Phi Hotel Bologna

This is a lovely, friendly hotel in an absolutely superb location just off the main piazza, right in the midst of walkable restaurants, bars and shops. The breakfast is also exceptional. Tall people should be careful of the fourth story rooms, however, as there are sloped ceilings to avoid. Overall, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend PHI Bologna to traveling friends.

We stayed here in early May 2026. The big pro is the location -- it's super conveniently located just off the main piazza, a perfect spot for exploring Bologna. The staff are also very nice. Unfortunately that's where my positive feedback ends! TLDR: The A/C in our room was totally broken both nights we were there; the decor of the room was migraine-inducing with multiple things broken and no blackout blinds; and the hotel lied to us about an upgrade. On check in, we were told we'd been upgraded from a "cosy" room to a "classic". I was initially delighted until we realised this wasn't the case - the room we were in (306) was very much a cosy, as per the description on the website. It was awfully decorated (we must have gotten unlucky with the theme!), apparently with a "sun" theme though it wouldn't have been my taste. The room was painted all black with these bright strip lights running throughout - which meant your options were either "bright bright bright" or "barely see". The paint needed a top up; and the entire room felt in need of a refurb: the door lock was broken (ridiculously someone last September also commented on this with regards to the same room) and the bedside table lamp didn't work - though someone had previously tried to fix it with sellotape. Bigger issues were that the bedroom curtains are not black out (see the pic to see how much light got in - it would be unsleepable without an eye mask); and bigger still that the A/C didn't work for *both* nights we were there, leaving the room stifling hot. When I noticed our room was hot on arrival I asked them to turn the A/C on, which they promised us they would do (they control all A/C from the main desk and not the room itself, which is odd). Came back in the evening and thought it still felt awfully hot - struggled to sleep. The next morning I asked them to make it colder in the room, which they promised to do - only to come back to the same issue. At this point it was about 9.30pm at night and though they did try multiple times to fix the A/C, they eventually accepted it was broken and provided a fan once I asked for it. The next morning they offered to arrange a 10% discount -- which in truth I think is a little low given no A/C & the lack of meaningful curtains made it hard to sleep. Should also add that the room was quite noisy given it faces right out to the street. All in all, disappointing; absolutely not what we'd expect from a 4* hotel and despite the location not worth the money. We've been fortunate enough to stay in lots of hotels of all sorts of standard & vibe and we're usually very happy -- but for the price here, you can do infinitely better.