It is impossible to criticise the staff, the service or the cleanliness of Hotel La Favorita. The free wifi is perfectly adequate, the breakfast buffet is suitable for all tastes including vegans, the rooms are not only clean but are a decent size with modern fittings and the most storage space I've ever seen.
The one thing that stops me rating it 5 stars is the location.
Normally, an out of town hotel doesn't bother me if there's adequate public transport but unfortunately public transport in Mantova, especially out to the retail and business park where La Favorita is situated, is patchy and infrequent, and shuts down entirely after 9pm. I'd have walked to and from the historic centre if it had been safe to do so, but the hotel staff indicated that this would have involved walking alongside dual carriageways with no dedicated pedestrian route.
A taxi costs between €10-€15 to get from the hotel to the station and though it's easy to organise at the hotel, when you've just finished eating out in the centre of the city at 9pm or later, the only reliable taxi rank is at the station where, because all the cabs are busy, you have to call a radio taxi number and wait.
This is no problem if you have your own car or, for business people using the hotel and its facilities, using transport provided for you, but for the ordinary tourist the cost of taxi journeys makes it more sensible to choose a more expensive hotel in the city.
I'd love to recommend La Favorita but it's too isolated