Berna Hotel, Milan

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Good
Quality of Rooms	Good
Standard of Service	Good
Quality of Facilities	Average

Advantages:	Great breakfast, Great location
Disadvantages:	Decor wasn't great

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Walking out of the train station in Milan, every traveller is bombarded by streets with hotels lining either side. It can be difficult to decide which one to choose but the Berna is defiantly worth a stay.

Although my family and I only stayed one night before flying home, the hotel was the comfiest night’s stay I had all holiday.

When entering the cool foyer there is an array of Italian sweets and chocolate, and a choice of some newspapers (unfortunately none in English, but you can still look at the pictures) and comfy sofas, great to collapse in after a days travelling in the heat.
The reception staff are very friendly, welcoming and speak very good English, which always makes life a lot simpler, there was no queue so we were in our rooms within minutes of arriving. There are two lifts available to take guests to upper floors, but are small, only comfortably holding 3 people. There are stairs also.

Our rooms consisted of three single beds, large wardrobe, desk, cupboards, work tops, 5 mirrors (!), en-suit and free mini-bar containing soft drinks including cola, water and pear juice. The décor wasn’t great though, our room had floral wallpaper, curtains and bed covers, with a maroon floor. There were many different leaflets from the hotel wishing us a good night and a leaflet from our room maid which I thought was a nice touch. There were facilities for making coffee and cakes had been left out for us.

The hotel had cable TV; most of the cannels were in Italian apart from 13 which was CNN and 9 which was a film channel, which were in English, making a nice change. There were also a few music channels.

The en-suit contained a shower, toilet, large sink, bidet, another large mirror and an array of free toiletries including the usual shower cap, tissues and soap.

After exploring our room it was time to venture out. The hotel is in walking distance, of Milan central station, an underground station (where you can catch frequent trains to the centre of the city) and a number of restaurants and shops, including 2 McDonalds.

For every room you have 30 minutes of free internet access, on the hotels 3 computers. Even though it spends 5 to work out how to use the keyboard this hotel feature is great to catch up with friends and news from home. You can buy more time on the computers at extra cost. Next to the computers there were a number of free snacks, fruit and drinks, some rather odd including German packaged cold toast.

After using up my free access, I returned to my room, watched Cheaper by the dozen, (which happened to be playing on the English film channel) then went to bed. The beds were comfy and the room was at a comfortable temperature. The room was very quiet so made for a peaceful nights sleep.

The best was yet to come, after a peaceful night’s sleep I went down for breakfast. It was the biggest, most beautiful breakfast I had ever seen, it stretched over 4 tables and was beautifully laid out. On offer was a fresh fruit salad, cold meats, bacon, fried egg, pastries, filled pastries, a number of different breads, fresh cakes, cereals, fruit juice ( even a blender with a supply of carrots so you can make your own carrot juice) teas and coffees. There was more and in fact you would probably have to see it to believe it.
Hot chocolate was available, but what I didn’t realise is that it came out of the jug as concentrated chocolate, so your own milk has to be added to the drinkers taste. Another novelty was a cookie spoon, pretty much what it says on the packet.
The breakfast staff were helpful and cleared away after you.

Checking out was simple, just hand your room key back and the porters will take your luggage outside, and that was the end of our stay in Hotel Berna, Milan, and Italy.

Shuttle busses leave for the numerous airports every 10 minutes from the station which is a 10 minutes walk away.

Great Value, Great Location and Great food are the three reasons why I would recommend this hotel to anyone staying in Milan.