EuropeanPete

Hmm.

My credit card apparently bounced (AMEX will let me buy almost anything over the world, but amusingly decided that a Ryanair purchase was bound to be an imposter) and I got a note from the St Regis not unreasonably asking me for different details - but ONLY via fax.

Sadly, I live in the first world and so haven't seen a fax machine for about 15 years.

Songer5

I realize that most FT'er are high rollers, but if anyone knows of a nearby self-laundry they'd recommend, my 3 year old toddler would appreciate it. I just can't fathom spending $20 to wash each shirt she spills gelato on. Thanks!

Forstbetrieb

http://roma.virgilio.it/ricercalocal...+Roma+%28RM%29

dingo

Tried to insert a link to a bing map but doesn't work.

I went to maps.bing.com and searched for Laundromats near rome termini. Seems like the concierge could help out as well.

I'd not pay $20 to clean a shirt either...though I might go buy a bunch of the cheap t-shirts for that price and end up with a short-term keepsake!

Enjoy your trip. I've got a 4 year old and would love to hear any experiences you care to share on your travels in Rome or Italy...PM if you are willing to share insights.

TRAVELSIG

Attempting to use Bing to search for something in Italy is typically about as effective as attempting to use virgilio to search for something in the United States.

If the OP follows the link in post #168 above from Forstbetrieb they will certainly find something much much less expensive than 15 EUR (~20 USD) to clean a shirt.

Songer5

Grazi!

Dr. HFH

My usual threshold on hotel laundry decisions is that if it costs more to launder than it costs to replace the item, I do it myself and hang it in the bathtub.

EuropeanPete

Had two one night stays (with a night's break in Tivoli) at the St Regis last weekend.

Overall, it's a nice and attractive hotel with some good staff. I got my nights on a sale 280EUR a night rate, which felt good value for what on paper is such a high end hotel.

I had recently stayed at the St Regis Florence which I think is really a league above Rome and so is not really fair to compare.

There were quite a few small to moderate service issues in Rome, from really bad pre-arrival comms (some mentioned here) to some plain incorrect recommendations from the concierge about avoiding queues (luckily I double checked online) and then some simple misses like not knowing where my stuff was that I left overnight.

On our first stay I used an SNA and we were put in what they claimed was their best Junior Suite (looked identical to the Junior Suite photographed on the site) which we actually really didn't like. It was crammed into quite a small space and didn't really work. On our second stay there appeared to be plenty of rooms which on paper looked higher category than ours, but the Deluxe (?) room we got was next to the Bottega Veneta Suite and was really beautifully designed and quite roomy. I suspect as a Plat I might have been "robbed", but it was a nice room and our previous Butler popped in with a couple of things even though we'd lost our Butler service.

I think that I would probably go back again if looking for something similar in Rome, but I'd personally try to manage expectations of anyone expecting a top end Cat 7 SPG experience.

EuropeanPete

As an off-topic PS, we took a day and night trip to Tivoli, which I thought was outstandingly beautiful. We stayed in the Residenza Gregorgiane (a 2-bed villa) with its own private 16th century baths which, while not a 5-star hotel, was utterly and totally memorable.

Both Tivoli and the villa we stayed at come very highly recommended by me.

TRAVELSIG

The Rolling Stones reportedly stayed here over the last 2 days for the concert they hosted in Rome at the circus maximus. The newspapers were reporting that the 44 rooms and suites total they rented for the band and their supporting crew members had a cost of 72K GBP.

280 EUR is definitely a very very good value- often a small box room in a borderline 4 Star property can cost more than this in Rome.

EuropeanPete

We were actually sharing the hotel with the Rolling Stones at the time. It was quite entertaining to walk past all the fans, although they did briefly wake us up at 2am by chanting one night.

Forstbetrieb

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/1...0/4067439.html

1readyset2go

Really second guessing myself now that this property is going to be moving down to a cat 6. I am booked into the Westin Rome using pay 4 nights get 5 (80k in points), but now I am wondering if I should cancel and rebook for the same amount of points into the Regis? It will be for my wife and I this Sept.

pkerr

We stayed at the Westin Rome in September. Nice place though the service from the staff could have been a bit more personal. St Regis for the same price as the Westin? Interesting dilemma.

1readyset2go

Let me give a little more color. I am a lowly gold so i might get an upgrade at the Westin (i have read gold have pretty good luck here) but i seriously doubt there is any chance of that at the Regis. This is an anniversary trip for us and also our first time in Italy. Five nights in Rome will be the final stop on a our two week trip.