The company offers substandard accomodations at a premium price
The company offers substandard accommodation at a premium price. Spefifically Waterfront Lux, 1BR, AC, Parking, GYM, Wifi By Tilo.
The building was designed by Renzo Piano (the celebrated, but hit and miss architect of the Pompidou or Shard). This building, though very photogenic, falls into the latter category. Of the apartments, only about 10% actually have sea views. The rest have views of the corrugated steel walls of the massive Padiglione Blu, the off-ramp from the freeway into Genoa, a shopping mall and the neighbors across the courtyard.
The room was falling apart, trim falling off the walls, scuffed shower tiles, a hand shower that flew off, a toilet flusher ready to fall, a door handle that fell off, etc. None "Lux" as in "Waterfront Lux". Also worth mentioning, the bed springs were backache machines.
The pictures of the apartment and terrace were photoshopped. In reality, both were dark and dank, with a view of the aforementioned blue corrugated steel wall and, if one craned one's neck and looked over other neighbors' terraces, a view of a few sailboats off in the distance.
The furniture was so sparse and cheap I'd be embarrassed to have guests over because they would think I was an idiot for paying a top tier price for this bottom tier apartment. The door was covered by various threats of fines and sanctions even though as they were not published in the Booking description are undisclosed terms so fail to form a contract under Italy's Codice del Consumo (Legislative Decree 206/2005, Arts. 33â37, on unfair/vessatory clauses). They also charged an additional undisclosed 20 euro fee for online registration. The process was degrading and as involved than opening an online bank or brokerage account. I was surprised they did not insist on DNA samples and a cavity search too.
While they say parking is "at a site nearby" (even though there is a half-empty garage directly under the building), they did not say this was on the other side of a canal and through a construction site. Plus, finding the entrance when one is tired from a long drive involved having to call a help line, manned by someone whose English consisted of "watch the video." Eventually, I did figure it out, after watching a video of someone driving in the rain down streets I could barely recognize, three times realizing needed to make a U turn into an entrance invisible from the line of travel.
The worst was yet to come: the air conditioning. Yes, the room has really fancy electronic controls including zones for the living room, bathroom, and bedroom. But, the building decided to disable these controls and impose their own, preselected temperature. The result? The room was unbearably hot in the late afternoon and frigid in the early morning. Also, as a bonus, each room had a burn-your-retinas-out-at-night temperature display. A constant reminder of my miserable and powerless situation (had to cover them with the wife's brassiere to get some sleep).
BTW, since the building is half empty, I assume Tilo (tilobusiness.eu) got the apartment for a song and makes a fortune renting it at premium prices to stupid tourists, such as myself, who do not take the time to scroll through previous reviews, of which every 10 was obviously posted by a "guest" to game Booking's rating system. But that's my bad. Also, checking their web site independently, Booking decided to show the nice pictures from another review instead the actual pictures from this review. When I complained, they simply pulled my review.