Royal Victoria Hotel

“Great expectations!”

First impressions left a lot to be desired. As other reviewers have noted, this hotel is a museum and great care has been taken to retain the heritage and associated prestige. I booked two rooms with river views for myself, husband and teenage daughter but myself and daughter were bizarrely alloc... more

First impressions left a lot to be desired. As other reviewers have noted, this hotel is a museum and great care has been taken to retain the heritage and associated prestige. I booked two rooms with river views for myself, husband and teenage daughter but myself and daughter were bizarrely allocated room 411 which is, as we later found out, billed as the ‘Charles Dickens’ room. Had they explained that at the front desk then we might have been better prepared for the shabby and frankly Dickensian conditions. It was extremely gloomy with a bidet and sink in the corner of the room. The view of rooftops (possibly quite charming in other circumstances) was situated beside the bidet so hardly a spot where you would stop to enjoy the view. The extremely small bathroom had a tatty shower curtain. It really did not meet our expectations and I’m afraid to say my daughter had a total panic at the thought of having to sleep there. The obvious solution was to swap with my husband who had the much better appointed room 203. This room also had the view of the Arno (I do wonder why they chose to put a family on two separate floors, the hotel is quite dark and could be quite frightening for younger guests which is the reason I was sharing with my daughter). Anyway, to cut a long story short, this room was absolutely fine, very charming. Yes the bathroom is very basic and the air con very noisy (added to the noise from the bustling street below), but after a good nights sleep and a tour through the spacious public rooms crammed with antiques, my daughter was completely captivated by the place and would happily return. Nevertheless, I didn’t get what I paid for (two river view rooms) and we complained to management about 411. After a surly exchange with the duty manager, my husband was reluctantly allocated another room on the first floor above a noisy side street. The room had an unpleasant odour and was dark and cramped. However, my husband found it preferable to the Dickens room (he has lost his sense of smell due to Covid). I have to say that Godwin on the front desk was very pleasant and tried to be helpful but the duty manager needed further training in customer service as he was taciturn and disinterested (hiding behind his computer at the back of the room). He also prevented Godwin from calling a taxi for us when we arrived at the station which was very poor hospitality. Breakfast was very basic, cheap produce like economy ham and cheese. Nothing special. This place could be an absolute gem if they sorted out the poor attitude of the management team and put a little bit of thought into their customer service.

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“Royal victoria hotel”

Totally disagree with other reviews. Plenty hot water, good WiFi, river view amazing. Yes a little bit noisy so don't book a central hotel! Never affected our sleep. Great location for everything. Would definitely book again based on our experience.

“A few small ‘tweaks’ would make all the difference”

This is a beautiful hotel full of history and quirkiness, really lovely helpful staff, fabulous location, the bits for me though which let it down were the awful hairdryer, one of those stupid contraptions in the bathroom, the bathroom was a real disappointment compared to the rest of the room, t... more

This is a beautiful hotel full of history and quirkiness, really lovely helpful staff, fabulous location, the bits for me though which let it down were the awful hairdryer, one of those stupid contraptions in the bathroom, the bathroom was a real disappointment compared to the rest of the room, the hotel (IMO) oozes class so a little tiny investment would have made all the difference eg providing water & glasses, nicer toiletries (eg refillable bottles in nice containers), a booklet with how to use the air conditioning, breakfast times etc. Breakfast wasn’t up to much but I don’t really expect that. There was a lovely little outside terrace too which was very peaceful.

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“Interesting hotel with history.”

Stayed here for one night on our way to Cinque Terre. An interesting hotel, it’s like a museum- You can imagine the grandeur as you walk around. Room was clean. Staff friendly. Good location and not far from the train station or the main sites of Pisa.