We stayed in Forli in order to catch a Ryanair flight. This hotel is at the wrong end of a dying city, across the railroad tracks from an abandoned factory. The worst feature was that there was dried urine around the toilet -- though the rest of the bathroom had been cleaned. The other end of Forli isn't great, but has more restaurants and other hotels.

We stayed in this hotel for 2 nights - a couple with a young child. The hotel is relatively new looking (2003?) and the decor looks modern. MOLD in BATHROOM! The bathroom looks very modern, with glass walls instead of tiles and modern fixtures. However, our shower had large amounts of mold in the angles and the corners, evidence of poor cleaning practices. Indeed, a bit of scrubbing would go a long way as it did come off with a fingernail... When the mold was pointed out on departure (we were curious if the cleaners would address it during our stay, without prompting - evidently not), the apparently surprised "maintenance" person feigned surprise. When I pointed out that the cleaning staff are not doing their job by a) cleaning properly and b) informing maintenance, he agreed. POOR QUALITY FIXTURES In addition to the mold problem, this "new" hotel suffers from a selection of consumer-grade (at best) fixtures and construction materials. For instance, the cheap quality shower hanger was broken off (which I found out by painfully receiving the shower head on my head; forget about maintenance or cleaning staff addressing it), the mattress is very soft in a cheap way, paint is already peeling off a door jamb. BAD MANAGEMENT Front reception is a disgrace. Upon arrival, I was asked to sign an illegible form. Upon asking what I was signing, I was told it was "privacy", which I found out means an information release form. I declined and they eventually found a legible version, which I signed. And they are clued out about their hotel: I asked for a trolley to carry my bags upstairs (forget about a bellhop), I was told there was none... but ten minutes later I found one, about 3 metres (10 ft) from the reception... but (you guessed it) there was no air in its tires! Breakfast at "rush hour" - 9 AM - was a disaster. With an onslaught of people and no system in place to manage them, there were no plates, no cutlery, no coffee, missing food - a complete shambles that was actually comical and came right out of Fawlty Towers. The front receptionist on the mornings of June 26 and 27 was one of the least friendly persons in the profession - and I have travelled the world. Her rudeness and curtness when asked basic questions such as directions or suggestions reflects management's poor hiring abilities (the reception staff, in addition to the mantenance man described above, the useless cleaning staff and the incompetent breakfast personnel - who is left??). NO COMPLAINING POSSIBLE When I asked the aforementioned receptionist on a Thursday after 9 AM to speak to the manager about all of these problems, I was rudely informed that no such person was in the hotel that day. What a frightening prospect - the hotel is being run by a bunch of incompetents and there is nobody to oversee them! Somebody help us. IN ITALY, HOTELS BUY THEIR STARS I swear this must be true - nowhere in the world have I seen such a complete disconnect between star ratings and the quality of the establishment. This hotel is apparently a 4 star! Forget it, not a hope. 2 stars are appropriate - NO MORE. To compare, I was at the Hotel Mercure on Promenade des Anglais in Nice the night before, which is rated a 3 Star and it was far better than this Executive disaster. A day later, I was in the Sofitel Zurich, rated a 4 star, and... well it is an insult to the hotel industry to try to compare. For those who object to my comment about hotels buying stars, I would be happy to point our 3 and 4 star hotels in Italy and then do the same for hotels in the rest of Europe or North America in their 3 or 4 star hotels... REDEEMING FEATURES One of the hotel's evening receptionists recommended a restaurant nearby, Osteria dei Lovi and it was excellent (even though she got the simple directions all wrong, we found it). Highly recommend it. We had the tagliatta with ruccola, some of the pastas... it was great and a decent price. And the gelateria approximately across the boulevard from the hotel was great - organic and/or lactose/gluten free ice creams and sorbettos. Absolutely excellent gelatos. In fact, you eat well everywhere in this part of Italy. The beach at Milano Marittima was fantastic. Clean, nice sand. A wonderful stay that is unchanged from 30 years ago when I used to vacation there as a child. The people of Emiglia Romagna are incredible - kind, gracious and they enjoy life. The only exceptions are employed by the Hotel Executive in Forli, so stay away and you will be fine.

This hotel has just changed its name to "Executive" and the taxi driver didn't recognise it, until we showed him the email address which was Ramada Encore. It is on the edge of the town, in a business district between the railway and a busy road. The welcome was good, the rooms modern and spotless, with excellent bathroom and comfy beds. Coffee in the room, plus a bottle of water. Very nice. Good breakfast with a fab orange juicing machine to sqeeze your own juice to order! Despite the location there was no problem with noise. It was easy to walk into town, reception gave us a map. Forli is not over endowed with attractions, but we had a good pizza supper, about 10 mins walk from the hotel, and bought some picnic supplies in the handy Lidel supermarket. Fine for an overnight stop before an early flight from the local airport ( 10 mins by taxi, 13 euros)

Questo albergo ha appena cambiato il proprio nome in "Executive" e il tassista non lo riconosceva finché non gli abbiamo mostrato l'indirizzo di posta elettronica con scritto Ramada Encore. È a lato della città in un quartiere commerciale fra la linea ferroviaria e una strada trafficata. Il benvenuto è stato buono, le camere erano moderne e pulitissime, con un bagno eccellente e letti confortevoli. Bottiglia d'acqua e caffè in camera. Molto bello. Buona colazione con una splendida macchina spremiagrumi per farsi la spremuta sul momento. Nonostante la posizione non abbiamo avuto alcun problema di rumore. Una breve passeggiata per il centro, la reception ci ha dato una mappa. Forlì non è piena di cose da vedere, ma abbiamo mangiato una buona pizza a cena a circa 10 minuti a piedi dall'albergo, e abbiamo comprato un po' di roba da mangiare al sacco al supermercato Lidl. Va bene per un pernottamento prima di un volo la mattina presto dall'aeroporto della città (10 minuti in taxi, €13).

Questo albergo è stato un'ottima scelta. Abbiamo volato su Forlì con la linea aerea del signor Ryan. Ryanair chiama eufemisticamente Bologna l'aeroporto di Forlì, ma i due centri distano un'ora d'auto. Il Ramada Encore è perfettamente moderno in termini di design e mia moglie avrebbe voluto portarsi il bagno a casa - tutto vetro e cromo! La camera era come l'avevamo richiesta, silenziosa nonostante l'albergo sia circondato da una strada trafficata su un lato, e dalla ferrovia sull'altro. È a circa 15 minuti a piedi dal centro che non è desolato come descritto da altri. Ha una piazzetta piacevole, una galleria d'arte, tre buone chiese, e un po' architettura fascista (Mussolini era nato da queste parti). Abbiamo anche trovato un ristorante decente a 5-10 minuti a piedi un lunedì sera, quando la maggioranza dei ristoranti era chiusa. La colazione era molto buona e con molta scelta. Mi sono innamorato della splendida spremiagrumi trasparente: si butta dentro un'arancia intera che viene spremuta automaticamente davanti ai propri occhi. Il personale era tutto gentile e piacevole - per esempio, ci hanno stampato l'orario dei treni. L'aeroporto era raggiungibile in taxi con €10 in meno di 10 minuti. La stazione è a soli 5 minuti, con treni frequenti verso nord e verso sud. Il prezzo era di soli €79 per una camera doppia colazione compresa - un vero affare. Ci è piaciuto così tanto che ci siamo stati all'inizio e alla fine del nostro breve viaggio in Italia.