Just back from Rome where we stayed four nights in the Hotel Valadier. We were originally supposed to be staying elsewhere but it closed down so we had to book the Hotel Valadier very last minute. We were a bit anxious because we read other people's reviews saying the rooms were tiny.
When we arrived we found that Expedia had incorrectly booked us two double rooms when it should have been a double and a triple. The hotel very helpfully swapped some other people about to accomodate us. Our rooms were small but bigger than we expected. There was ample space for us. The room was on the fourth floor and was very clean. It was two twin beds even though it was supposed to be a double but we made do. The bathroom was clean with a bidet and a shower over the bath.
The hotel had a great location and we walked everywhere. It is about 30 minutes to colosseum and 30 minutes to vatican. It is just south of the lovely piazza del popollo and has a great selection of shops and restaurants close by.
On our first night we did not sleep until 2am as the bar on the hotel's terrace on the sixth floor was hosting a wedding. My partner went downstairs to see if we could swap rooms but as he descended downstairs he realised the noise was the same all over the hotel. I dont think it was very fair on people who paid to stay in the hotel to be bombarded by very loud wedding music until the wee hours of the morning - I dont know how anyone in the hotel would have slept until the wedding finished. We certainly did not which made us tired and irritable for our first proper day out in Rome.
Our first morning at breakfast did not go so well either. We were seated at a dirty table. There was no cutlery. We had to wait until we were almost finished breakfast before we were served tea/coffee by a very grumpy girl. The breakfasts did improve as we continued our stay, though first impressions count and our first impression was not good. They also need to fix their toaster as you have to put the bread through twice before it is done. Also they have fruit salad and half peaches on offer - but these are straight out of tins - they should put in a bit more effort to make fresh fruit salad.
We had drinks in the hotel on one of the evenings. We ordered three beers, one orange juice and one cocktail - the bill was 50 euro!! It was a standard 10 euro per drink - even for the orange juice!! Bit scandalous! So if you are drinking there in the evenings get cocktails - you might as well since you will be charged 10 euro no matter what drink you get. Apparently the excess cost is to pay the piano player - a piano player who is not particularly good or needed. They would be better served investing in a cd player, getting rid of the piano (it is actually a keyboard) player and reducing the prices of their drinks.
When we went to check out we ordered a taxi for 2pm. 2pm came and went and no taxi - we spoke to the man at the desk who told us he had mistakenly booked it for 2.30pm instead - this was an outright lie because he had confirmed earlier to us that it has been booked for 2pm - plus when we had booked it earlier that morning we saw him write 2pm down. There was a difficult customer at the desk around 2pm that we heard giving off and we strongly suspect he gave her our taxi to get rid of her. It made us late for our check-in time and we had to queue for check in for 40 minutes. Also I was struggling to lift my suitcase up the ten or so steps to the front door of the hotel while a porter just stood by and watched! I was a bit annoyed at this as I was clearly struggling.
With regard to tours of the Colosseum and Vatican - I would recommend booking with an Australian girl called Hanna Schneider - she is currently with Gladiator tours but is opening her own company soon with her partner called HM Tours - she is really good and much better than a lot of the other tour guides we saw.
With regard to restauarants - we cannot recommend this place enough - it is called La Capricciosa. Its is just off one of the main streets Via del Corso which runs down the centre of rome. If you are heading south on the via del corso it is on the right hand side just facing via della croce. The service, food and wine were superb!
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