We travel enough to know that when full payment is requested AT check -in, there might be a problem. Yet I did NOT ask to see my room until after we had done so. Big mistake. When taken to our room it was dusty, dirty, bathroom was moldy. It was also extremely outdated which in and of itself is not a problem because I wasn't booking a 5 star place. Combined with the uncleanliness, it was wholly unacceptable. We have stayed at plenty of "dated" places that were in fact still fine. Not so here. We changed rooms because after checking in we noticed pieces of paper taped to the door under the handle. On inspection these were there to cover the head sized hole in the door! No way we could stay in an unsecured location. The replacement room was not better. In the bathroom was a mold experiment going on in what was supposed to be the shower. The sheets were clean, however we slept in our clothes in an abundance of caution and checked out so early we had to rouse the front desk person at 5:30 am. Had we slept on the floor of the Milan Stazione Centrale it would have been cleaner and quieter. A tiny lift, reception being on the third floor, those are common when traveling in Europe. We knew this wasn't a 5 star place, the trouble is it wasn't even a 1 star place. Hotels.com ought to seriously reconsider allowing this place to be an option on their site. The lowest scores are still too high for this place. We overpaid. The trouble is I wouldn't have paid $25 a night for this place.