La Torricella

As experienced free travellers, we are used to the artistic impression that some hotel owners apply to their room descriptions and images. However, the artistic description of the "comfort rooms" in this hotel has been taken to a higher level. Even the title of the room we were presented with was an insult to our sensibilities, there is no comfort in this hotels "comfort rooms" We arrived at the hotel early evening, tired after a long drive and ready for a good meal in the restaurant. First impressions were good. Great location, easy free parking, attractive hotel building and a pleasant looking restaurant. We checked in at reception and were given our key to our "comfort room" !!!!! which was on the first floor. The lift was large and clean and we proceeded along the long corridor to our room! To say that the images of our room were unrepresentative of reality, would be a good description of what we faced when we opened the door. The room and en'suite were staggeringly small. The double bed had just one bed side table and there was a single antiquated light over the centre of the bed. The wall sockets were so old that in order to make them work, the plug had to be wedged in place. The floor is quarry tiled in style. There was no rug on the floor, there were no wall decorations of any sort. This was a thoroughly unpleasant place to be. The en'suite area which was the shape and size of a large cupboard with a recessed shower area so small that it was impossible to bend over to clean below knee height without opening the improvised door. The shower water oozed onto the en'suite floor area which was dangerous. There was also a 6 inch step between the bedroom and en'suite which is positively lethal if you are not concentrating. The TV was very small and the limited furniture was old, dull, and overbearing. There is no fire escape from the first floor and this hotel would be condemned in its current state if it were in the UK As we were tired and hungry, we made the decision to eat in the restaurant and get some sleep before confronting reception the next morning. The restaurant serves good food, the staff were polite and professional. The breakfast was about average in quality and choice. We had heard of the of the phrase "bait room" used in the hotel industry but had never experienced it. We believe that the room we were sold was very likely a "bait room". By that we mean it was a room that is given to the weary traveller that is so unfit for purpose that they pay for an upgrade. Having made our complaint we were indeed offered an upgrade to a room in the hotel annex at a cost of 20 euros a night extra. As we were on just a 3 night stay, we accepted rather than move on and through gritted teeth we remained polite and courteous, throughout the remainder of our stay. We paid our bill in full As far as we could tell, all guests during our stay were in the annex and it is our opinion that this hotel makes a lot of money from upgrades, We wil