Hotel Santa Marta - Milano, Italy 

Small depressing room without window, unfriendly staff. I would have accepted the low standard for half the price I paid.

I found this hotel in Rick Steves' 2008 Italy guide. He had discribed it as fresh tranquil, basic rooms. The room was anything but fresh. The Hotel had raised its price from ?140 to ?210, with the cash discount, since Rick Steves' review. We had reservations for 3 nights and the hotel required “payment upon arrival”. We paid for our 3 nights, over $1,000, and went to the room. It had a bad odor of a dirty dish rag, it had dingy sheets, mold in the bathroom, & garbage stacked up outside our window. The toilet made a loud screeching groan when flushed and the tank leaked. I tried spraying Frebreeze in the room without any improvement. We tried to stick it out (for 6 hours) & then a spider crawled across my foot--this was not exactly what I expected for a room that was over $300/night. I told the attendant our issues with the room & after calling her supervisor she refused to return any of our money for any of the 3 nights (over $1,000) that we had paid for. We left anyway and stayed at the sparkling clean, professional & friendly--Hotel Spadari--just a few blocks away. The cost was ?2.00 less per night than at Hotel Santa Marta! I've been using Rick Steves' guides for 18 years & have always had good to great experiences. This is the first time that I felt totally ripped off!