This hotel seems to have garnered a number of negative reviews, mostly from those looking to pay little but enjoy the benefits of an expensive hotel - that's not real life is it? You get what you pay for...

I visited the Hotel Americano with two friends for a boys city break. We booked a triple room (smoking) with breakfast, for three nights. I wasn't put off by the bad reviews, because:

a) I'm English and expect poor service
b) I'm realistic and don't expect the world when I've paid very little
c) The hotel is well located to experience all parts of Lisbon

I was surprised at how adequate the room was. I expected it to be dirty and horrible, but it was clean, well maintained and actually pleasant. The room was of a decent size, the beds were comfortable enough and the staff, although reserved, helped when asked. Breakfast was meagre and of low quality, but then, you should be out in the city at sunrise enjoying the cafes shouldn't you? I tried breakfast once and decided I was better off elsewhere. The noise outside of our room was moderately loud. It doesn't bother me because I live in a big city and I didn't spend a great deal of time in my room. If noise does bother you, you may be better off staying somewhere rural and travelling in to Lisbon - cities are noisy by nature aren't they? Does the poor breakfast and noise mean I'll review the hotel poorly? NO. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

The real benefit of this hotel is its location. Right on the Rossio Square, close to the Praça do Comércio, next to metro stations. You couldn't ask for it to be anywhere better really. It's also next to a mini supermarket which I liked, I was able to buy picnic food etc at the start of the day. If you want to explore the city, this is a good starting point.

In summary I would offer some advice:
Stay here if you spend more time on the street than in your bed. Stay here if you're travelling on a tight budget. Stay here if you don't expect five star service from every hotel you visit (Americans - I'm taking to you). Stay here if you like being in the noisy, passionate beating heart of one of Europe's most fantastic cities.

Don't stay here if you want a romantic city break. Don't stay here if you value hotel food highly. Don't stay here if you want luxury. Don't stay here if you don't want to be in the middle of the city.

I'd definitely stay here again, in fact, I may do next year.

take it if you are in transit for a night, maybe 2, in lisbon and want to be in the very city center.
hotel is very old. rooms would need some refurbisments.
breakfast is very poor: bad coffee, tea, white bread, croissants, butter and gem. enough one might say, but trust me: bad one !

Location is very good - in the city centre just next to the Rossio square. Subway is close as well as other public transportation. Staff was very helpful, we had no problems. We had a room with common facilities. Both the room and facilities were clean. The only problem was a noise from the street. Even though the window was closed we couldnt sometimes sleep. But it is not a problem of the hotel, but about portugeese people, because they are sometimes very noisy. There is a shop and restaurant next door. There was a breakfast included (nothing special but good). There was WIFI, but you had to pay (5 Euro per day).

My boyfriend and I booked to stay here for three days last week. On arrival we were told that a problem with the bathroom in our room meant there was no room available for us to stay in the hotel- conveniently though, they had a room available in their sister hotel, outside of the city centre. On protesting, we were told if we didn't like it we could stay somewhere else. With only three days in the city we weren't keen to trek about looking for another reasonably priced hotel, so felt like we had little choice but to accept.

On arrival at the other hotel we were told they'd moved us not because of a dodgy bathroom, but because they'd made too many reservations. We were also unable to obtain any kind of discount for the inconvenience as we were always told "the manager will be here in a couple of hours", and discounts could only be given by him.

On day two we were moved back to the hotel we booked, but other than the location it was pretty terrible. The room stank of stale smoke no matter how long we kept the windows open, the shower was dirty and woodlice ridden, the receptionist was rude and the free breakfast was orange squash and long-life croissants.