travellingpinoy

I'm thinking of staying here in April with my family (wife, 4 yr old, 2 yr old) for 2 nights. Given reports of the area and if it were your family, would you stay there? From what I read above, some say the area is okay and some say it's not. Would you recommend staying here or are there better (not extravagant - over the top points needed) hotels I can go to?

A little context: I will be using Club Carlson points (with credit card last night free deal). I can transfer UR/MR points, use Avios hotels, or pay cash (if it's not too expensive).

Thanks in advance!

cstorrie

The area is completly safe it's just not very nice. It's a 5-10 minute walk to get to the subway and that's 2 adults so probably not ideal for the young ones.

Inside i thought it was lovely really nice pool and roof terrace perfect for Rome's stifling heat

asandrs

Apologies for the slight hi-jack but we were in Rome last week and had to walk past this hotel to get to ours - the Best Western Ambra Palace. Agreed the area is not the best but it has character - sort of reminded me of an area where new (not rich) immigrants start off with the intention of moving out as soon as possible but then they decide - hey this place really isn't bad - let's stick around. Hence you have a lot of racial and social diversity and if that's your scene then this area is great - if you want a wasp neighborhood then it's not for you. And while I'm here I have to recommend the Best Western, only a block or so away from the Radisson and it's a really good hotel (as are a lot of BW's in Europe). We stayed there for €67 a night which included a really good breakfast.

travellingpinoy

Thank you for your replies!

I just looked at Google Maps' street view for this location. The area does not look nice. Then again, I don't really know what to expect from the rest of Rome - coz from what I read Rome has a lot of graffiti. Normally, I would be okay with it if I were travelling by myself but I'm kinda uneasy about it since I am bringing the kids - not to mention the wife!

As for Best Westerns, thanks for the suggestions! I didn't even think about this chain. They are an AMEX MR partner and right now there is a 50% transfer bonus (haven't decided whether this is worth it value-wise). It also helps that they have a ton of locations in Rome. I'll probably have to do a lot of reading on the FT Best Western forums. Hopefully, I get a lot of useful information there for Rome!^

Meanwhile, I will still keep this area in my back pocket just in case I can't afford my other options.

Adam1222

This was the worst Radisson I have stayed at in Europe. The area isn't that bad, though. Just kind of boring.

travellingpinoy

Can you elaborate on why? Which other Radisson's did you stay at in Europe?

Adam1222

I've stayed in about 20 other Radisson Blus. Check out my review here: http://www.youwentwhere.com/?p=796

stinger101

Thanks for those reviews. Those were the two I was looking at for this summer. Going with IC as I'm a RA even though I have enough CC points to cover the es blu.

tsmith12

Having stayed at both IC and Radisson, I would still pick Radisson. For me, it was easier to transit from Radisson as we had a metro pass and our trains to Florence and Venice left from Termini as well. The walk from the side Termini entrance to hotel is not bad (barely few steps) and there is more character around the area (not to mention REASONABLE stores/restaurants) than near Spanish Steps. I guess it depends on your budget/objective...the rooms given to us at Radisson were sufficient and free WiFi came in handy...also ended up getting free breakfast, so I guess that helped too. The area is not that bad..the scene at night is more lively and my family and I didn't feel unsafe one bit. We were gone all day so as long as the room was clean and beds were comfortable, it served our purpose. And it was quite easy to take the metro/bus back to Termini from any part of the town.

travellingpinoy

So just got back a couple of weeks ago from Europe and wanted to give an update on this. I did end up staying at the Radisson Blu es. Rome with my wife, 2 small kids, and other family that we met up with. Overall, it served our purpose. The hotel itself is clean and convenient.
* Area and Safety - We never really explored outside of the hotel and mainly took cabs and the train and the whole time we felt absolutely safe. The area where the hotel is at is not top notch or posh by any stretch but it did not matter much given our itinerary. That said, it wasn't scary at all especially during the day.
* Proximity to Sites - It was reasonably close to the major sites so the cabs weren't that expensive.
* Breakfast - Pretty decent. Compared to what we're used to in the US, it's excellent. Now, of course, comparing it to breakfast in hotels in Beijing or other parts of Asia - well, then it'll fall short. There was a good but not overwhelming selection.
* Rooms - I don't exactly know what room we got but I made it a point to get the type of room with it's own room for a bathroom so I didn't get the Business Class room they were upgrading me to. If I were to do it again, I would take the upgrade given that it was just my wife and the 2 small kids with me. My mother in law got the upgrade and it wasn't bad at all. The shower had a curtain and the toilet has it's own room. So it's not as bare as a lot of people make it sound to be. The room and furnishings were nicer too. The biggest quirk I saw in our room (aside from being small compared to the American context) was that the bathroom door mounts were broken. So if the door opens 90 degrees and the typical closed state at rest is at 0 degrees - it was actually at about negative 15 degrees. Plus, they are not as generous with the towels. That's it. Room service was actually not bad.
* Transportation - Again, we were close to the main train station, buses, and cab fares to sites were relatively cheap. The very last day, we checked out, left our luggage in the hotel while we did our last minute tours, picked up our luggage, then walked a really really short distance to the Termini train station. We literally just walked out of the back exit, down the ramp, then crossed the street and got into the train station for our train to Venice. Easy peasy.

In my previous post, I asked the question "Given reports of the area and if it were your family, would you stay there?". My answer to this question (having already stayed there) is yes, I would. Would I spend much of my time around the immediate vicinity of the hotel? No, but I wouldn't be afraid to venture out especially during the day - but I have better uses for my time.

Hope this helps somebody decide.

R7U

I have stayed in this hotel. It is nice modern hotel. I liked the swimming pool which was on the roof. Area is safe and the location is good, I had no problems.

sfvoyage

I just had a 2-night stay at this hotel last week and can confirm that the neighborhood is not bad at all. It is less scary than many neighborhoods in many US cities (and on many public buses here in San Francisco!). I actually enjoyed working around the immediate areas, with its numerous wholesale clothing shops owned by mainland Chinese immigrants as well as ethnic restaurants.

It is a convenient location for the trains, metro, airport shuttle buses (there are at least 2 companies very close by that charge 3.90 or 4 euros one-way to/from FCO, and there are at least 1 other company on the other side of the Termini).

Breakfast and wifi connection are both good.

Service is not good. Most of the staff are nice and friendly, but their English proficiency is lacking, and they don't seem to care much. I had minor problems that went unresolved or ignored for a couple of days.

Room design is poor. I asked for a renovated room. Lighting is on the dim side. The separate small toilet room has a totally different light fixture design and user interface - the switch is comprised of an unlabelled, thin, circular metallic disc stuck on the wall. I had thought the light was not working and didn't figure out how to turn on this light until the last day.

There were tiny black dot-like bugs crawling all over the bathroom counter, as well as on the desk to a lesser extent; they seem to be attracted to sugary or other liquid. The bath tub base surface was not firm - not a big deal if you don't mind taking slightly "floating" showers. The bath and hand towel ring fixtures were not mounted high enough, causing your towels to touch toiletries and other items on the counter and knocking them down all over the counter. A lot of poorly thought-out and irritating - albeit not major - design flaws...

teddy25

The location was not the greatest. if you take the train or bus from FCO, make sure you take GOOGLE maps/street view to find this place.

Rome train station is like any major train stations around the world, a lot of people and suspicious characters. the area around it is mostly occupied by recent immigrants from Africa and Asia. The street the hotel is on had a lot of Chinese stores.

Just watch out for your wallet I never felt unsafe. We walked back at midnight after dinner with no worries.

The hotel is fine, salt water pool gets packed on a nice afternoon. get a upgrade to a business room which will give you a glass divider between the bathroom and the bed.

the staff is not the warmest. they are not rude, just indifferent.

lyst

Our experience there, a few weeks ago wasn't good. I booked business rooms, thinking they'd be better than the standard rooms. We are gold and didn't get any upgrade. The rooms were small with no storage. Our 2nd night the lights started flickering around 2 AM. We couldn't do anything to fix this. We never knew when they'd turn back on or how long they'd stay off that night!! We asked to change rooms in the morning. They said they'd get someone up there to fix the problem, but we still insisted they give us a different room. No offer of any compensation. I wouldn't recommend this hotel!

jorbren

Pretty much along the same lines as everyone else, the area walking from the train station to the hotel, which is about 5-10 minute walk, isn't the most inviting walk ive ever taken. There is grafitti everywhere, but again that is pretty typical of everywhere in Rome. The lighting is pretty dark that last couple of blocks to the hotel, but with that in mind i never felt scared. My wife and I walked to everything from the hotel, sometimes a bit of a walk, and returned late at night and had no issues. The hotel itself i would agree isnt that nice. I was upgraded into suite and while it was ok, the finer touches just arent that at this hotel, i.e rips in the couch, large scratches on the floor, etc. Overall though, i would still choose this hotel again if i went to Rome. The 2nd night free is too nice of an option and its soo easy to earn massive amounts of CC points.