Hotel Piazza Bellini: Mixing the old with modernity in the heart of Naples

“Most of our guests are from northern Europe. They are usually looking for history, art and culture, as well as a mindful hospitality that adapts to changing situations.” Cristina and her husband Massimo have been running the Piazza Bellini hotel since 2007: “We started with just a few rooms and then, little by little, began giving the whole hotel an international feel.” In fact, this historical building in the heart of Naples is a skillful mix of the old blended with contemporary design, which gives a unique personality to its spaces.

“The pandemic put everything on hold, so we had to reimagine things to get back on track.” Digital tools were important: “We added more safety measures with our guests doing their check-ins online before departure in order to avoid any gatherings at the hotel,” she explained. “Then, we added photos and useful information about the building and the city to the Google Hotel profile. We are now using Hotel Insights to monitor the behavioural patterns of potential visitors to design the right online campaign.”

Nothing gets left out. Even actively engaging with tourists and adding a more “human” element, which disappeared with social distancing, have been recreated on the web whenever possible. “Right from the first lockdown we started making videos and uploading them on our YouTube channel, to reconnect with our guests again, with our staff smiling behind their masks.” This is because Cristina is sure that sooner or later things will start picking up again, and people will go back to interacting and travelling. When that time comes, at the end of the day it’s all about not losing your most important ability, which is “to really talk to your guests,” online and off.