peachy3
May 13, 12, 9:48 am
Hi everybody,
I happened to ask a few people for advice on Rome hotels recently. Nothing really stood out for me and it was for a last minute trip. In the end we ended up trying 'The First Luxury Art Hotel Roma'. I thought I would give it a spin here since there are no reports of it.
The hotel is part of the 'I Prefer' range, and opened in 2011. It is located near the Spanish steps, just two streets away from De Russie and right next to Piazza del Popolo. The street it is on is closed to vehicles during working hours of weekdays and Saturday. We happened to arrive on a Sunday so that was lucky.
We arrived at Rome Termini train station from Florence and took a taxi to the hotel. The taxi ride was atrocious, with the driver not turning on the meter, nearly hitting at least 3 pedestrians, and then trying to charge us 16 euros for 2 suitcases and 2 small bags (carry on size). There were no porters for a couple of minutes; we hauled our luggage in and someone came to take our luggage.
Check in is usually 1400, but although we arrived at 1230, they had a room ready for us; lucky again. We had a 'First Suite', the largest suite available, although the highest marketed suite is the 'Jacuzzi Suite', which has an outdoor jacuzzi. Small reception table to the left of the entrance, with only a couple of staff. Complimentary Voss water while they brought up our details, and then we were taken upstairs to complete small bits of paperwork in our room.
The room is split into a bedroom area with an adjacent lounge, one main bathroom, a second lounge/study area, a second bathroom and then a walk in closet. When you enter the room it doesn't feel very spacious though.
Pictures say more than words though, so here we are (I apologize in advance for my terrible photography):
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3082/dsc04591uc.jpg
View when you enter the room. Corridor to your right, to go to the bedroom.
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4898/dsc04594r.jpg
Corridor to bedroom area.
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/7895/dsc04592k.jpg
I'm not really sure why there is a second bathroom. It is adjacent to the study area, has a bath/shower set, two sinks and a toilet.
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4057/dsc04596lj.jpg
For comparison, the main bathroom.
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5200/dsc04601m.jpg
Jacuzzi
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8828/dsc04602b.jpg
The shower. Rainhead and handheld. Good water pressure and temperature.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3976/dsc04603fp.jpg
Ortigia amenities (My wife tells me they are a luxury brand from Sicily; what would I know...)
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/9510/dsc04595h.jpg
Walk in closet with electronic safe. Comfortable bathrobes.
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7548/dsc04599h.jpg
Bedroom, king size bed (not two twins put together).
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2967/dsc04600rk.jpg
Adjacent lounge area. The TV is inside the mirror. Good concept, except very hard to watch without turning off all the lights! Not a good idea in retrospect.
The good:
Hotel in a decent area of Rome to visit main attractions. You can even take the Metro nearby if you wanted to.
Decent amount space.
Double sinks in both bathrooms and good amenities.
Good bath/jacuzzi/shower water pressure and temperature.
Comfortable bed.
The not so good:
Lacking personalised service. Room service very limited. Requests for things like adapters, ice, etc., can take longer at times (up to 30 minutes for us).
Not a lot of staff, which goes with the boutique feel.
Terrible breakfast for a 'luxury' hotel. Badly made eggs, very small spread. Coffee was okay though.
Why two bathrooms? We would have much preferred to have one very large bathroom, similar to our junior suites we had in Switzerland on the same trip.
TV inside the mirror. Bad idea.
You are able to see small touches of where the furnishings have been redone or not done properly. Glue/plaster around the taps. Taps in the sinks don't spray water downwards but in different directions. Slanted flush buttons over the toilet. Etc. Etc.
All in all a decent, but not a greatly memorable stay. It was great to get out of the bustle of Rome, tourists and angry Italians to come back to a nice room. I haven't tried De Russie, Hassler, Portrait suites or others to compare with though. If in Rome again, which I dont think I will be, I would probably like to try somewhere else though.
Thanks for reading guys. Open to questions.
I happened to ask a few people for advice on Rome hotels recently. Nothing really stood out for me and it was for a last minute trip. In the end we ended up trying 'The First Luxury Art Hotel Roma'. I thought I would give it a spin here since there are no reports of it.
The hotel is part of the 'I Prefer' range, and opened in 2011. It is located near the Spanish steps, just two streets away from De Russie and right next to Piazza del Popolo. The street it is on is closed to vehicles during working hours of weekdays and Saturday. We happened to arrive on a Sunday so that was lucky.
We arrived at Rome Termini train station from Florence and took a taxi to the hotel. The taxi ride was atrocious, with the driver not turning on the meter, nearly hitting at least 3 pedestrians, and then trying to charge us 16 euros for 2 suitcases and 2 small bags (carry on size). There were no porters for a couple of minutes; we hauled our luggage in and someone came to take our luggage.
Check in is usually 1400, but although we arrived at 1230, they had a room ready for us; lucky again. We had a 'First Suite', the largest suite available, although the highest marketed suite is the 'Jacuzzi Suite', which has an outdoor jacuzzi. Small reception table to the left of the entrance, with only a couple of staff. Complimentary Voss water while they brought up our details, and then we were taken upstairs to complete small bits of paperwork in our room.
The room is split into a bedroom area with an adjacent lounge, one main bathroom, a second lounge/study area, a second bathroom and then a walk in closet. When you enter the room it doesn't feel very spacious though.
Pictures say more than words though, so here we are (I apologize in advance for my terrible photography):
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3082/dsc04591uc.jpg
View when you enter the room. Corridor to your right, to go to the bedroom.
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4898/dsc04594r.jpg
Corridor to bedroom area.
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/7895/dsc04592k.jpg
I'm not really sure why there is a second bathroom. It is adjacent to the study area, has a bath/shower set, two sinks and a toilet.
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4057/dsc04596lj.jpg
For comparison, the main bathroom.
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5200/dsc04601m.jpg
Jacuzzi
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8828/dsc04602b.jpg
The shower. Rainhead and handheld. Good water pressure and temperature.
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3976/dsc04603fp.jpg
Ortigia amenities (My wife tells me they are a luxury brand from Sicily; what would I know...)
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/9510/dsc04595h.jpg
Walk in closet with electronic safe. Comfortable bathrobes.
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/7548/dsc04599h.jpg
Bedroom, king size bed (not two twins put together).
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2967/dsc04600rk.jpg
Adjacent lounge area. The TV is inside the mirror. Good concept, except very hard to watch without turning off all the lights! Not a good idea in retrospect.
The good:
Hotel in a decent area of Rome to visit main attractions. You can even take the Metro nearby if you wanted to.
Decent amount space.
Double sinks in both bathrooms and good amenities.
Good bath/jacuzzi/shower water pressure and temperature.
Comfortable bed.
The not so good:
Lacking personalised service. Room service very limited. Requests for things like adapters, ice, etc., can take longer at times (up to 30 minutes for us).
Not a lot of staff, which goes with the boutique feel.
Terrible breakfast for a 'luxury' hotel. Badly made eggs, very small spread. Coffee was okay though.
Why two bathrooms? We would have much preferred to have one very large bathroom, similar to our junior suites we had in Switzerland on the same trip.
TV inside the mirror. Bad idea.
You are able to see small touches of where the furnishings have been redone or not done properly. Glue/plaster around the taps. Taps in the sinks don't spray water downwards but in different directions. Slanted flush buttons over the toilet. Etc. Etc.
All in all a decent, but not a greatly memorable stay. It was great to get out of the bustle of Rome, tourists and angry Italians to come back to a nice room. I haven't tried De Russie, Hassler, Portrait suites or others to compare with though. If in Rome again, which I dont think I will be, I would probably like to try somewhere else though.
Thanks for reading guys. Open to questions.