lwildernorva

Stayed here both Saturday, 2/18 and Friday, 2/24. The hotel is a little hard to find (thanks for getting me lost, Google Maps!), tucked away in an alleyway a couple of hundred feet off Via Nazionale and about a 20-minute walk, if you're so inclined, from the Rome Termini rail station. The location close to Via Nazionale puts you nearby a number of restaurants (with a recommendation below) as well as some shopping and a couple of museums. Reception area is small and across the entryway from a small bar with a TV that I believe is strategically placed so that those working at reception can watch soccer matches.

I was placed in Room 114 both times. There's a very small elevator as well as a wide set of stairs. As is standard with European hotels, a small room with a smaller bathroom, fitting a sink, shower, toilet and bidet into a roughly 6'x4' space. The bedroom was just big enough to fit the full-sized bed with about 18 inches on either side of the bed to the walls and about four feet from the end of the bed to the wall. A desk with a 23-inch TV atop it filled most of this space. Entryway of the room had a small corridor with a closet on one wall, leading straight into the bathroom. The bedroom was to the right of that. One small window in the bathroom, one much bigger window in the bedroom. My major criticism of this room: it's located directly across from a building with a garishly lit sign on top that will definitely require the curtains being drawn. Your window will stay closed at night as well because it appears the building houses some sort of animal clinic with loud animal noises coming across the alleyway at night. The closed window and curtains, however, did a reasonably good job of blocking this out, and I can't say I lost any sleep as a result of light or noise.

I skipped the breakfast the first morning and was sorry I did when I saw how good it was on the return. Served on the top floor, three flights up, in a room open on two sides to large windows, the breakfast is one of the two best features of the hotel with the other being its location, just five minutes from the area of Roman ruins. The Colisseum, at most and at the far end of this area, was a fifteen-minute walk. As others have noted, the selection at breakfast goes way beyond Continental with eggs, bacon, cold cereals, pastries (including a cherry pie!), tea, coffee, and juices. Perhaps the biggest omission--no fruit. If you stay here, don't miss out on this breakfast.

In addition, there's a very fine restaurant directly across the hotel, Ristorante Santa Cristina al Quirinale. I ate here the first night because it was directly across from the hotel--no recommendations, even from the hotel staff. Marvelous little family run place. Very tasty food. Turns out it's the fourth-highest rated restaurant in Rome on TripAdvisor. Although I do take most of these kinds of ratings with a grain of salt, its location in somewhat of a secluded alleyway, not visible from the main road, and the presence of a number of Italian-speaking locals give some corroboration to the rating. One odd thing about the restaurant is that it will not accept credit cards for bills of less than 100 euro. Either go with friends or get cash from an ATM because I believe this is a restaurant worth going to. And, of course, if you're unfamiliar with Rome, its location is great because it's hard to get lost!

I stayed here on a 10K Choice redemption. That's a tremendous value. With the impending increase to 40K, I can't give it the same kind of endorsement, but depending on the cash rate you might be able to get, I would consider this an earning opportunity rather than a burning opportunity unless the redemption cost drops again next offseason.

By the way, I was stunned to find out Choice has no properties in Florence, which is where I spent the days in between my two stays in Rome. A suggestion to Choice--line up a place like the Hotel delle Camelie. Probably too small for Choice with only 10 rooms, the hotel otherwise fits the Choice profile: comfortable but not luxurious in any way, kept clean and neat with noticeably older furniture, conveniently although not centrally located (within the tourist zone, but about a 10-minute walk from where the Duomo, Uffizi, and other tourist attractions are), and reasonably priced at 40 euro/night for a Sunday through Thursday rate.

Honestly though, Florence is too big a city not to have a Choice property.

ADDENDUM: I returned to this property on my most recent trip to Rome in late March 2013. Most of my comments from my stay last year remain unchanged, especially about its value as a redemption at 10K--I wouldn't spend more on a room at this hotel but would instead see if a room was available at the Clarion Collection Hotel Principessa Isabella, which I believe is a much nicer hotel.

I now know that the building across from one side of the hotel that I mentioned in the original review is the Kennedy School and not an animal clinic. I'm unsure of the need for the garish sign, but it's still there. The animal noises seemed less this time, but I was on the opposite side of the hotel in room 112 so I may have gotten a small break. Room 112 was a little larger and a little better than room 114 but reminded me that the Bolivar has a taste for mirrored tile in the lobby, rooms, and the breakfast room that screams 1970s kitsch.

The breakfast was still good, this time with fruit available as part of the offerings. As with many hotels, I was allowed to leave my bags at the hotel until I got ready to head out to Fiumicino late in the afternoon.

I also discovered an interesting stretch of road if you walk along Via XXIV Maggio away from Via Nazionale. It's much less crowded than Via Nazionale, and if you're headed towards Via Veneto in the area of the Westin and the St. Regis, it's a great shortcut as opposed to going down Via Nazionale until it intersects with the roads that lead to Via Veneto. The lack of crowds is partially explained by the heightened security in the area, both police and soldiers, as Italy's version of the White House, the Quirinale, is along this street not far from the Bolivar. It's quite an impressive building as you might expect and at one time was the summer residence of the Pope--not too surprising when you see the view of St. Peter's you get from the piazza bordering the Quirinale.

I also learned that if there's a reservation snafu, as there was for me on 3/22, you'll get walked to the Hotel Traiano, around the corner. Apparently owned by the same group that owns the Bolivar but not a Choice property, the Traiano was nice (and my individual room was nicer than at the Bolivar), but the hotel is located directly on Via Nazionale, leading to a huge increase in noise at night. In addition, a bar across the alleyway on my side of the hotel, the Rockodile, was jamming until the doors were shut at 2 a.m. Unfortunately, I know of that not because I was in the bar, but because the noise interfered with my sleep right up to closing. I wouldn't flat out reject a move to the Traiano if you were to get walked from the Bolivar, but I would insist on a room not facing the alleyway across from the Rockodile and not facing Via Nazionale.