Hotel Helvetia - Genoa, Italy 

just to give a little background information about myself, I am American. I expect big hotel rooms, free internet, big bathrooms, free drinks, etc... because that is how a lot of the hotels in America work. i stayed at Hotel Helvetia for 6 days. let me give the good things about hotel helvetia first. location: it is great. Hotel Helvetia is a 3 to 4 minute walk to the market/port/aquarium. the concierge is amazing. if there is anything you want, they will get it. they point you in the right direction, they really help you out. the food is good (breakfast). mostly pastries, some cereal, yogurts, bread... and the room service is diligent and on time. you leave for 30 minutes, and come back, and they clean it up, and do a great job very quickly. basically, the staff is by far the best part of Hotel Helvetia. now for the dislikes. firstly, there is the room. it is tiny. the room is about 8.5 feet by 8.5 feet. there is a queen sized bed, and then about 2 feet on each side of it . very little room to move. the bathroom is okay, but it is very old. there is a toilet, bidae, sink, and shower. the shower is actually decently sized, but my shower's "cold knob" did not work well, so you had to take a very hot shower, or one with very little water pressure (so that the hot did not overpower the cold). there is no wifi in the room. the reason that i was in genoa is because i am here for 6 weeks on business, and wifi is crucial for me. the wifi that they have is in the lobby (and maybe the first floor), and at night, many people go down there to try to talk to their families over the internet (like I did), so it gets very noisy and ruins the conversation. the internet then slows to a crawl at night too. the view outside my room stank. it was a tiny alley. and unfortunately, the hotel is near a major road that busses travel down, so it is very noisy. the elevator is tiny as well, but that is not rare in Genoa. i went to the Best Western Metropoli after a few days, and I think it is a much better hotel. the rooms are a bit bigger and nicer. I think the extra money is worth it.

Nice little hotel. Great front counter staff - very helpful in pointing out the areas of interest on the maps. Rooms are clean, but no frills. I thought it was great value for money and in a central area, with a short walk to the marina, the historical centre of town, the railway station and the shopping centre.