FIrst the positives. A four night stay worked out at c. ?31 a night which is unbeatable in Europe I would imagine. The hotel was located centrally, right next to the main Cathedral and not far from the main station. Other than that, this hotel was decidedly average. Room and fittings were decidedly grubby looking, although the building itself looked reasonably modern. Bath was almost worn through, disgusting looking, shower fed off bath taps, a bit old fashioned and unpredictable. The shower curtain was filthy and the toileteries were of the fixed variety. To be fair, we did have daily maid service and they changed towels/squared the place up etc. No hair dryer, ironing board and a lack of powerpoints. Tiny telly, very few foreign language channels (none in English), air conditioning didn't seem to have any off switch. No milk for tea/coffee (disgusting whitener supplied!) I'm not trying to paint this place as a dump, the bedding was clean and relatively comfortable and the shower/toilet worked which is basically all you need for a travelling base. I certainly wouldn't complain at the price and it has no pretensions (2 star rating marked on door) but it is relatively spartan even for a budget hotel and there are other options, even if you want a chain hotel. (Accor group have Ibis and Novotel hotels in the same street not far away.) To summarise, if cash is your main consideration, you will not find a cheaper chain hotel in Szcecin. If you are fussy, look elsewhere! (And take a star of my review!) Also, be warned Szczecin is not very touristy, English is hardly spoken at all, which is especially a problem for transport, less so with restaurants, where the waiters tend to be younger and have the basics.

You need a reason to go to Szczecin, but once there you find an interesting German-Polish city whose strategic location as a Baltic port has assured its survival of Hitler and Stalin as well as Allied fire bombs. As for the Campanile: it has large firm beds and an abundant breakfast with good strong coffee. It is centrally located a block from the river; it is affordable and very quiet. The staff is comfortably multilingual. Chain hotels are seldom romantic. Let it be said of the Campanile that it aspires with success to utilitarian ideals.