Originally Posted by EuropeanPete

I stayed here for the first time over the weekend. I got a sale fare of €250 and for that I must conclude that it's great value and a place with all the trappings of a luxury hotel - worthwhile for someone not used to paying more to get into that sort of venue.

Deep value sale fare aside, I was pretty disappointed. This struck me as an example of the "Grand old Hotel" which will struggle to stay alive in the next 10-20 years as younger generations are split between those who can't afford luxury breaks and those who do and expect high levels of service for their money.

Some thoughts:
- The interiors and rooms were crazily grand and kitsch, rather like being in Dubai. Amazingly, I think it worked, though it is a shame some people will visit Rome and think this is a non-ironic local style
- The hotel opened up the pool to non-hotel guests. This means that as a guest unless you arrive early you can't get a seat by the pool (there's a separate garden out back) and you have to pay for a chair. Once there, you get sub-hotel levels of service - staff are separated between lifeguards (admin) and waiters (service) and they refuse to communicate with each other. If you're in the garden you often have to go to the bar yourself to get any service, and they're quite inflexible on basic things - e.g. if you want a table to eat you have to wait there while your meal is made rather than arrive when it is ready (30min+)
- The 3* La Pergola was closed for summer when I was there, so I ate in the other restaurant. The food was nice, though my cod hadn't been properly de-boned (which really hurt). When I let the staff know they literally couldn't care less and presumably didn't tell the chef who walked by 5min later without saying hello
- The reception, concierge, doormen are all a bit under-resourced and so there were often long queues, uncertainty about who was in what place in the line, upset guests, etc.
- I stupidly left some valuable cufflinks in the bathroom and having only just noticed a day later, the hotel obviously hasn't found them and let me know. When I called in they were unable to even take the details and pass a message through to housekeeping as I had to find a link on the website to Hhonors corporate who will then pass it to the hotel staff who will then pass it to housekeeping. So I expect very little chance of getting them back just due to bureaucracy, which is a shame

I expect this hotel has 5-10 years of pensioners on cruises and Hhonors members spending points, but it doesn't strike me that it has developed a model which will justify the required room prices going forward given the competition in the city.