Ostello San Marco — Hotel in Cortona

After multiple confirmations with Sergio for this hostel about our booking for "one triple room with bathroom inside the room" and "one double room with bathroom inside the room", we arrive at the hostel to see that (apparently) NONE of the rooms have bathrooms inside the room, and the "private" bathroom for our double room (which was really a 6 bunkbed room, for my husband and I) was out in the hallway and had no shower, just toilets and sink. On the hostel's website in the Photogallery, there are pictures of quaint private rooms with a queensize bed, which is what I thought I had reserved- these rooms are NOT in the hostel, they are in Sergio's other establishment in Cortona, "Hotel Sabrina". Misleading, misleading, misleading. Sergio tried to mend things by setting my husband and I up in a room at Hotel Sabrina (which was fine), but the other 3 travelers in our party had to stay at the hostel, which they said felt very unsafe at night (college-age travelers wandering the halls at night, inviting guests into the hostel, someone crying loudly in the echoing hallway in the middle of the night). There is no staff on-site to ensure the safety of hostel guests. We will NEVER stay here again, and if you're a traveler who likes to be certain of a comfortable, safe stay, I do not recommend this hostel. Too many uncertain variables, despite how...

After confirming our reservations twice (via email), my husband and I were surprised to find that our room was "not available" when we arrived. Sergio, the guy who runs the hostel, was very helpful, though, and found us a room at a nearby monastery. The following day we returned to Ostello San Marco, and were able to check into our room. |We reserved the "family room", which consisted of 2 bunk beds (4 beds), a small table and chairs, a dresser, and a VERY small window to the outside. We visited in July and were extremely hot because of the lack of A/C and ventilation. Our private bathroom was clean (but a flight of stairs down from our room). For 16.50 euro/person, it was a great deal!|Overall, our stay was OK...but we felt that the hostel was not run as well as it should have been. There were only two staff members and neither of them spoke English very well. Not that I would expect them to speak English well...I just feel that they could have done a better job of managing reservations, posting check-out...

Great place to stay, can't wait to go back to Cortona. It was a good location, large rooms and clean. The bathroom was clean with nice hot shower. Sergio was very helpful, let us leave our luggage there after checking out. Only problem was the breakfast, wish they didn't have to include that in the price, it was so unhealthy, cookies, cereal, and coffee in a big pot, tast terribly, and cold, not what you would expect out of the...