Holiday Hotel, Bologna

Advantages: centrally located, large rooms, excellent value
Disadvantages: some rooms on the top floor too hot in winter

...I know the Palace Hotel in Bologna because I stayed there every year when we had our annual teachers' conference. I would say it is a superior three star hotel. First the location- it is very central just a few minutes walk from the main square Piazza Maggiore. It is tucked away in a small street off the main Via dell'Indipendenza. The organisation I worked for chose the hotel I think because of its central location and also because it has a large number of rooms. All are comfortable and perfectly well appointed. There is a certain old world style reception area. The quality price trade -off is just right. Breakfast is usually included and is more than adequate. They had a full breakfast bar the last time I was there and you can order coffee or tea from the staff. They have great cornetti as well which are fresh every morning... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: cheap at first glance
Disadvantages: not really cheap, overall insufficient product & service quality

...Some writers have commended the Holiday Inn for its excellent service at very reasonable prices. A look behind the scenes of the brand policy, products and pricing shows however a very different picture. Holiday Inn is in fact often more expensive than the competition and provides a low degree of service for the price. The problem with the perception of HI is that most people only know their lowprice HI Express chain and have little to say about HI's other brands and products. All five opinions posted on HI before mine only discuss the merits of HI Express, but that's just one of four HI brands. That's also Ciao's mistake, they should have created a category for each brand/chain separately. The Holiday Inn Group consists of four brands of Hotels: ~ the classic Holiday Inn Hotels, 4-5 Stars ~ the upmarket Holiday Inn Crown Plaza... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Good location
Disadvantages: dull, dull, dull - and not cheap either

...This hotel has been listed on Ciao for more than two years without anyone writing about it and I'm not actually all that surprised. Writing a review of a really good hotel is easy and writing one about an awful hotel is fun. But how about hotels that are just a bit blurgh - not great, not awful? Is it actually possible to write an interesting review of an uninteresting hotel? I'm still not sure about that. If you find it a bit dull, please go and read one of my other hotel reviews - they'll probably be more interesting but Ciao needs the good and the bad as well as the mediocre. Sitting in my room at the Holiday Inn in Paris St Germain de Pres I couldn't help but reflect that the designers drew heavily from that area of the colour palette best characterised by the term 'nicotine'. Not a popular colour card at the 'mix your own Dulux... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful