Central Rooms — Hotel in Bolzano - Bozen

I stayed at Central Rooms in Bolzano a couple of years ago while my partner performed at a wedding. We booked it because it was one of the cheapest places in the city centre. On the map, the location looks ideal. But in reality, this turned out to be the creepiest and most unsettling stay I’ve ever had anywhere.

Yes, it’s central. But the building feels like an abandoned office block. To get inside, you have to walk through a narrow corridor between shop windows filled with mannequins. Then you unlock a metal gate with your key. Without the key, I’m not sure how you would get out. After the gate, you walk further in, and I think there were more mannequins behind glass. It already felt eerie in broad daylight. At night, it was worse.

There’s no reception, no staff, and no real sign of other guests. It feels more like a forgotten Airbnb than anything else. The room itself was dusty and extremely basic. The towels were thin and smelled strange. There was no visible mold, but my partner had a bad coughing fit the first night. Something in the air didn’t feel clean. The main door to the apartment area couldn’t be locked properly. Anyone could have walked in from the hallway. That alone made me uneasy.

The first night, we stayed there together. We heard other people snoring through the thin walls, which oddly made the place feel normal. But the second night, I was alone. That was when everything felt completely different.

I came back late. The elevator had worked fine before, but now it kept reopening just before closing, like someone was pressing the button. But no one was there. I took the stairs instead, and on the way up I had to walk past a door that had been wide open the entire time I was there. It led into total darkness. I never saw anyone go in or out of it. It was never closed.

When I got to my room, the entire building felt abandoned. There were no voices, no footsteps, no snoring, nothing. I started texting friends and half-joking about how creepy it was. Then I heard something above me. It could have been a chair being dragged or someone walking. But I hadn’t heard anyone arrive, and I couldn’t hear any doors or voices.

Then the bathroom door creaked open.

I had definitely closed it. I got up and checked. It was open. I closed it again and went back to my room, closed my door, and sat in silence. A little while later, I heard it creak again. This time I didn’t check. Then it creaked again. And again. The sound was exactly like what you hear in a horror film. And I couldn’t explain it. There was no airflow and no reason for the door to be moving.

That’s when I panicked. I kept thinking, if someone knocked on my door or tried to get in, there was no one to call and no one to hear me. The front door couldn’t lock. The window didn’t offer an escape. It just looked out onto an indoor balcony with another open dark hallway. There was a broom standing there that hadn’t moved in days. Everything about the space felt off.

So I grabbed my bag and ran. I went down the stairs, past the same open dark hallway, past the mannequins, unlocked the gate, and left the building. I went to the nearest restaurant and stayed there alone for hours, eating and drinking until my partner finished work and came back in the early morning. Only after he returned did I feel safe enough to go back. And only then did I hear other people snoring again. So they must have returned really late. But during the night, it felt like I was completely alone in the building.

I don’t believe in ghosts. But this place felt like it was straight out of a psychological horror movie. Nothing happened, but it easily could have. And that’s what makes it frightening.

If you are traveling with someone and just looking for a cheap place to sleep, maybe you’ll be fine. But if you are traveling alone, especially as a woman, I would not recommend this place. It might be central, but it is isolated, unstaffed, and it does...

Where do I start?! |THIS PLACE IS AWFUL |To begin, the check in was two streets down, and limited information was provided to find this check in location. |Following this, the building itself is very run down and in desperate need of renovation. |Once you eventually find you’re room, you’re greeted with a hot, empty and uncomfortable box. The barred window looks out to a creepy stairwell, which is a part of the inside of the building. |The furniture is very cheap, and the floor, is not a floor, as it looked like it hadn’t been finished. One, out of the five power-points provided worked, and the walls surrounding were very thin. Meaning we could hear our neighbours talking and watching TV. The place also has no wifi, so we had to go to McDonald’s to plan our day in Bolzano. |On the positive side, the shower and toilet are shared and in the hallway, and we’re actually rather nice. Additionally, the location was fantastic, right in the centre of town, and near all the good shops! Regardless, do not stay here, even just for a night to sleep, because you won’t be...

If you have an acquired taste for refurbished office spaces, made into a make shift hotel, then go ahead and book this hotel. But be warned of the non-functioning Aircondition, lots of mold on both the shared Bathroom and shower room and bring your own soap for bathroom trips, as the shared bathroom did not come with any soap or other utilities.

Be amazed of the low quality glass door, between your room and the hallway, where an automatic light will turn on when other guests are present, resulting in your room being lit by a bright white light. Sound crazy I know, but it is the truth.

The only upside is the low price, the good location and the friendly staff we met.

Lastly, Central Rooms is not named Central Rooms when your at the location in Bolzano, but rather: Residence Fink. So if your wallet can carry the weight, for the love of your sleep, find...