Universo Hotel Lucca

Se nota que antes éste era EL hotel de la preciosa Lucca, pero hace tiempo que ha dejado atrás sus pasadas glorias. La decoración es sosa y poco original. No hay ni una flor (natural o artificial) que alegre el ambiente. El tamaño de las habitaciones varía bastante y algunas de las supuestamente «superiores» son cualquier cosa menos eso. El desayuno te lo sirven de mala gana y resulta bastante penoso en una tierra de abundancia como ésta. Parece que los gerentes ya no tienen ningún interés en el hotel, aunque el personal más joven de la recepción se esforzó al máximo para solucionar nuestros problemas. ¡Seguro que tenían mucha práctica! No vale lo que cuesta, no lo recomendaría.

Miserable service. no one to help with bags or top up the poor breakfast buffet. they told us they had parking next to the hotel, but there isn't - it's public parking outside city walls.

our deluxe room had a view of a brick wall. the common parts of the hotel are hideous.

they have frequent concerts in the square next to the hotel (simply red when we were there) and the base notes drummed thro the rooms from about 4.30pm until 11.30pm. in fact the concert was quite fun, but it was typical of the 'couldn't care less' attitude that they didn't mention this when we booked.

location is good and it looks lovely from outside, which is where I'd stay if I were you!

Can quite see that this was once THE place to stay in lovely Lucca but this hotel is now way past its former glory. Decor is drab and uninspiring. Not even a flower - real or artificial - to relieve the gloom. Rooms vary in size and some, referred to as "superior", are anything but! Breakfast, grudgingly served, is a sad experience in this land of plenty! The management seems to have lost interest, although the younger members of staff at reception did their best to resolve our problems. They have probably had plenty of practice! Poor value for money. Would not recommend.

Get one of the newly rennovated rooms with AC and this Hotel is perfect. Location is great,and i'm at a complete loss with the staff grievances of previous posts. I was at Universo for 3 days while Clapton was in town and Laura,Arianna,and Giaccmo behind the front desk couldn't possibly be more helpful and friendly. This place was a total homerun,and i've stayed in plenty......

The location of this hotel is very good. It's in the heart of the city. If you have a car you will find it very difficult to access the square where the hotel is located. You can however park nearby for free just outside the city walls.

The rooms were fine and ours was air conditioned with a great shower. It overlooked the square where (!!Beware if you want to sleep during the day or early evening!!) there are free concerts planned throughout the summer.

There is a good continental breakfast -although only filter coffee is available.

Overall I thought it was OK -an air of faded granduer but propabably not worth the €140 we had to pay walk-in rate.

The Hotel Universo has pretty neat, modern guest rooms - great bathrooms, but horrible (surly) staff and little to no airconditioning. The staff states that it is "against the law" to run the airconditioning throughout the day and night - although we checked with all the hotels on the same street and they laughed at such a statement. We checked with the other Best Westerns in the area and they also laughed. The rooms are small and with minimal window access to get a breeze. I would absolutely NOT stay here during any time when you think it might be hot. It was about 95 degrees when we were in Rome and it was quite miserable. One of the other guests was complaining and he had a 7 month pregnant wife who couldn't sleep due to the heat - they couldn't come up with any solution for him. They only run the air from 4pm until 10 pm and even then it's barely a trickle of cool air. There are plenty of other hotels nearby that have all day/all night air conditioning, I recommend going there. I don't know if they only heat partially during the winter... wouldn't put it past them. It's really too bad, because the rooms were pretty neat!

Am currently at the Hotel Universo in Lucca while on business. Be aware that only 50%, at the maximum, of the rooms in this hotel are air conditioned and ours is not one of the good 50%. In hot weather, as it is now, this is a problem. We are experienced European travelers and would not rate this hotel highly in terms of staff service as well.

We stayed at Hotel Universo in October, 2004, and were favourably impressed by its locale and helpful staff. However, our small room was cramped twin beds hardly 6" apart) and the bedding somewhat

coarse, especially the pillows. Yet, all was spotlessly clean. The en-suite bathroom - clean in itself, was unfortunately subject to drainage smells at certain times of the day. Towels and toilet items were in

ample supply but the lighting was rather dim. Breakfast was largely a matter of personal taste, a variety of nibbles and a plentiful supply of hot beverages. Not a delight for the more hearty morning appetites, but adequate enough to get the blood sugar started. The lighting in the breakfast-room is inadequate, and the dark decor does nothing

to help, although it is calculated to flatter the architecture. On the positive side, this hotel is ideally situated on the Piazza Giglio, near to all the facilities and delights of the interesting city of Lucca. Providing improvements continue to be made, as suggested above, I would definitely stay here again.

While the great art critic John Ruskin may have stayed here it could have been because he had no other choice. Until last year recent visitors has little choice either so this moderately placed dump got everybody. Now there are alternatives - please look for them. The hotel is dark and dreary with a hostile desk staff and the restaurant in the hotel seemed always to be closed. The room had a high ceiling but an unattractive decor that was newish but in poor shape (walpaper peeling off). Breakfast is not worth a mention. the location is terrific as is the restaurant next door but there is literally nothing positive to say about the Universo. It is not horrible, just totally unmemorable.