Hotel berhampiran Biblioteca Forcellini-Camin (quartiere 3 Est), Padova

The hotel Donatello is well located across from the city's Basilica di San Antonio, and about 5 minutes from the famous Prato della Valle and 10-15 from the city centre and old city (university, ghetto, daily markets, pedestrian street, etc). From the outside, the hotel looks quite elegant and I suspect that front facing rooms have a nice view. To be honest, however, everything else about the hotel was rather disappointing. Rooms are actually tired and pretty gloomy. The single rooms are extremely small, the doubles are of decent size but tend to overlook blind narrow courtyards and feel rather dark and a bit depressing with a decor that seems stuck in the 1970s. Cleanliness is variable, lighting unpleasant, and whilst beds are decent, the pillows are hard and quite uncomfortable. Breakfast is quite poor. If you come when one of the ladies taking care of the breakfast room are around, they will prepare you a decent coffee from the barista machine, however, if they are not, it is a fairly ghastly automatic machine that uses instant coffee to make ”fake” espressos and cappuccino which is used instead. Juice is a strange watery thing from a machine. The best part are the nice homemade cornetti (croissants filled with jam, cream or chocolate) but apart from them, fruit, salad, bread, etc are all of poor quality and the scrambled eggs and meat are stone cold. There is a toaster which doesn't seem to work well and mediocre bread. Service in the hotel is not very friendly - reception staff ranged from reasonably cordial to barely polite and in one case, outright unpleasant. In short, the place is certainly not horrible, but equally, it doesn't seem too bothered about customers let alone interested in making them want to come back. A bit of a wasted opportunity given the nice location they fail to capitalise on.

There was no welcome when we arrived neither were we asked how our stay was at the end. In fact we found the reception quite standoffish apart from a young man (see below) The hotel is tired, we booked a mid range room. A lot of the room was a corridor so completely wasted space. The rollers in the shower screen had come out of the guide, the toilet was constantly running water and there was a strange mark on the toilet seat and the bathroom fittings were definitely not four star standard. We were given one complimentary bottle of water between two of us and one extra pillow between of us for a two night stay. None of the bathroom lotions were replenished after the first night. Everything seemed to have an extra price attached to it which has been complimentary in similar hotels My husband was feeling very ill and asked if he could have a glass of tap water at the bar and was refused. He was told he had to pay for water. (The previous hotel gave a glass of tap water with every drink at the bar so it wouldn’t have been an unreasonable request) Whilst we were in our room at 9am on a Saturday morning there was loud intermittent power drilling in the hotel on and off for about an hour. We felt this was a totally inappropriate time to be doing that sort of work then. There was one positive point,a young man on the desk was very helpful when we asked for directions to the nearest pharmacy. We loved Padova and would highly recommend a stay there just not at this hotel

The breakfast at this hotel is simply outstanding, providing a delightful start to each day of my stay. The wide variety of dishes catered to all dietary needs and preferences, ensuring that every guest found something to enjoy. From freshly baked pastries to omelettes and a selection of coffees, the breakfast spread was a true culinary delight. The impeccable service provided by the attentive and friendly receptionists ( especially Davide) added an extra touch of warmth to my mornings. They greeted guests with genuine smiles, promptly seating them and ensuring that their dining experience exceeded expectations. The receptionist's attentiveness to detail and willingness to accommodate special requests truly made me feel like a valued guest.

I have rarely stayed in such a large room with such unsatisfactory design and contents. Even a basic budget hotel always has a place to stand a suitcase effectively. If a safe is provided,it will always be large enough to hold a camera.Window cills do not have over a one inch gap from the wall ,so admitting unwanted light. Apart from the total omissions, there were a couple of really slovenly management failings.The builders’ red plastic packing wedges between floor and wall fittings were still in place.The bidet was emitting a strong drain smell, as the trap seemed to have dried out through disuse by the occupants , and the housekeeper had failed to run any water through. The things I merely thought very poor for a four star hotel were numerous-the inappropriateness for a hot climate of the giant duvets and clinging soft topped mattresses,the lack of any work space( only “ desk” was occupied by ridiculous flashy kettle),poor bedside tables,and the bathroom - huge,but no bath. The reception staff were not very bright,and gave me a “map” with an incorrect street name at the hotel location! The breakfast had nothing in common with the attributes of the room- just a standard “ International” type with no failures. I am at present in an “Ibis” hotel somewhere even hotter than Padova.It is superior in every way ,except that it fails to look flashy.They even have a map.

This is one of the nicest places we stayed in Italy but it had one extreme problem...they turn off the air conditioning in ALL the rooms Oct 1st. We stayed mid October. Our room got to 30 celcius (86 degrees f) and they couldnt turn on the air. We were told it was winter time and the air is off and cannot be turned on. I couldnt sleep so I opened the window only to have to kill many many flying bugs. The bugs just keep flying in. I had to close the window and endoure the heat. I was part of a group and EVERYONE (at least 15 couples) complained about the heat, but the employees couldnt do anything about it. Traveler beware...after Oct 1st, if its hot, your going to cook in these rooms.

The website was very deceiving. The building was very old, and needed a good overall on the outside. The grounds needed alot of care, I understand during that time of year it would not be up to par but it was neglected and we could not even explore the grounds because there was tape stopping us from walking around. Speaking of the grounds, it is not nestled in the middle of the forest or mountains. You are in the middle of a town with roads all around and traffic could be seen and hear from my window. I did not have a great view. Concerning the room, it was a shock. It was decorated in old style furniture not modern at all. The sitting area was just room enough to sit facing the closet because we could not turn the chair around because the door wouldn't open. We asked for a twin room and received a double bed. There are 2 guests but it doesn't mean we want to sleep in the same bed!! The only good thing was the size of the bathroom. It was spacious and I appreciated that. Double sinks were great. On the site it sates 3 restaurants are on the premise but please not one only opens in the summer months and another was closed. Which we were not informed off. If you want to eat in the restaurant you need to book in advance otherwise you will not have a spot. Another thing we were not told about. This comes to the reception area. The elderly gentleman was a snob. He did not greet us kindly , nor give us any information concerning our treatments we booked. He didn't tell us about the closed restaurant, nor that we needed a reservation. The only positive was that a young woman who worked there was very helpful with whatever questions we had. She also helped to find a reservation at another restaurant when we couldn't get a spot at the hotel. The treatments..... both pools were small and people didn't share the time between each activity. They would spend so much time at one thing and didn't care that people were waiting on line. The turkish bath could fit 4 people and my shower was warmer. The spa could hold 2 and it was very sad. No heat at all. I had a massage booked and a mud bath. I came away from the massage worst than when I entered and even though the mud bath seemed lovely and the polish lady who was in charge was so kind and lovely, I immediately became sick after it and spent the same day in bed with a stomach bug and vomiting. No, I did not enjoy this spa or thermal bath. I would never return. Definitely do not come with children, it is mostly elderly people and the young kids we saw were miserable.

Rinnovata da poco è una hotel grande e accogliente. Colazione buona e abbondante, stanze pulite. Piscina interna ed esterna. L’acqua è calda ma un pò troppo trattata.