Hotel Grand Htl Trieste and Victoria - Abano Terme

A bog standard Italian 1980's hotel - dull interior, nothing special. Fairly snooty front desk. Not a place to take children. Abano Terme is a fair bog standard Italian tourist town, if you are younger than 115 dont go there! We were the only family with children! The photos on the web site seem to show a quaint Italian Villa - what they omit is that a 10 storey building has been added to the back of it. If your going to the Veneto area and are travelling by Ryan Air to Treviso, I suggest that you look are Treviso itself - the road between the town and Venice hosts many fine looking villas - they all seem to be called <hotel name> park villa - certainly worth a search! Anyway, despite the hotel and the town we had a great stay in the Veneto, Verona is lovely once you get past the arena area - try the piazas behind Juliets balcony. Venice is just fantastic even with a 14 month old boy and 5 year old girl - try pidgeon chasing in St.Marks square!

DUE TO THE POSITION OF THE HOTEL -ON A PEDESTRIANISED AREA -IT TOOK ME 45 MINS AND DIRECTIONS FROM 4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE TO LOCATE THE HOTEL. ON ARRIVAL AT MIDNIGHT, THE NIGHT PORTER HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF OUR RESERVATION AND HAD NEVER HEARD OF VENERE.COM. AFTER SPEAKING TO 2 DIFFERENT COLLEAGUES ON THE PHONE, HE WAS STILL UNABLE TO FIND OUR RESERVATION. HE DID GIVE US A ROOM FOR THE NIGHT, BUT ASKED ME TO CONFIRM WITH THE DAY STAFF ABOUT MY SECOND NIGHT AVAILABILITY.I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED AND UNSURE OF WHERE WE WOULD BE SPENDING OUR SECOND NIGHT THAT FIRST THING IN THE MORNING I TELEPHONED A DIFFERENT HOTEL AND CONFIRMED A ROOM WITH THEM. DOWNSTAIRS AT RECEPTION, THEY STATED THAT MY RESERVATION HAD BEEN RECEIVED BUT THE NIGHT PORTER WAS RELATIVELY NEW AND DID NOT LOOK IN THE RIGHT PLACE FOR MY ROOM!I ASSUME THAT THE OTHER NIGHT STAFF THE PORTER TALKED TO ON THE PHONE WERE ALSO UNAWARE OF THE PLACEMENT OF LATE ARRIVALS. I TOLD THE DAY STAFF THAT I HAD MADE OTHER ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE OTHER NIGHTS ACCOMODATION AND WOULD BE LEAVING THAT DAY, THEY ACCEPTED MY DECISION BUT NOT WITHOUT STATING THAT MOST GUESTS ARRIVED BEFORE 10PM . MY PLANE LANDED AT VENICE AIRPORT AT 9.30PM THEN AN HOUR AND A HALF TO COLLECT THE CAR AND FIND ABANO, THEN ANOTHER 45MINS TO FIND THE HOTEL. I AM NOT IMPRESSED WITH THE ATTITUDE OF THE STAFF- DAY OR NIGHT STAFF- ALTHOUGH THE HOTEL WAS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. ORGANISATION OF ROOM ALLOCATION AND CUSTOMER CARE COURSES ARE A DEFINATE MUST FOR THIS 5 STAR HOTEL!!!!!