On August 27th, 2008 I had to take an unexpected trip to Italy to chaperone my nephews back to their mom in Rome. I had other people arrange the trip (it is a long story) and was told they found a deal where the hotel was included in the price of the trip and the hotel was the Holiday Inn Rome-West.

Being an experienced traveler I went online and read all the reviews about this establishment. Although I am a seasoned traveler to Europe the reviews of the place left me wanting; wanting to stay in a place far away from the Holiday Inn Rome-West.

I am happy to report that all of my experiences there were great and the hotel was fun to stay at for my two day layover.

First let me start by telling you that the free shuttle bus arrives at the airport (Leonardo da Vinci) at 8:30 AM and 1:15 PM until October 31st of this year. I believe they have a different schedule for the winter time. The bus picks you up outside of terminal C in front of the parking garage and there is a big Holiday Inn sign. The bus is painted in Holiday Inn colors as well. It is easy to find.

My plane arrived at 10:00 AM and by the time I handed the kids off to my sister-in-law it was 10:30. I had her call the hotel and they told me when the next free shuttle bus was coming and told me that Taxi was another option and that I should not pay more than 40 Euro to get to the hotel. My sister-in-law said you are not expected to tip. Being the cheap American, and not wanting to pay $60 American, I opted to wait for the next free shuttle bus. I could have also taken the train, but did not. Anyway, whilst I was waiting for the bus I was approached by a few taxi drivers, and if you do not wait in the Taxi line they will approach you, and was offered a ride for 25 Euros. I decided to wait for the free ride.

The ride was uneventful and quick, at maybe 25 minutes long. I got to the hotel and checked in and was given a room with a large king size bed. The room was big by European standards and average size for a Motel 6 in the states. It was a clean and very nice room. I checked in and walked down the hill to the grocery store which is one block away from the hotel. There is a McDonalds at the bottom of the hill as well but I never ate there because I wanted Italian food. I purchased a six pack of water and some food, at a bit, read a but and fell asleep trying to shake off the effects of a 20 hour plane trip from hell to Italy.

Before I went to sleep I went and reserved a spot for the next morning’s shuttle to the city. I could not book the return trip because they only book the next day’s trip if that time already passed. If you want to book the 9:00 PM return trip you cannot book it until after 9:00 PM the day before. No worries, I then booked my return trip the next morning.

I did eat breakfast at the hotel the next morning. I was very hungry and had not had a meal in about 20 hours. The meal is a buffet and it is very nice but cost 14 Euros, or about $20.00. The McDonalds does not serve breakfast like they serve in the US so I opted for the real food. I then boarded the bus for Rome.
The bus was never crowded. Ever. I could have got on any shuttle I tried either going into Rome or coming back from Rome. This may be busier during the peak season but I had no issues whatsoever. The ride itself is about 20 minutes to the Vatican and another 10 to the heart of Rome. You can only get on the bus for the return trip at the same place they drop you off in the city, you cannot get on at the Vatican. As I mentioned above the ride back was never full and it was a stress-free ride.

I also tried the pool at this hotel but the water was cold so I did not go in.

The staff were all extremely helpful except for one bellhop on the last day. Other people have mentioned the small elevators, and they are very small, and I was checking out. I was on the 6th floor and had my backpack loaded. It was fairly heavy when the elevator opened it was filled with luggage and the bellhop. There was not room for me on the elevator so I asked if I could toss my bag on the elevator and meet him at the bottom (the stairs are right next to the elevator). He said OK, but I could hear him swearing and cussing at me as the doors closed and I was walking downstairs. I should have reported him but I did not.

Anyway, staying here was not stressful at all. The free shuttle was easier than the subways (I have been to Rome before and stayed in town and took the public transit….this time I did not) and there was always room. The drop off point is about a six block was to the Coliseum and I ended up walking everywhere. I walked from the Vatican to the bus stop the next day, which was maybe a 15 block walk. I took the side streets and tried to get lost because you always find cool things when you are lost, but it is hard to get lost in Rome.

Every person I dealt with spoke English except the bellhop. Every person I dealt with was professional and courteous, except the bellhop. I had no issues whatsoever with the hotel itself. The only thing I can think of to complain about, besides the bellhop, was that there is a stairway that is about half way up the hill that empties into the McDonald’s parking lot. It was overgrown with weeds, tree branches, and cluttered with litter. If they would trim the trees, weed the path and pick up the trash there, it would really help their image on the outside grounds. I used the stairs anyway, and this is only a small complaint.

Booked a Deluxe double room and really enjoyed our stay. Hotel is very clean, modern, renovated, with a gym and swimming pool.
The room was great and spacious, big flatscreen TV, trouserpress, bathrobe and slippers, electric kettle with complimentary set of teas and coffees, a complimentary bottle of water and fruit juice every day. Breakfast was very good, too, with fresh italian ham and mozzarella, fresh fruit and hot omelette (and many other things of course).
As the hotel was outside of the centre (somewhat 4 kilometers to Vatican), there was a courtesy air-conditioned bus dropping guests in the city centre and picking them up at certain times, so we did not mind staying outside of Rome.
There was a nice big Panorama supermarket nearby, so one could buy fruit, snacks and water there without paying double price in the city centre. For those on a budget there is a McDonalds just outside the hotel.
The staff was nice and polite, the only improvement I would ask for would be if they kindly offered help with bags for those who check out. Otherwise - absolutely delighed with the place!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn West prior to a cruise embarkation and again at the end of the cruise. I will say that the reviews on this site were very helpful. My expectations were pretty low going into it as so many people had complained about the showers, elevators, and beds. I was pleasantly surprised by the modern feel of the hotel and am glad we chose here to stay. It is true that the hotel is no where near the center of Rome but it is accessible by cab and I heard good things about the free shuttle, although there were limited runs. They did have two drop off sites -- one near the Vatican and the other nearer the Colesseum.

Let's start with some of the troubles we had. First, the first time we stayed there we stayed for two nights and had trouble with the air conditioner. Finally, someone we had met who was also on our cruise told us about a hidden switch. I actually had seen the little switch at the bottom of the air conditioning controls, but when I switched it on the light went from green to yellow and I just figured green was better. I was wrong -- yellow is the way to go. We finally figured this out and our second night was pretty cool and our return night was perfect.

The restaurant was fine. We like our food but it took a little while to figure out the system. They have someone who sits you, someone who takes your order, and then someone who comes and gets that order and then, in turn, is your server. On some occassions English was not spoken much at all, and on others it wasn't a problem. They had buffets at breakfast and at the lunch on Sunday. We ordered off the menu for dinner and lunch. We had good sausage one night, a pizza the next night, and then i had a vegetable ravioli I really liked the final night. You can also order sandwhiches and get drinks from the bar around the opposite side of the front desk.

Someone on here had mentioned that the showers were like coffins so I expected something really bad. The first two nights we had a double room and the shower was big. Our last night was in a king bed and the shower was much more coffin-like -- like being in a tube. That bathroom was very small in general, with the arrangement of the bidet behind the bathroom door, it was larger if you kept the door closed.

Regarding the elevators, I wanted to share a quick tip. When we were trying to load our 5 suitcases into the elevator, a kind staff person came by and showed us the service elevator right around the corner. So we just pushed our entire cart on and up we went. We used a bellhop to leave and he was very timely. On our return, we used the service elevator both times. I wanted folks to know about this as it is true that the elevators (2 of them) are very small.

TV is limited. Lots of Italian tv channels but only 2 English speaking -- an overseas version of CNN and MTV. In times of satellites it seems like have a few more English speaking options, especially at a Holiday Inn, would have been nice.

Check in and check out was easy and the staff was professional and helpful, although not very cheery at all. I'm not sure I ever saw one of them smile. We used a safe they have to store our passports and money and that was helpful. They also always made our cab reservations and that worked like clockwork for us. They would give you the cab number so when it pulled up you would know which one was yours if other folks were waiting.

All in all, if you want to stay in a more modern hotel and don't mind the travel into Rome, I would suggest the Holiday Inn West. (By the way -- the McDonalds and gas station is down a long hill, but it's the driveway to the hotel and therefore not as dangerous as I had pictured from the reviews here. We also saw ladies of the evening when we went to the airport at 2 a.m. -- not in front of the hotel, but on the driveway up)

Hope this helps.

The hotel was very easy to find, which was very welcome in the Rome traffic and the car park was excellent and cheap. The room was quite small but we had a lovely view The restaurant was very good with friendly staff. The free shuttle bus into the centre of Rome was very good, but we had to stay out all day as it would have been very difficult to get back to the hotel any other way.