Hotel Romantik di Salerno

convenient location on corso vittorio emanuele so right in the center of everything but pretty poor service from everyone we encountered except the young woman staffing the front desk on the day of our departure. she should be promoted to train *everyone* (especially the insolent loud mouthed male staff who spent their time mansplainin') in the hotel on what it means to have good customer service. a good hotel experience starts with a positive customer experience when you get to the hotel. my first complaint would be that the hotel doesn't provide good directions on how you are actually allowed to pull your car in front of the hotel on a street that is closed to traffic. anyone with experience driving in italy is well aware of the risks of driving a rental car in a ”forbidden zone” and that is what corso VE looked like to us. by comparison, our hotel in Matera where we headed after salerno emailed us explicit directions on driving to the hotel through Matera's restricted zones. when i arrived in the lobby to check in i got some (lousy) directions to a parking building they use (didn't use it-found public parking 5 minutes away). after insolent 20 something (dark haired boy with glasses as i recall) told me the checkout time was 10.30, i asked if we could get it extended to 11 or 11.30. a flat no. ok. then i went to grab the luggage rack to bring our stuff in from the car. check in guy says i can't use it! i think he sent someone to ”use it for me”. anyway, once we get into the room (a triple as i recall), it is very warm in there and we turn on the a/c. only it doesn't seem to be working. we call down to the front desk ”oh, yes, we need to turn it on for you” so even though you have an a/c conrol, everything is actually controlled from the front desk (we had a similar problem the next morning and i think we got one of the owners-short, older gentleman who sleeps in the hotel!-to call down to get the a/c running again and he had to call multiple times). the next morning as we headed to breakfast (marginal but a good coffeemaker for espresso) there was some management guy pontificating to a younger person about many things with lot's of ”che cazzo's” (yes, anglo's other than me who speak italian and lived in salerno for two years do understand this). how do i know he was associated with the hotel: because earlier when i was about to go running, he asked me ”may i help you/posso aiutarti” as i headed for the public bathroom to use it before my run, as if i didn't belong there. anyway, the woman at the desk that morning told us that a later checkout was not a problem, and was a breath of fresh air compared to the knuckleheads we encountered up until then. there were other minor issues with the room that needed attention like ripped wallpaper and chipped tiles but the overwhelming negative was the attitude of the staff except for the young woman who actually knew what she was doing. i would not stay here again until the staff get better train