My husband and I spent two nights in Naples (after a wonderful 8 day stay in Capri and Ravello) for the sole purpose of visiting the Campodimonte and the Archeological Museums. I booked based on the two reviews that I found on Tripadvisor. Unfortunately, I saw the third review just days before our departure. If I could, I would give the VR a 2 and a half. It wasn't horrible, however I certainly agree with the last reviewer: It is not a 4-star hotel.

The hotel itself is gloomy and outdated, to the point of being somewhat creepy. There are air freshener sticks in every hall and room in the hotel in an attempt to mask a barely detectable mildewy odor. The wallpaper is beginning to lift at the seams. The furnishings seem tired and outdated. As for the staff, they were not particularly helpful. Only one of the three staff we encountered at the desk was able to understand any English. Even then, he tried to send us to a restaurant in the marina area by cab on a night when the entire area was closed to vehicular traffic due to a large annual festival. The next day we asked where to go to get gas, and we were sent to a station that was closed on Sundays. The exception was the wonderful woman who helped with breakfast. Breakfast was served on the terrace - the nicest part of the VR. The breakfast was average to slightly below average. As for the garbage heap mentioned in a previous review - it was gone by the time we got there. I think most people know that there have been garbage strikes on and off over the last several years in Naples.

Having said all of this, I do want to point out some positives. First, the location was ideal for us, and it was very easy to get to from the Autostrase and Tanzenziale. It is rare to arrive at a destination in a large European city without having made a single wrong turn. Second, there is a nice, private parking area in front of the hotel. Naples is such a crowded city, and not always safe for rental cars, so this was a big plus. The hotel is also located about halfway between the two museums - a 6 to 8 block walk to each (or a short cab ride). Importantly, our room and baths (we had two bathrooms) were spotlessly clean. Finally, I loved their large down pillows with crisp, clean linen covers. As mentioned previously, the hotel terrace was a welcome oasis from the crowded, dirty streets of Napoli. We enjoyed breakfast there, as well as wine and cigars in the evening when we had it to ourselves.

Because of the price, location, parking, and easy access I actually would recommend this hotel if you won't be spending much time there. Hopefully, the owners will soon invest in redecoration and repair work. It is easy to imagine the Villa Ranieri as a 4-star hotel with bright new colors, updated furnishings, and a more professional level of staff.

We were really excited to return to Napoli. My parents are from there and this was there first time back in 10 years. First impressions was horrible. We could even see the entrance to the hotel because of mountains of trash blocking our way. The hotel was dark and smelled of mold. My father has respiratory problems so we only stayed one night. The hotel manager made a big issue out of our leaving and tried to get 4 days penalty charge from us before releasing our passports. We are still fighting it out today.

Lovely simple hotel, full of character in a relatively quiet area (considering Naples is such a noisy city!). Staff very pleasant and helpful. They booked our tour to Pompeii & Vesuvius and also a table at a recommended restaurant. Our standard room was at the top of the hotel, one of just two rooms on that floor. The room itself was very spacious, clean and nicely decorated, as was the bathroom. Breakfast was buffet style and quite basic, not a huge choice, but enough to fill up on! We were also pleasantly surprised at how reasonable it was priced (and Naples as a whole) including drinks. I had expected it all to be very expensive. Finally, take heed of the staff's advice not to wear any expensive jewellery as mugging is rife! Our friend has a Rolex watch which he didn't wear all weekend. Unfortunately when we checked out, he thought the safest place to keep it was on his wrist and he was mugged of it when we were on our way back to the hotel to pick up the taxi to the airport. We're convinced that the muggers were tipped off at some stage (we had been to the Archeological museum & to a restaurant for lunch) because they had it meticulously planned out. Luckily no one was hurt. I certainly wouldn't let this put me off returning to Naples, but you should be very vigiliant and leave the Rolex's at home!!

We stayed at the Villa Ranieri for one night only and we thought it was a charming building with charming and helpful staff. We were the only guests in the hotel and we arrived quite late at night, only to find that there was no restaurant or snacks available, so we ordered a couple of G and Ts each and were charged 40 Euros for them! Rather overpriced, we thought. Breakfast was ok, you will need some basic Italian to converse with the waitresses. Rooms quite small but full of character and clean. The building is beautiful and very much in the style of others in Naples. The area is about 10 mins walk out of the centre but it is a pleasant walk through residential areas, with many interesting grocery shops on the way. We were slightly concerned about safety after reading other reviews of Naples, but we didn't feel at all threatened at any time, which was great! On the whole, a nice, well-decorated, cosy hotel with helpful staff.