livefromtuscany

I have only stayed in the Terrace Room or in the Terrace Suite, so unfortunately I can’t comment on the Vilon Suite. Looks like there are 3 windows in the living area, and another window in the bedroom, but I agree that it looks a bit dark in the photos.

I found the Vilon much better for service. They greeted us by name every time we walked in and out. But it is an entirely different concept, the Vilon has a proper lobby with a bar and restaurant, while the Portrait doesn’t have any common areas at all (except the rooftop terrace, which we couldn’t use because it was rainy/windy).

To freshen up my memories, I just checked the Portrait website and it’s very amusing how they describe it on their “Bars & Dining” page:

The Best Restaurants in Rome

On the terrace of the Portrait Roma you will not find a restaurant, but all of your favorite ones in Rome: from a Michelin star menu, to that of a typical trattoria in the historic center … from Fusion and Asian menus, to the most classic delicious pizzas.

Portrait Bar

Your minibar is a little corner of your home in Rome. We shall be pleased to restock it daily with your favourite snacks and a selection of wines, champagnes and spirits.

So yes, “Dining” is food delivery from nearby restaurants and “Bars” is your in-room minibar

richarddd

Looking dark with all of those windows is what worries me. The Terrace Suite looks very nice and much brighter.

I don't really care about F&B beyond breakfast given the number of restaurants in the area. Bars & Dining is amusing. I've never seen a hotel say it does delivery, let alone "With a flourish of white linen and the ting-ting of silver platters". Michelin star restaurant and rooftop bar Rome - Portrait Roma (lungarnocollection.com)

david22

Maybe it's just me, but I got the opposite impression from the photos of the rooms themselves. The decor gives me the impression of a bit more dated rooms vs. JK Place. Maybe it's just style though?

Like here are some of the photos of the top suites at Vilon:

david22

That being said, I booked a 6 night stay in the Melangolo Suite because the terrace view looks extremely compelling as far as Rome options go and Hotel Vilòn has great reviews.

livefromtuscany

That’s the one I stayed in, and I was very happy with it!

albie

My family stayed at the Rome Cavalieri Waldorf-Astoria last week of July for 4 nights, and while I wouldn’t call it dreadful, it was not up to luxury standards — more like a 4* hotel. It feels like it might have been luxurious in the 70s…and then they forgot to make any updates. La Pergola was fabulous — and we got lucky and got a table on one day’s notice (they prioritise hotel guests for cancellations), so if you’re keen to eat there, that is a benefit. Other than that, the restaurants are uninspired, and the lunch and dinner menu is the same. Rooms were fine, but nothing special, and the Imperial Lounge was beneficial but also unimpressive. Pool was a nice benefit (it was 37°C while we were there!!), but not an especially nice setting. Many Trip Advisor reviews complain about bad service, and we did not experience that anywhere in the hotel. Everyone was lovely and helpful.

stiwi

Any recent updates? Planning 3 nights in Rome and would love to get some top options. I was at Rome Cavalieri 13 years ago and at St Regis 10 years ago. While RC had impressive views, the location was far from central, so won't be repeating it. Can't remember St Regis well which means there was nothing spectacular about this property. A nice spa with indoor pool would be a great benefit to some centrally located hotel. I am leaning towards Hassler Hotel mainly due to location and their Michelin starred restaurant Imago which offers fantastic views, although the menu is very limited so I am not sure if it is worth it.

livefromtuscany

If I were to go to Rome (hopefully soon) I would check out the new Six Senses.
Or Bulgari, which is supposed to open before the summer.

cornwall4000

the new bulgari looks great.
read something and saw some pics in one of the travel rags a few months ago, gonna be a great hard product at the very least.
will def be trying it.
i've been going to rome once a year for work since 1998.
have tried most of the top end on offer there - baglioni, WA cavalieri, hassler, str... - but i have to say the only place i've ever wanted to go back to is hotel locarno.
probably wouldn't pass 'luxury' standards for many in this forum, particularly when it comes to super-attendant service. but there's something about that place.... it's got a timeless magic to it that i really love. ultra discreet, calm, and gorgeous appointments everywhere you look.
chose it for last year's conference (over a choice of basically anything at any price), and held my breath about returning after almost a decade.
needn't have worried. it's better than ever.
https://www.hotellocarno.com/en

stiwi

Six Senses caught my eye, I wrote to them 2 days ago, they still didn’t bother to reply.

Looks nice, unfortunately it doesn’t have any availability for this weekend.

bearbrick

What’s the maintainence like for the rooms and plumbing is good ? Looks charming though .

cornwall4000

not positive what's meant by room 'maintenance'.....? the entire hotel is old, historic even. so i'd call the rooms 'old' in style. but certainly kept up to date in terms of cleanliness, thermostat, fixtures, etc etc. as on old hotel, the rooms - across class, and i've stayed in several - are grand in scale. soaring ceilings, classical finishes, tons of open space.... showers aren't going to have 12 heads and there's no toto toilets. but i've always found the water pressure more than good enough. it's all in the beholder's eye: some would call the locarno 'dated', and it's a fair assessment, but these same people might just as fairly use the same term for the king david, or claridge's, or the beverly hills hotel.

i wouldn't say it's the kind of hotel one chooses for brand new state-of-the-art facilities, plumbing, etc.
having stayed at two brand new hotels in the past month (conrad in DTLA and canopy in minneapolis), there's definitely something to love about that kind of experience. but that's not this hotel. that being said, newer hotels spend untold sums trying to achieve what comes to hotel locarno naturally. class, history, patina, confidence. if sparkling new is what you're after, you may be better off at this new six senses, or edition, W, etc.

bearbrick

I actually prefer these “older” grand hotels because they are not made instantly or impossible to duplicate.
what I meant was are the furniture and hardware well maintained and working well.
Mattresses and bed ware, updated. Air conditioning working ( cannot be taken for granted in Italy)
Can absolutely live without the toto toilets ( actually am wary of them )

stiwi

Six Senses replied after 4 days - unacceptable.

So I Stayed 3 nights at Hotel De Russie, booked through Amex FHR:

• Booked Deluxe Room. FHR benefits were explained to me with a slight omission of an upgrade. Asked if there is any upgrade availability, I was told they are running full capacity, which I knew was a lie as I booked 1 day prior to arrival and there was plenty of availability including the Suites. I confronted them by showing the availability is plenty but then they changed the game by saying there is renovation in some of them bla bla bla, so they would obviously not be available to book! Sent a complaint to Amex which passed the feedback to hotel management, called the room operations manager in the morning and although he was busy at that time, they called me back with an upgrade to Suite which was 60-70sqm but had to wait for it until 7pm on Friday (arrived on Thursday evening). The welcome FHR letter from the hotel there has a following statement: "certain room categories are not available for upgrade”. Unfortunately the hotel is not precise about which ones, also such notice is not mentioned on the Amex FHR benefits page. I think this is some internal "scam" of the hotel's policy on FHR guests to rip them off from the benefits in "Italian" way
• Spent 1 night at 102 - Deluxe Room with an odd shape / design - separated mini office behind the curtain, walk in wardrobe which door opening was always hitting the self standing piece of furniture. The bathroom was falling apart with tiles coming off the wall and missing grout, rain shower was leaking, being in the bathroom could hear water from the above passing through the drains... The room was very dark, I had to turn on the lights even during the day. Frankly at around €2000 / night super unimpressed.
• Spent 2 nights at 101 - Suite 60-70sqm literally next door to 102. Much better finishes, layout, bathroom had better tiles and finishes too, shower was not leaking and it was much brighter with a beautiful view overlooking hotel's courtyard and Villa Borghese.
• Breakfast at Le Jardin was very nice, I had dinner there too - no complains, very good service and food.
• Stravinskij Bar has a beautiful setting at the hotel's courtyard and they have a nice food and creative drinks.
• Everyone at the hotel speaks English so the communication is not an issue.
• Haven't tried the SPA, although I sent an email prior to arrival for treatments availabilty and they replied promptly within 24 hours.
• The location is excellent next to Piazza di Popolo, walking distance to Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, luxury shops etc.

To sum up if I were given 101 Suite from the beginning I would only rate this stay positively. What bothers me however is that I spent 1 night at Deluxe 102 and given this is supposed to be their top end room before suites, I was disappointed with the way it was. If you expect moden finishes, 2 sinks, walk in shower, shower head coming from the ceiling, electric curtains, electric light control switches or even spare power socket next to your bed - don't! Six Senses may tick the modern part boxes and perhaps this is where I would stay next time or Bulgari once it opens.

Ate lunch at Zuma - very good, would avoid at dinner time due to crowd / being loud. Concierge was able to arrange Aroma restaurant that someone suggested here on a very last minute - actually it was not available when they checked first and then I pushed the concierge guy saying how come top hotel in Rome doesn't have 1 table pre-booked for their guests He found 1 table in the end for dinner. However Aroma while the view was nice the food was nothing to talk about - the best part were the sweets. The problem with those fine dining set menu places is that you either like the set menu or don't, so what stood out for me at Aroma were 4 different types of set menus available to choose from. However we spent time choosing on the set menus and when we only wanted to order, we were told that both persons have to order the same set menu, so if you like fish and the other person meat, then I would suggest going somewhere else as they won't accommodate.

cornwall4000

Could very well be just me, but as a 30-year+ amex platinum card holder who used to book almost exclusively through FHR, I have found the upgrade benefit to be getting notably stingier over the years. Especially recently.
Wonder if that's true universally.
(and i mean 'universally' two ways - first, whether other amex FHR/THC users feel that trend too, but also whether other similar programs have tightened up on their own upgrades)