Pisa - Accademia Palace Hotel

I have stayed in many hotels over the years, but can't remember a hotel that has failed so comprehensively in so many areas.

The Accademia Palace is billed as four star, but think of this as a thin 4-star vaneer over a 2/3 star product.

The issues began with the location - The hotel is located on a main road, which serves Pisa and offers a good starting point for trips to Florence and via AutoStrada north or south. The issue is noise. If you have a room (which we did) which faces the road, the road noise is fairly unbearable. Closing the window was also not an option due to the room air conditioning not working. I asked re this and was informed by staff that this wouldn't be activated until the 10th of May, due to policy. The room was far too hot which contributed to us getting almost no sleep. Open the window to severe road noise, and your rest is equally interupted. Whatever the case, they appear to meter out the comfort to guests at will, as the day after I complained it was working.....for one day. After that, the fan just made noise and pumped ambient air?

The hotel also boasts free Wi-Fi internet access. We tried via iPhones and really struggled to get access. Granted, a lap top may have done better but this did not diminish the irritation that the access has an encryption, which we were not told about on check in. A visit to the reception will bestow you with an access code and password. Coverage is patchy at best, so don't rely on the connection for anything important. Another nugget of information not disclosed by the receptionist is that said password expires after 24hrs, at which point you need a new one. A five day stay will therefore see you visit reception for a new code five times. Why not simply have codes endure commensurate with your booking? Probably not 'policy' at Accademia as it shows a degree of customer focus....

The drip feeding of information was really quite something, compounded by the total lack of interest or service offered at reception. Even basic eye contact was at a premium....anything more you can forget completely. The absolute worst front of house staff I have seen.

Further basic issues existed, like a complete lack of water (hot or cold) for around thirty minutes. Typically, I was in the shower....on resumption of service the hot water ran the colour of weak tea! I didn't even bother to contact reception.

On a positive note the breakfast is good, and the in house restaurant not bad, if slightly overpriced. By no means a shining star of brilliance, but perhaps closer to 4 star quality. The older male waiters were pleasant and helpful, the younger girls were not quite so interested but still immeasurably more pleasant than reception.

You cannot knock the location as a base, but the critical failures are so numerous that you simply cannot consider this hotel if paying with actual money. The infrastructure is there, and some staff make the grade. Others, spectacularly do not.