Starhotels Rosa Grand (Milan, ITALY)

We started off our annual trip to Europe the same way we did last year - in Milan. But as opposed to last year when we immediately drove down to Genoa, this year we're actually spending time in the city.

Milan is a big city so not surprisingly, there are a lot of choices for accommodations. On our last visit, we stayed primarily near the Navigli area so this time around, we made sure we're spending some time at Piazza del duomo and Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II. With finding a hotel near duomo di Milano my No.1 priority, I narrowed down my search to a handful of hotels before finally deciding on StarHotel Rosa Milano.



Here were a few observations and findings during our stay:-

• I knew the hotel would be pretty close to Duomo di Milano and Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II. I just didn't know it's THAT close. With the entrance of the hotel just a mere 150 metres away from the cathedral (back of the church), it really made things a lot easier for us, especially with our little one around.

• We requested for early check-in knowing we would be arriving in Milan in early morning (7am-ish). After a long 12-hour flight, it would be nice to have our rooms (we have 2 rooms) ready for mom and little nugget to get some much needed rest. And kudos to the team here, they made things happen by having one of the two rooms ready when we arrived at around 10am. Would have been nice to have both rooms ready but one was enough to get everyone freshen up.

• There's a couple of parking spots in front of the hotel so we managed to unload our luggage up front very quickly before letting their valet guy do their work (50 euro per night which is pretty standard in the heart of Milan).

• Check-in was easy. There was obviously a problem with their scanning of our passports (more on that later) but for the most part, pretty efficient.

• Wifi connection is good and stable (and it's free!).

• The room was pretty well sized for Italian standard. We found our deluxe twin room (which also has a small balcony that we never used) a bit bigger than our other room, which was a deluxe double, despite the same price tag.

    Deluxe double room


    Deluxe twin room


    Small sitting room area in a deluxe twin room


    Bathroom

• There were a couple of things that bothered us during our stay with the most annoying one coming from their housekeeping. Every morning at around 10am, their housekeeping team will be "camped" outside our rooms eager to get started. On a number of occasions, they have come in with their key cards and asked when we're ready to leave (politely). That was so odd, and in my opinion, so wrong! Without a door lock on the inside, we had no way of avoiding them from abruptly coming in so what if we were walking inside our room buck naked or worse, in the middle of having sex!!?? This is just something we don't see everyday from an international chain hotel!!!

• My point is, there's already an indicator on the wall showing whether someone is inside the room (blue light means someone has slotted the key card in the cardholder. It's obviously there for a reason, right?) so there's really no reason for housekeeping to trouble the guests at all. And if someone really needs to come in, KNOCK on the door first!!!

• Personally, I thought some of the staff had really poor manner. On one occasion when I asked the reception staff to remove a baby crib from my room, she had this disgruntled look on her face and told me I should have told her when I checked in. That was very impolite. Coming from Asia where we always embrace the culture that "customers are always right!", this was a definite no-no (especially to someone who's barely awake after a long flight). That obviously did not sit well with me and I had to look her right between her eyes before she finally agreed to have it removed. There's also another incident when they realized they have failed to scan our documents properly, a staff was sent up to our room at around 9:30 or 10pm requesting to take our passports with him. Thankfully, my little one was not asleep yet. It would have been a lot more polite if they could call to inform us that someone's coming up shortly? Little things do add up.....

• On a much minor note, I thought the sound proof system wasn't working very well as we could hear people walking past the narrow corridor.

Location is obviously the calling card here, with Duomo di Milano just a stone's throw away. However, if you look beyond its hardware (facility), you will realize that its software (people) badly needs an upgrade and some proper staff training I'm sure would definitely help.


Rating: ❤❤❤
Price: €€€
Address: Piazza Fontana, 3, 20122 Milan, Italy
Tel: +39 02 88311
Website: www.starhotels.com