Italy - St Regis Rome or Rome Cavalieri

I wasn't certain where to put this, so I thought I would try here. I apologize if this is the wrong forum.

My wife and I are going to Rome from July 14-18, 2012 and I was curious of some of the positives and negatives of those two properties.

Some of the facts:

1. We will be using points for either stay that is chosen.
2. Currently I am HHonors Gold but I am not certain that I will have status by the time we actually travel.
3. Currently Starwood Gold but I am not certain that I will have status by the time we actually travel.

Thinking through what we would be looking for the best I could come up with is this:

We are going to do some tourism but I don't HAVE to be on the doorstep of all things touristy. Being in a clean, safe area with some shops and/or restaurants nearby would be cool but is also not entirely necessary......other than that they both look great and I look forward to hearing any opinions of people that have stayed at one or both.

Thanks!

I wasn't certain where to put this, so I thought I would try here. I apologize if this is the wrong forum.

My wife and I are going to Rome from July 14-18, 2012 and I was curious of some of the positives and negatives of those two properties.

We are going to do some tourism but I don't HAVE to be on the doorstep of all things touristy. Being in a clean, safe area with some shops and/or restaurants nearby would be cool but is also not entirely necessary......other than that they both look great and I look forward to hearing any opinions of people that have stayed at one or both.
Thanks!

Can only speak to the St. Regis. Great location, and we were able to get the Jr. Suite (just a larger room really) with some additional points. Coffee delivered (with warm milk) each morning....wonderful. July will be hot, so the more convenient location might be good. Other than taking a cab to the Vatican one morning, we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go. Hired a tour guide through the concierge, which turned out great--passed by the lines at several sites.

Can only speak to the St. Regis. Great location, and we were able to get the Jr. Suite (just a larger room really) with some additional points. Coffee delivered (with warm milk) each morning....wonderful. July will be hot, so the more convenient location might be good. Other than taking a cab to the Vatican one morning, we were able to walk everywhere we wanted to go. Hired a tour guide through the concierge, which turned out great--passed by the lines at several sites.

Great information, thanks!

Yeah, when I looked up the weather in July for Rome it said, "too hot for tourism" or something like that :) My wife is a school teacher though, and we have young kids that will be at camp at this time, so we have very limited dates that we can travel. We live in Tennessee, so I am hoping that the humidity and heat will just feel like home

Great information, thanks!

Yeah, when I looked up the weather in July for Rome it said, "too hot for tourism" or something like that :) My wife is a school teacher though, and we have young kids that will be at camp at this time, so we have very limited dates that we can travel. We live in Tennessee, so I am hoping that the humidity and heat will just feel like home

It's never too hot or too cold for tourism :-) We were in Paris & London during last December's snowstorms, and had a terrific time. As long as you're prepared, it'll be great.

I prefer an in town location. And I like being able to return to the hotel during the day, certainly before going out to dinner. The Cavalieri requires either an expensive taxi ride or getting on one of their shuttle vans. It's far enough out I wouldn't want to make two trips into town in one day.

I prefer an in town location. And I like being able to return to the hotel during the day, certainly before going out to dinner. The Cavalieri requires either an expensive taxi ride or getting on one of their shuttle vans. It's far enough out I wouldn't want to make two trips into town in one day.

Stayed at the Cavalieri and the shuttle to Piazza barberini is not bad when you take the fact that it has a nice pool into consideration.

Just cause you have the kids it might break up the heat

Stayed at the Cavalieri and the shuttle to Piazza barberini is not bad when you take the fact that it has a nice pool into consideration.

Just cause you have the kids it might break up the heat

My post was misleading, sorry. The kids are not going with us. I can see how my mentioning the kids previously was confusing.

BUT, to your point, my wife is a big pool fan. It looks like the St. Regis does not have a pool based on what I am seeing on the SPG site? This will be a variable in the decision and I appreciate you bringing it up

I prefer an in town location. And I like being able to return to the hotel during the day, certainly before going out to dinner. The Cavalieri requires either an expensive taxi ride or getting on one of their shuttle vans. It's far enough out I wouldn't want to make two trips into town in one day.

I had not considered the ease of returning to the hotel before dinner and that makes total sense. Going out to eat will be a large part of what we are looking forward to in Rome and I can certainly see why easy access to the hotel would be important.

I've stayed at both and would have to say I really enjoyed the Cavalieri more. St Regis is nice but really you have to walk a lot or take a cab anyway to get to most places, so don't think that is much of an advantage. I think we spent about 10E for a cabs into town from the Cavalieri.

We really enjoyed the live music and view overlooking the city in the evenings from the Cavalieri.

Upgraded to Suite at St Regis which was very fancy but the rooms at the Cavalieri are quite large also.

I've stayed at both and would have to say I really enjoyed the Cavalieri more. St Regis is nice but really you have to walk a lot or take a cab anyway to get to most places, so don't think that is much of an advantage.

Prior to arriving, that was my concern (distance) but it seemed like everything was a 10-20 minute walk. We liked being able to ping back to the room once or twice a day, and being in the city. Cavalieri sounds great too, just depends on your mood and preferences. I doubt that I would have used the pool at all-would have rather been sitting in a cafe.

Definitely get a guide. They allow you to bypass the lines, and it makes a huge difference for the more popular sites.

My Wife and I just came back from the Cavarlieri 2 weeks ago. We are hilton gold, and used points for the 4 night stay. I'll give you some pros and cons of the place.
Pros: great breakfest, nice pool, perfect view of room if you get a rome facing that way, great service, nice rooms.

Cons: Last bus back to the hotel is 8pm (Taxi from the city will be 13-15 eruo), The lounge is really nothing more than a place with some free coke, water, beer and nut, room is clean but seems out dated for such a hotel. the top floor lounge is no longer open to gold or diamond.

Overall I would say stay closer to the city if you can, the Cavalier is not worth all the money or points needed to stay there. July will be really hot, if you are going to visit the Vatican museum, try to get there real early befoe it gets hot, because most of the rooms have no AC and you are just going to sweat along with a mass of humanity. Get some sun tan lotion and a nice straw hat for your wife, it should be into the mid-high 90s by July.
Oh one more thing, istead of taking a Taxi from the airport, get a private car from romecabs.com it's only 5 euro more, but you get a nice driver waiting for you at the airport with a sign and a nice Merc ride to the hotel. The best 50 euros we spent in rome. (need to tip of course) :-) have fun on your trip, we did!

My Wife and I just came back from the Cavarlieri 2 weeks ago. We are hilton gold, and used points for the 4 night stay. I'll give you some pros and cons of the place.
Pros: great breakfest, nice pool, perfect view of room if you get a rome facing that way, great service, nice rooms.

Cons: Last bus back to the hotel is 8pm (Taxi from the city will be 13-15 eruo), The lounge is really nothing more than a place with some free coke, water, beer and nut, room is clean but seems out dated for such a hotel. the top floor lounge is no longer open to gold or diamond.

Overall I would say stay closer to the city if you can, the Cavalier is not worth all the money or points needed to stay there. July will be really hot, if you are going to visit the Vatican museum, try to get there real early befoe it gets hot, because most of the rooms have no AC and you are just going to sweat along with a mass of humanity. Get some sun tan lotion and a nice straw hat for your wife, it should be into the mid-high 90s by July.
Oh one more thing, istead of taking a Taxi from the airport, get a private car from romecabs.com it's only 5 euro more, but you get a nice driver waiting for you at the airport with a sign and a nice Merc ride to the hotel. The best 50 euros we spent in rome. (need to tip of course) :-) have fun on your trip, we did!

As a Hilton Gold do you get free breakfast there?

As a Hilton Gold do you get free breakfast there?

Yes, free breakfast for gold. It's one of the best hilton breakfast I've seen

Have only stayed at the Cavelieri. As mentioned above, it is not located exactly in Rome. It's near Rome, closer to Vatican City. However, like many have said, there's a shuttle bus that runs pretty frequently and getting to and from Rome is very easy. So, in terms of getting to and from Rome, location is not a problem. The only real drawback to location is that there's little to do around the hotel. So if you want to grab a bite to eat late at night, there are very few options around.

The hotel itself is very nice. The rooms were big, service impeccable, and Rome views were very nice. I stayed on the Imperial floor (or what-ever it's called) which offers access to the Imperial Room. I had booked a reward stay and then paid for the upgrade. I can't remember what I paid for the upgrade, but it was worth it. The lounge was the nicest I've ever been in. It provides several meal offerings (including a very good breakfast buffet if you're not Gold anymore - if you ARE gold, the free breakfast in the restaurant downstairs is even better). Also, all drinks... including alcohol... were free. Definitely upgrade to the Imperial floor if you stay here.

Instead of the St. Regis, look at the Westin. Both take Starwood Points, but the Westin has a much better location and great Jr. Suites. The bar at the St. Regis is really neat but it's long way from the main tourist spots.

Isn't there a charge to use the pool? AIR it was quite high - but if u are diamond I think it used to be waived. The indoor pool (spa) is available to golds for free.

I haven't stayed at either hotel but I grew up in downtown Rome, and for me the location of the Cavalieri would be a total non-starter, as it's too far from everything except for the Vatican. And who wants to take a shuttle bus back and forth in Roman traffic? One of the things that makes the city amazing is that you can walk practically everywhere (though the climb to Piazza Barberini or up Via Nazionale can be a slog), and see beautiful art and architecture along the way. Anyway, my $0.02.

I haven't stayed at either hotel but I grew up in downtown Rome, and for me the location of the Cavalieri would be a total non-starter, as it's too far from everything except for the Vatican. And who wants to take a shuttle bus back and forth in Roman traffic? One of the things that makes the city amazing is that you can walk practically everywhere (though the climb to Piazza Barberini or up Via Nazionale can be a slog), and see beautiful art and architecture along the way. Anyway, my $0.02.

Yes, the Cavalieri would most definitely be the opposite experience of "walk practically everywhere." We stayed at the Cavalieri and in retrospect wish that we had stayed in an SPG property in the actual city. We couldn't walk to anything in Rome that a tourist would want to experience and that was a real negative for us. The only thing that set Cavalieri a little bit apart was the Imperial Lounge. We got one of the rooms with the cell phone tower view. If we didn't have access to this lounge and the view from it, this hotel would not have been worth it. It does have a nice pool and spa area for a "city" property and people rave about the breakfast buffet which are free to Gold members, but we didn't go to Rome to experience either of those things. The shuttle service is there, but it is only once an hour and it takes a mid-day siesta. You really have to hustle your schedule to take the shuttle; cabs ran us 13 - 15 euros from the city to the hotel.

If you want to be in the heart of Rome and feel and experience Rome, stay at an SPG property. If you want a nice relaxing resort property sort of near Rome, and maybe causally drop by and check out a bit of Rome, pick Cavalieri.

I wasn't certain where to put this, so I thought I would try here. I apologize if this is the wrong forum.

My wife and I are going to Rome from July 14-18, 2012 and I was curious of some of the positives and negatives of those two properties.

Some of the facts:

1. We will be using points for either stay that is chosen.
2. Currently I am HHonors Gold but I am not certain that I will have status by the time we actually travel.
3. Currently Starwood Gold but I am not certain that I will have status by the time we actually travel.

Thinking through what we would be looking for the best I could come up with is this:

We are going to do some tourism but I don't HAVE to be on the doorstep of all things touristy. Being in a clean, safe area with some shops and/or restaurants nearby would be cool but is also not entirely necessary......other than that they both look great and I look forward to hearing any opinions of people that have stayed at one or both.

Thanks!



Only stayed at St Regis Rome recently this month so cant speak for other hotel..had junior suite which included private butler service- free drinks 24/7, limited pressing of clothes, shoe shine..anything else you may need they are your private service. Bellman, concierge, butler, maids and rooms were top notch. Front desk staff on numerous occasions were unfriendly and rather rude. If using point I'd recommend staying here, if paying I would defer to other similar options ..

I stayed at both properties back in March of this year. A few notes:

Cavalieri - Huge rooms, nice amenities, large bathrooms, and amazing balconies (great for a late night bottle of wine). We dined at L'Uliveto, having their tasting and asked for a recommendation on wine and ended up having one of the best I've ever had for 40€. The pool is gorgeous, there is a terrace upstairs overlooking Rome that is amazing, but it is far from things. Also, La Pergola, though I haven't gone, is supposed to be incredible.

St. Regis - Very grandiose, smaller but very nice rooms, free snacks/beverages in minibar, excellent bathrooms. Close to the train, so you can easily get around (quick ride to the main tourist attractions). Had room service, it was good but not exceptional. Price and prior reservations elsewhere kept us from dining in their restaurants.

When I went, we stayed at the Cavalieri one night, then spent two in the St. Regis. Despite this being due to not having sufficient points for all nights at St. Regis, it worked out beautifully, and if you aren't terribly against switching, I would consider it. Cavalieri is definitely worth going to, but is more for relaxing than seeing Rome. If you want to wander Rome, St. Regis is a far better launching point. Regardless, you won't be disappointed with your decision.

there are many restaurants around the hotel Hilton, if you don't mind having a 5 mn walk. and they will all be open in mid-July.
Considered your requirements, I think Hilton is a better option