Passionate personnel, spacious and clean rooms, a small but nice breakfast buffet and a gayfriendly atmosphere made me love this hotel with officially two stars.
For a three day city trip, I searched for a decent hotel not too far away from the center of Milano and actually found Hotel Charly on a site listing gayfriendly hotels. I wasn't sure if I could get in troubles getting a king-size bed for my boyfriend and me in Milano, so because all the other aspects I cared about were given, we chose this hotel. The other aspects were closeness to the city, to the central station a a kind of "charme" that you don't get in big chains. When booking the hotel in another city, I was determined by the number of stars and very disappointed - this time I wanted to have other criteria to choose my hotel. Especially when I saw the pictures of the flowers in the backyard, I just wanted to go there.
Location: The online pictures absolutely show what you get - in a positive way: Within five minutes walking distance from the central station, you turn into Via Ludovico Settala and it does not look like the one of the nicest spots in Milano, but the ok ones. When you arrive at the hotel, it makes you think to be in a kind of Italian cottage house, well not an abandoned one of course, but one that's been well kept by it's owners. On the floor, there is a red carpet, the main door opens automatically when you approach to it. A small veranda open the view to this really beautiful backyard, a feast for the eyes where you actually would expect just a gray backyard.
The roomsare in the same style, compromise of a really big bed, each side with a separate light, the bathroom did not have a bathtub (well I booked the economy room, maybe the premium economy is better equipped) but it had a bidet. The shower was powerful and warm and had a big shower head.
The personell is just great. I had no problems to communicate in English - when I checked in and the actually older guy at the reception looked at the booking (I wrote I want one king-size bed) and looked at us, there was no weird question as to if I am sure that we don't want two separate beds (usually happens to us in big hotel chains). There is a 24/7 reception where you always have have to place your room keys (there is a little safe in the room). That's quite convenient for going out to the many gay bars just around the corner.
I could go on and on about all the details I liked, but let's just summarise: It's a cosy, neat and clean hotel for a decent price and centrally located, of all the many 2-star-hotels, you should choose this one. read more