I have stayed 2 nights there. The hotel is shown as 5* but it is very far from that. I would rate it as a good 3*. It’s not a bad hotel, it does somewhat the job, has has some potential, but clearly no WOW effects and a renovation is needed sooner rather than later. It is not at all up to MGallery standards IMO. Status recognition was good. All staff members I interacted with were great.

First part of entrance/lobby is nice and well in the MGallery style. But that’s it for the style, once you pass this it’s rather boring and impersonal.

The back part of the lobby is nicer but you never go to this part, so useles

There is some kind of history in this hotel with the old movie Roman Holidays.

Check In

I had booked a Superior room and was upgraded to a Junior suite, despite the hotel was fully booked. Drink voucher was given at check-in. 

First « shock » was when I got out of the lift on my floor. MGallery hotels are usually quite luxurious but there I had the feeling to be in low rent social housing building. Long white walls without decoration, white paint with a lot of stains and a very cheap and dirty linoleum on the floor. I could not believe it every time I was walking in this corridor. Even in F1 or Ibis Budget, it’s nicer than this. I took some pictures, but it’s hard to reflect the reality of it in pictures. You can now judge on pictures :

Room

It was a duplex room with the living room and desk on the lower level and bedroom/bathroom upstairs. This is where you see all those red furnitures that you see on all pictures posted on the hotel website. But, compared to those, the reality is not as bright and shiny. The room was a bit tired although in acceptable conditions with 2 noticeable exceptions that I will describe here after.

On the lower level, you had the minibar and the courtesy tray with kettle and instant coffee/tea, so unfortunately no espresso machine. Shame in a country where the espresso are so good ! There was a price list for the minibar which contained only soft drinks and no mention of the free minibar (soft drink) content as this is a platinum benefit. I had a fruit juice and it was not added to my bill, so I believe it’s safe too consider they apply the correct policy. Two bottles of free mineral water were placed on the desk and were not replaced during the stay.

Welcome gift and note were already placed in the room. Nothing extraordinary with this welcome gift, but I have to say it was well presented and it was good and healthy.

The AC unit seemed very tired (but it was working well).

Upstairs, not a lot of space for suitcases. More than one suitcase would be problematic. The closet had safety box. Bathrobes and slippers were present in the closet.

Bathroom : as you can see there is a huge bathtub. And it’s just a bathtub, not a jacuzzi. I tried to take a relaxing bath one evening after a full day of walking in magnificent Rome, but first you have to manage to block water drainage as the button is lose. And then it’s impossible to change from shower mode to bath mode for water filling (the system was totally blocked, so I gave up because filling this huge tub in shower mode would have taken me at least 1 hr.

Soundproofing was average for street noise, but OK because the room was facing a side street and not the main avenue where the hotel is located (Via Nazionale).

Bed comfort was OKish. Far from MyBed. I didn’t like the pillows and no pillow menu was available. The pillows were not thick enough, so one was not enough and two were too much if you see what I mean.

There was no turndown service  

Another annoying thing : the room floor is also a linoleum, but not as ugly as in the corridors. Unfortunately, I think housekeeping staff is using too much detergent when they clean and this lead to a sticky floor becoming quickly dirty as soon as you walk on it. See pictures below : this is how the floor becomes a few minutes after you walk in the room :(

Dining

Two strong points of this hotel 

• a nice and good restaurant on the 9th floor. Acceptable prices
• a rooftop outdoor bar on the 10th floor with nice views of Rome.

Staff very pleasant in both. You can redeem your drink voucher there for soft drinks, beer, wine or Prosecco.

Some pictures of the restaurant and bar (day and night).

Location

Good location in town if you are here for tourism. It is located on Via Nazionale, about 10-15/min walking from Termini station. Basically walking distance from all tourist spot. 

Overall

Overall, certainly not a bad stay but not a stellar one and no WOW effect at all and expensive for what it gives (but, of course, this is Rome). Here is my summary of positive/negative aspects :

The plus:

• great staff, most of them speaking French
• location in town
• LCAH status recognition and benefits, even with a fully-booked hotel
• Good restaurant and nice rooftop bar

The minus

• unacceptable state of room corridors. How can you be rated 5* with prison-style corridors
• In serious need for renovation
• Comfort of bed

Would I return ? Sincerely I don’t know. I would say yes but without real enthusiasm, if the price is OK. The best Accor option in town is surely the Sofitel, now that it has been renovated, but its  price is still atrociously expensive. 

Location

The number one good point about the hotel is it's location - the word "ubicazione" means location in Italian (and toilet in my language, but that's not very pertinent here). In general, as Italian as especially, Roman hotels go, this is a solid choice and its premium price is justified for it being walking distance to all major sights on the right bank of the Tiber river, and almost on the doorstep of the metro which can take you further afield (e.g. Vatican).

There is a COOP supermarket, a pharmacy and a slew of other shops open until late and on Sundays on the same street at the hotel (which is busy but did not disturb my sleep).

Service

The staff I interacted with did their best to be friendly, helpful and professional, although their command of English sometimes got in the way when nuances where key, especially with some of the female front desk staffers.

One of the front desk staffers showed us to our room and did a quick tour, which was not entirely necessary (there is very little out of the ordinary about the room), but was a pleasant gesture and allowed us to ask questions and for the staff to make sure we were comfortable with the room and everything else.

A male manager at the front desk one evening saved the day when housekeeping threw away everything they found on the desk, including my drinks voucher. A new one was issued immediately with a proper apology and promise to discuss the event with housekeeping.

One negative exception was the breakfast room manager, who came across as stuffy and grumpy.

Still, by Italian standards (not by global 5-star standards or MGallery standards) it was a very positive experience - I did not hear a "no" outside of the breakfast room, nobody tried to rip me off, I felt safe, secure and taken care of.

Dining

Another highlight is the rooftop bar and restaurant, which affords you some really nice views to start or end the day with. The terrace is getting a temporary canopy for the winter, which does not entirely protect it from rain or cold, and the seats in the small fully-roofed section are not quite cozy or luxurious.

Coffee was only available from the staff (served from a jug or delivered from a professional barista espresso machine if guests asked for an espresso, cappucino or anything else but just coffee), I ended up getting it from their service jug myself as they could hardly keep up.

I cannot see why a jug of coffee could not be served to every table when seated as in most upscale hotels. I would not mind using an automated espresso machine as well - there was one in the back of the room, but staff actively discouraged me from using it.

The breakfast spread is rather disappointing, including artificial scrambled eggs and pretend bacon and sausages, whose taste boils down to being salty. You are basically expected to fill up on a few sweet items and leave promptly. This is, again, unfortunately a standard at Italian hotels - the country is known for great food, but somehow hotels universally provide awful breakfasts. This may also be due to the fact that Italians rarely eat sumptuous breakfasts with hot items at home.

We ended up not using the drinks voucher (despite it having been reissued - see above) and eating out save for breakfasts.

LCAH / ALL recognition

I would say recogniton of my status (Platinum) and benefits were proper, starting with being upgraded from the lowest room category to a top-level junior suite with sweeping vistas, early check-in and room availability without a wink, very late check-out (6 PM!) on request, an elegant welcome gift (including fresh forest fruit in December) delivered by room service in the evening and, of course, a drinks voucher (see above for details).

Hard product

The design is, as almost all Italian hotels, very much style over substance, which results in it being out of fashion almost the moment it was open, premature wear and tear and some questionable choices (e.g. corridors belonging more in a prison than luxury hotels, thanks to the designers infatuation with industrial ABS flooring).

My 8th floor room, situated on the highest available floor, which is probably marketed as a "junior suite" or "deluxe room", had full-width, almost floor-to-ceiling windows (only available on the 8th floor). It was airy, spacious and provided the "Roman vacation" feel thanks to the views. The Via Nazionale is a noisy street, but I slept well in the large, comfortable bed.

Bathroom had a bath / shower, which I found comfortable to use, and of course a bidet. I liked the fragrance used in the gaudy-coloured toiletries. For whatever reason, the hotel had branded everything, including the plastic waste bin in the bathroom. That was quite an overkill, I'd rather they redecorated and carpeted the corridors.

My room fortunately did not feature all of the redness the rooms in promo photos have, with bathroom tiling and bedding featuring more neutral colours. The uncarpeted yellow ABS floor was anything but luxurious though, and whatever footwear one wore (or same with walking barefoot), it made squaky noises (so no quiet sneaking to the bathroom at night).

There are doormen (both very friendly and with immaculate English), but there is no turndown service provided (not that I care for it).

Overall

Otherwise, the more I reminisce about my stay, the more I am happy with the experience. There was little "memorable moment" charme about it, but all the comforts were there and the location proved just as good as it looked on the map. The little extra the hotel charges over the Mercures in Rome is paid back in time and expense saved while getting around.