I normally avoid this hotel as it's usually way overpriced (200 to 300 euro per night for lowest category rooms), and the location and transport connections are not the best. With the corona virus and lack of tourists, rates have now dropped to 150 euro per night so I decided to finally give it a try. It was ok, but I was not impressed, and I felt it was still overpriced for what it is.
My summary:
-
No upgrade. Booked
deluxe category room (lowest category is called
superior) and received exactly that. Reception said not all floors were open due to the covid 19 situation and the next category up (executive rooms and junior suites) were all taken. Might have been true, but as a titanium member this was disappointing. From the history of this thread I can see that this property has always been somewhat stingy in terms of giving upgrades.
-Despite choosing and paying a bit more for a higher category room the
bathroom was small, especially the shower. The shower area was just a small squared area (maybe 1 meter by 1 meter) rather than the usual larger rectangle style in other hotels and the entrance/exit to the shower was right next to the toilet meaning the area to enter/leave the shower was more narrow. Quite uncomfortable.
-I was here in October so cannot comment on the
air conditioning situation as I did not need it.
-Windows
DO open for fresh air, in this hotel so I was happy about that, however, my window faced the street via Federico Cesi and
traffic was quite noisy throughout most of the day including police/ambulances passing every few hours. Another minor problem was with the somewhat small room windows (and other tall buildings close by) not that much sunlight reaches the room. So even if it's a beautiful sunny day outside, you won't notice much of it if you are in your room uless you are on one of the upper floors.
-The
desk in the room was one of the those higher ones with a high bar stool, making it uncomfortable and unsuitable to work and do business throughout the day.
-On a more positive note the lobby, common areas, and rooms are in excellent condition and everything looks very clean and modern in the hotel.
This hotel does look like a very nice (up to date) 4 star property, despite the various issues mentioned above.
-The
public roof terrace on the 7th floor is closed for rennovations so you cannot enjoy the view there.
-There is also a underground
parking garage if you have a car.
-
Breakfast is served in the basement minus 1 level. As other have mentioned, it's an unpleasant space to have breakfast. The hotel has a lovely and large ground floor bar area with optional outdoor seating, so I don't undertstand why they don't use that area, instead of the basement which has no natural light. Either way, the breakfast food itself also could be improved. I don't know how it was in the time before the virus, but at the moment it was quite disappointing. Only "warm" food is toast and hard boiled eggs which had been sitting around a while and were stone cold when I ate them (no other eggs any other style and no other warm food). The rest offered was cereals, some ham and cheese and pastries and some fruit. Juice from a machine which tasted really wattered down. Coffee also from a machine which was ok. I know we are in strange virus times, but a hotel of this category hotel can do better than this.
-
Location is so-so. You can get to the justice ministry/supreme court of Italy (Palazzo di Giustizia - Corte Suprema di Cassazione), the Castel Sant Angelo (Mausoleum of Hadrian
), and the banks of the Tiber river in a few minutes, and if you don't mind walking, the Vatican/St Peters cathedral is about a 15 to 20 minute walk away. Everything else requires at least 30 minute walk, or a bus or taxi. Many different bus lines pass by in the huge square called "Piazza Cavour" (where the supreme court/justice ministry is), however, even in the pre virus era waiting for (and taking) a bus in Rome is never a very pleasant experience (think long waits and over crowded buses).
-There is a
metro station called "Lepanto" on the A line in the general area of the hotel, but be aware it's a good 10 min walk away (about 1 km distance from the hotel) and sidewalks in rome are terrible for pulling luggage. If you don't mind walking this distance back and forth to metro each day, I highly reccomend using the metro to get to the main train station of Termini, and all the other tourist destinatins rather than using the rome buses.
-There is a Unicredit
bank very close by with two 24 hour external ATMs (cashpoints) on the street "via Lucrezio Caro"
-There is a small
supermarket called "Carrefour Express" nearby on the street "via Lucrezio Caro"
-There are many nice looking local
restuarants in the streets around the hotel. If you don't want Italian food, there is a fancy and somewhat expensive Japanese restaurant called "Taki" in the street "via Marianna Dionigi" See here:
https://taki.it/ There is also a more moderately priced (but still very nice looking) chinese restaurant called "Ruyi" which is 2 blocks away in the "Via Valadier" street. See here:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187791-d795381-Reviews-Ruyi-Rome_Lazio.html For fancy ice cream try "neve di latte" on the same street as the hotel in "via federico cesi 1"
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...ome_Lazio.html
Conclusion:
Overall, the hotel and rooms look very nice and modern, but it has faults when you look closer at various important details. Unfortunately, many of the hotel's shortcomings (small bathrooms/showers, so-so location, distance to metro stop, lack of natural sunlight, street noises) are permanent and can not be changed, so it really is a "take it or leave it" type hotel. For me, even at the "low virus era" rate of 150 euro per night it still felt overpriced for what (and where) it is.