Airone Pisa Park Hotel - Pisa, Italy 

Flew into Pisa, hired a car and stayed a week in Tuscany - Lucca x2nts, Sienna x4 & Pisa x1. I use TA a lot and for the first time ever, it let me down on this hotel. It was awful for the following reasons: 1. Upon entering the room, we found it to be full of cobwebs & creepy crawlies. And just as bad, the room smelt of drains. The walls were heavily marked/scuffed and dirty. 2. The room was dusty and had that feel of not being cleaned for months. 3. The shower spurted out in several places other than the head but even worse, was lukewarm. 4. There were no toiletries in the bathroom. Cheap soap dispensers next to sink and shower. You know, the sort that probably doubles up as the cleaning liquid. 5. Ask yourself this, why would a hotel ask for payment upon checking in? TIP - check out your room first! 6. I agree with other TA reviewers, it is quietly located (in other words, nothing close or in walking distance). However, there was plenty of graffitti just outside the hotel, so several people had obviously made the special trip out there. 7. The requisite air conditioning was industrial-strength from a noise point of view so cancelled out No. 6 above. 8. In addition to No.6 above, there was nowhere decent to eat locally. The area was 'quite rough' with louts hanging around everywhere. We ended up at a ristorante that fleeced us for eu94 and made us wait an hour for the privilege of average food. This was after rejecting the recommended Happy Planet ristorante that was akin to a 'bob's caffe' type place in the middle of a 'sink estate'. 9. The pool left your skin with an oily, slimy feel. I could go on but I trust you get the picture? On balance, I would like to mention the positives: 1. Convenient for Pisa transportation links. 2. Good sized pool although see 9. above. I complained to the receptionist about the smelly, dirty room and asked to change but was told 'no other rooms available,' 'here is a can of bug spray' and 'how hot do you need the water?' Great customer service NOT. Summarising, this hotel is SCRUFFY,CHEAP AND MORE LIKE A 1* MOTEL (albeit a concrete block painted a lovely shade of terracotta) - it is not recommended at all.

We were heading to Pisa for a vaguely romantic extended weekend away, and booked this hotel as it was rated highly, looked cute and seemed very reasonably priced. And I was so pleased by the experience i had to come back on and rave about it! We hadn't hired a car and this isn't a city centre hotel, but it is genuinely only 5/10min bus ride (2euros, hourly service) to Leaning Tower, and 15/20 mins to station/airport. Also Lucca is only 25mins in the opposite direction. The hotel also has an on demand shuttle service which is rougly the same cost as a taxi (12euros). But the slightly less convenient location is more than made up for by the tranquil surroundings. It's a couple of minutes down a deserted lane off the Lucca road, and the lovely views of the Tuscan hills can be appreciated whilst floating in the pool. The hotel itself is well maintained, there's one terminal in reception for free interent access, and the garden has great little terraces and outside seating areas. We booked direct with the hotel, (which was cheaper) and very easy and efficient. The staff couldn't have been more friendly and helpful, didn't mind speaking (very good) english, and seemed more than happy to lend us glasses, corkscrews etc for our own in room/poolside picnics, and didn't seem to notice us using the hotel towles by the pool etc! The room was large (wide, extremely comfortable bed), had a lovely, clean bathroom and was well air-conditioned. And we had absolutely no trouble with the mozzies. The little fridge was great for keeping our bottled water cool. However, although I'm not adverse to a long stroll, the supermarket others have mentioned as being close, is not! It's not on the bus route and is at least 25mins walk and a bit of an endurance test in 34 degree heat... stock up in Pisa instead. We easily had a couple of nights out in Pisa (and you can climb the tower at sunset), had day trips to Florence and the Cinque Terre (direct trains from Pisa) and as the trains seem to run up to midnight in Italy you can enjoy a proper leisurely evening meal in Florence and still get back to Pisa. However, even the onsite restaurant was worth trying, if not exactly outstanding, and the hotel bar (beer, water etc) was very reasonably priced. We didn't actually make it up in time for the much maligned 5euro breakfast, but the croissants, coffee & juice available from the (admittedly very limited) all day bar menu was more than enough to start the day! I would throughly recommend this hotel to everyone who wants to combine city and countryside (and who wouldn't want to in Tuscany) and has a car or is willing to put just a little bit of effort into public transport!