We booked a one night stay prior to our departure from Linate airport. A double bed was not available in an accessible room (I am in a wheelchair), so we chose a regular room. Usually we can manage OK without all the special handles etc.
The first problem is the lobby, which is up a long flight of stairs. There is no other way into the hotel. My husband went up the stairs, checked us in, then came back down to where I was waiting. An employee went from Reception to a lower level and opened a locked door for us. This allowed me to roll down a ramp, then navigate through the basement and up an elevator to our floor. If I had been travelling alone, I would have to phone the hotel to open the secure door in order to check in. We had to repeat this process when we returned from dinner.
We opened the narrow door to our room and immediately decided to ask for an accessible room instead. My wheelchair wouldn't fit in the room or enter the bathroom. The hotel switched us with no difficulty, but at this point we were wondering why a hotel with an inaccessible lobby would have accessible rooms!
The room's accessible features were a bit more open space and wider doors. The toilet had no grab bars and the shower was a rounded corner shower that was not ro in and didn't have a seat.
We went down for breakfast and found that the elevator didn't go to the right level. The restaurant was down half a flight of stairs. An employee took us around through hallways to a second elevator that went to the restaurant level. We had to take two elevators back to our room.
The hotel menu did not inspire us for dinner so we went out. We ate at the hotel for breakfast. I am allergic to gluten so I had scrambled eggs from the buffet, which were lukewarm, a mint, cucumber, and tomato juice smoothie (nice), fruit (cantaloupe, pineapple, and kiwi) and walnuts and pumpkin seeds. The water for tea wasn't hot enough to steep tea, especially because the tea cups were very small.
We parked on the street.
The staff were helpful with our accessibility issues when we needed the secure door opened, etc. Anyone checking in with a lot of luggage would have to do the same or carry bags up that flight of stairs. I just don't feel that's a workable hotel design. An intercom from the entrance to Reception would make the situation slightly better.
BTW, hotel location was a challenge for our rental car GPS to find. Google Maps was better. Watch for white rectangular signs with "nh hotel 2" when you get close. read more
