Hotel Lisbona: Great Location, but Skimpy SizePosted: Tue, Jul 08 2008When my husband booked our trip to Italy, I told him that I had two criteria that had to be met in order to stay in a hotel: private bathroom and clean. Hotel Lisbona certainly meets these two criteria.
Pros: Hotel Lisbona is very close to St. Mark's, Harry's Bar and a Vaporetto stop. The hotel clerk was very kind to my husband and me. He even carried our luggage up the three flights of stairs. Breakfast in the morning was more than adequate. It included a toast, rolls, croissants, cereals, juices, cheese, meats, and a pastry. Fresh cappuccino and tea were brought to our table by a kindly woman. The hotel offered/arranged a free water taxi ride over to a glass factory on the Island of Murano. There was no pressure to buy anything at this factory and we received a fun and informative tour of the glass factory. Our room did overlook the canal and at night it was fun to open the window and look at the gondolas passing by the room. There is a major gondola station from which you can commission a gondola ride right outside the hotel.
Cons: Our room was VERY tiny. I believe that this goes for the rest of the rooms. If you are planning on carrying a lot of luggage, this is not the place for you to stay. The bathroom was tiny, as well. It only inlcudes a stand up shower, not a bathtub. The bed was not a true full or queen. Rather, it was two twin sized beds pushed together. Unfortunately, I rolled into the center gully on several occassions. This seemed to be a pretty common occurrence, though, in Italy. The mattress itself was fairly stiff and there were only two pillows, which were not very supportive. To be fair, we did not request additional pillows. The air conditioning worked moderately well. We stayed during a wave and the room was stuffy at times. Don't expect American standards of air conditioning; you will be disappointed.
I was happy with my experience because I suspended my American understanding of hotels and recalibrated it to be in keeping with what is offered in Europe for this price level of hotel.