business travelers. Well, unless you count hooking, but I digress. Nothing wrong with a hotel for tourists as long as it meets your standards.

ndesq

Does anyone have any strong recommendations for hotels in Verona, specifically as between the Due Torri and the Palazzo Victoria, which appear to be the two best options in town? We'll be coming from 3 nights at the Villa Feltrinelli and this will be our last night in Europe before we fly out from Verona Airport the following morning, so while we certainly don't expect anything lavish in the way of Feltrinelli while in town, we also want a bit of a soft landing and don't want to stay at an Ibis either... more to the point, the rates in town are very high -- it's a Saturday night during Opera season -- so if I'm going to drop $600-800 on a hotel room I don't want it to be somewhere unmemorable. (And on the other hand, if there's a gem that's closer to $300-400 a night, please do tell.)

Due Torri looks more like a classic grand hotel, easy to book through Virtuoso with the attendant perks, but perhaps a little fussy? Palazzo Victoria looks a little chicer, but is the service as polished and does it still feel true to Verona?

On another note, if we've got just one afternoon/evening in the city before flying out the next morning, is the opera a must-do? It sounds magical and atmospheric, but equally touristy and tacky. Neither of us are enormous opera fans and I'd love to spend a night exploring the town's restaurants, wine bars, and piazzas, but if this is a truly once in a lifetime experience, we'll do it. (I also have a few lingering fears about plunking down a couple hundred euros on tickets when it might be cut short by a rainstorm anyway... and yes, I'm aware I'll have just come from the Feltrinelli but I want to make sure the trip doesn't leave me totally broke!) In the alternative, is the opera something where we could duck out halfway through and get the best of both worlds?

Thank you in advance!

Concerto

I know it is far too late to help the poster above, but it may help somebody else. On my last two visits to Verona I have stayed at the Anfiteatro B&B which was excellent and classy. It styles itself as the place opera singers like to stay in and it could be true, given its proximity to the Arena. In a couple of weeks I will be trying the Crowne Plaza in Verona, which lies out of town a bit so it might be harder to get there.

Anfiteatro Bed and Breakfast

monvoyage

I have stayed at the Gulietta e Romeo many times and have booked many clients there. It is not fancy but you can't beat the location and the staff is excellent. The breakfast spread is also one of my favorites in Italy with lots of homemade cakes. If you want fancy, Due Torre is a reliable and lovely property.

Concerto

While we're on the subject of hotels in Verona, I was thinking of taking a taxi from the airport to the Crowne Plaza. Any idea how much that will probably cost me?
With the bus, it's going to take at least an hour, changing downtown onto an urban city bus. For two people that trip is already going to be a total of €12. So if the taxi is somewhere in the €20 range, it is worth if given the time saved (13 minutes driving time according to googlemaps).

EDIT - according to the hotel (Crowne Plaza) it will be around about 25 Euros to take a taxi. They heartily recommended taking the airport bus for 6 Euros, then connecting on to a city bus at the train station (which seems simple enough). If Crowne Plaza thinks the bus is ok (and almost preferable) then I am going for that option.