Hotel Accademia — Hotel in Verona

A hotel can't get to No2 in the TripAdvisor ratings without doing most things right and that is the case with the Accademia, which is overall one of the best city hotels I have stayed in. That's not to say that everything is perfect, but the bottom line is that the things that matter most are, which is why so many people rate this place.

The location is excellent - right in the middle of everything you will want to see, with all major attractions (not to mention the city wall limits of the old town) within an easy 10 minutes walk. List all the 'must see sights' and you will find that this hotel is close to them all. Then there's the staff, who (in my experience) go way beyond 'the norm' for this sort of hotel. As an example, on the second day of our visit, we happened to mention that we fancied going to see the Giotto frescos in Padua (about an hour away by train) but weren't sure about the best trains to catch etc. It was just a casual conversation with the receptionist, but when we returned to the hotel that evening, we found in our 'cubby hole' a print off of all the train times that someone had gone to the trouble of doing for us. The following day, the same receptionist volunteered to buy the tickets online for us (you have to buy them a day in advance) and printed them off for us. In addition, every time we ordered taxis, the hotel managed to get them to us in under 5 minutes - amazingly efficient!

You really couldn't want more from the location and staff, plus the rooms were a good size, by 'city' standards. So what were the 'faults'?

Well, in nit picky mode, I would say that the bathroom had a distinctly 1970s feel about it and although the breakfasts were lovely, with scrambled / boiled eggs plus some juices provided, if you wanted the 'luxury' of two poached eggs and a glass of fresh orange juice, well that would cost you an extra 11 Euros. A bit steep when many hotels of this type would lay on that sort of thing within the 'B&B' rate. But did it really matter? No, we just stuck to the scrambled eggs and the myriad of other very good breakfast foods that were on offer.

Then there was the gloriously 'Italian' air conditioning issue, brought about by the fact that we were inconsiderate enough to stay at the hotel at a time when it couldn't quite make up its mind whether it was summer or winter. Should it keep its heating operational, or should it make the change to air con? Well, the solution was to do neither - the hotel actually turned everything off, so that neither heating or air con worked at all, for the duration of our stay. Not great when we'd specifically chosen the hotel because it had air con in the bedrooms and the daily Verona temperatures were middle 20s to near 30 degrees C. It made for some very uncomfortable nights, but it wasn't the end of the world, plus the daytime in beautiful Verona more than made up for it.

So, to conclude, this is an excellent hotel, that is very close to being perfect - for the money, I don't think you could do much...

This is a delightful hotel fantastically well placed for all the beautiful shops and less than a three minute walk to the Opera Arena.||The bedrooms and Suites have all been refurbished to an excellent standard. We have a really lovely Suite on the 3rd floor.||The staff including the Manager could not have been more helpful, professional or kinder. They say you do not get a second chance to make a first impression and that is so true here. What a great first and everlasting excellent impression.||We had stayed here three years ago when it was a little tired and needed upgrading. Well they have done a magnificent job. ||The bathrooms are modern, comfortable and large. The bed and linen as luxurious and the bed is incredibly comfortable. The housekeeping is excellent. The room and bathroom are immaculate and spotless. We asked for more cost hangers and a blanket as I feel the cold and they came within minutes of asking. We asked that our room was cleaned while we were at breakfast and this was done straightaway.||The breakfast is absolutely first class - everything is delicious and there is a great choice.||The waiting staff are most caring and efficient and they all speak excellent English and bring the exact tea and coffee with the milk we ordered efficiently and promptly.||We cannot fault this hotel and love its brilliant position.||I would make it a 5 star hotel but it only serves breakfast although it has an all day buffet available on the ground floor for which you pay 20 euros if you wish and can take as much and whenever in the day you want.||We are having a really lovely rest here and hope to enjoy the Opera tonight. Sadly yesterday the weather was shocking with thunder and lightening with a deluge of rain which lasted from late afternoon until after 01.00am, into the early hours of the next day. So there was no Opera for us to see.||We are hopeful tonight’s performance will be able to start and finish with no interruptions for rain.||I have probably increased the National GDP with the fabulous clothes and handbags and trainers that I have bought and may need another suitcase to take everything back to the UK.||Thank you The Accedemia staff for such a warm welcome making our stay here so good.||I want to thank the staff most sincerely for making this such a...

This was the start of a holiday to celebrate a special birthday for me. We booked a superior double room which tbh wasn’t as nice as I expected||The room was the same as one others in our party booked as a classic double, seemed dark, cramped and noisy with bars on the window. The hotel did move us the next day to a room higher up which was quieter and no bars on the window so I didn’t feel so claustrophobic. Pillows could do with an upgrade though as they were like bricks. ||The staff were lovely, the position was great for getting around and we did enjoy our stay after that first night. I mislaid a bag in moving and thought it had been taken, but it had been picked up by my daughter as I’d accidentally put it on top of her jacket when I’d stored our things in her room whist waiting for the new room. ||I would say it’s not suitable for those with either mobility issues or with young children as though there is a lift, you still have to get up and down steps from lift to your room. They may have better rooms but ours all had steps. ||As a base for getting around Verona it’s perfect, just it’s an old building in the middle of other buildings so can seem dark, but as I say, staff were great so a good...