I stayed in Biencaneve, Sauze d'Oulx from the 23rd January for 7 days with 5 friends. I have many negative points to raise about the whole experience however I'll start by saying that the twins who run the hotel work very hard to keep it how they like it and that the food in the evening is superb.
The beds reminded me of camp beds, were lumpy and too short for a 6'2" man (my feet hung over the edge). We were only offered one pillow which meant for me that I took the folded pillow option.
This could be normal for Italy, and it has been mentioned in previous reviews but the sit down bath/ shower set up is totally impractical. I had trouble sitting down, so took a gorilla like stance, shower head in one hand, bracing against the toilet with the other, in order to wash myself. The upshot of this was that every morning and evening my friend and I would cover the bathroom floor, toilet and anything else in the bathroom with water.
The thing that irritated me the most however, was the distinct lack of respect for one's possessions. The rooms are cleaned everyday by one if not both of the sisters, and without fail at the end of every day, most of my things have been moved about, whether it was putting my camera in a drawer or my headphones back in a suitcase for example. We once returned to our room to find that my friend's shoes had mysteriously disappeared, we discovered them outside freezing on the windowsill two days later. My snowboard bag was removed from under the bed and was unceremoniously thrown in the boot store, I wasn't told and had to find it myself.
The sisters really do work hard to keep it how they like it, not how their guests might prefer it.
I very much felt like I was being mothered and being referred to as 'boy' all week didn't help. It could be miscommunication but for a 26 year old professional I found it a little patronising.
On only one of the evenings did we come back late and stay in bed until 1130. This subsequently meant that the cleaning couldn't be done. We were confronted by 'the morning' sister and told off..... Bearing in mind that we had paid to use these rooms. The top sheets of our beds were removed later in the day and not returned until the next morning as some sort of punishment. That night was a chilli one!
All in all, I found my experience at the Biencaneve a bad one. I can't recommend the hotel to any particular group as the the facilities aren't sufficient enough for a family, and the sisters aren't accommodating enough for a group of friends or a couple.
I would sum this hotel up as being an expensive hostel.
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