Century Hotel in Parma

My husband and I just finished a vacation in Italy where we traveled to multiple cities and stayed in 5 different hotels. We both unanimously agreed this was by far the worst of the 5. To be fair it was also the cheapest. Its location to the train station couldn’t be better, google maps said 3 minutes but there was no way it took us more than a minute. We booked a superior double room, which said it had one double bed, so you can imagine our surprise when we walked in and there were 2 rooms, each with its own double bed. This was fine although unnecessary as there were only 2 of us. The bathroom was very odd, with the shower actually being half in the bedroom, half in the bathroom, so you could actually see through the shower into the bedroom while sitting on the toilet. We didn’t care for that. There were also only 2 pillows on each bed, so we were glad there were 2 beds so we could each have 2 pillows. And neither bed had a blanket, only a sheet, and was so firm it was like sleeping on the floor. The sound proofing isn’t great, it constantly sounded like the windows were open when they weren’t; fortunately it wasn’t noisy at night.

Onto the breakfast. It was free, but not worth having. It was by far the worst hotel breakfast of any we had while in Italy, which was shocking considering how good all of the rest of the food we had in Parma was. The only part of it that was good was the cappuccino. It wasn’t too far a walk to downtown though, and all the food down there was fantastic.

If all you care about is finding a cheap place close to the train station, this is a good option. Otherwise, I’d look for something else.

We stayed here for 3 nights in May. For those that need close proximity to the train station at a budget rate (~100€), this may be a great choice. It's maybe 2 min walk, door to door, and with heavy bags, the location is very convenient.

However for those spending time in Parma that don't need the convenience, and are arriving during the day and can afford a cab to a hotel, I would recommend somewhere else. As the sun sets, outside the hotel becomes a gathering place for vagrants that will harass you for money and at times can feel quite unsafe. We were approached multiple times and police were often in the area. Note that if you are a smoker, there is nowhere to smoke in the hotel so outside is the only option. Inside the hotel, the smell of perfume is so thick you can taste it. The staff is obligingly polite, but not welcoming. We twice tried to leave early (6:30am) and the doors were locked. Once, the front desk attendant was asleep on the lobby couch with a woman. The breakfast is large, varied, with freshly prepared commercial baked goods, but coffee is only delivered by the waitstaff. Only once we got more than one cup due to the number of guests being served, and we generally paid .50 to get coffee from the self serve machine in the lobby. The room was sufficient, however the bathroom floor had a disturbing amount of.. hairs.. on the floor when we arrived. I cleaned it myself and requested no housekeeping service during our stay. The air conditioner wouldn't stay on no matter what setting we used and it was hot for sleeping. When we asked maintenance to look at our refrigerator at check in because it was warm (we were traveling with perishables), we were told that mini bar fridges aren't supposed to be cold but if we waited a day and still weren't happy, we could get a new one. We ended up throwing away our perishable items.

To be clear, the accommodations and services are fair for the price. I booked through my credit card concierge service, so any misunderstanding about my personal expectations is with them, not the hotel. My review is based solely on the experience we had as guests.