California Park - Forte dei Marmi, Italy 

We booked the California Park hotel for a four night stay by the coast before heading to Tuscany. We arrived around 2pm to be told that lunch was in fact over but the very helpful receptionist said that the restaurant would be able to rustle something up. Luigi the Maitre d then appeared-he was extremely unfriendly and incredibly rude. He told us we could have some pasta with a sneer on his face and when we dared to ask what sort of pasta he dismissed us with a wave of his hand. We sat down to have bowls of luke warm pasta put down rather heavily in front of us and then we were charged for the set three course lunch-not a good start! We were then shown to our room. When we booked I requested a room with a balcony-what they did not tell me was that the balcony was shared with the room next door-a rather loud Italian couple. In addition to the noise created by next door there were building works over the road which created a constant drilling sound. Trying to be positive that evening we decided to give the restaurant another try-we shouldn't have bothered. The food was appalling-the starter was particularly vile- clams served in vol au vents(clearly straight out of a packet), and incredibly expensive. The main course was the toughest, driest piece of fish I think I have ever had and the salad was rather limp. The following day we just couldn't bear it any longer. Having pre paid for four nights at a rate of 360 euro a night and having only been able to bear a single night we attempted to negotiate so we could move on. The manager was not working but the delightful student receptionist was able to contact her by telephone. She refused to speak with me directly and instead kept passing messages through the poor receptionist essentially saying we could not get any of our money back. Eventually after protrated negotiations we were reluctantly refunded a single night and 50% of the lunch. If you are even thinking of visiting Hotel California do think again!