DJANDO
NY, NEW YORK
April 17, 2009
Planning our first trip to Rome was not an easy task. Our party of 9 needed to book 3 rooms for easter week for 8 nights. I found the hotel on the internet and contacted them by phone. Marchello answered answered the phone and could not have been any nicer. He offered us a special rate and confirmed via fax.
The rooms were set up according to our requirements. The rooms were old but very clean which is very important to us. The rooms were decent size although if you plan on spending alot of time in the room there is only one chair in each room. Nice size closet with an electronic safe inside, small refrigerator and flat screen tv. The bathroom was fairly new and very clean with a provided hairdryer.
The hotel hasa/c although it was not turned on yet. We stayed on the 4th floor which is the only floor that has balconies facing the front of hotel. With the door open at night for fresh air it was a nice quiet area for sleeping with little road noise.
The location was about a 10 to 15 minute walk to the trevi fountain, spanish steps and the pantheon according to your pace. There are buses across the street that can take you to the vatican and the collisium for 1 euro, and the subway is just down the street.
The breakfast room was a nice way to get your day started with a nice view of the city although the food was the same every day.
Overall our stay was very nice. We used the hotel as a place to crash and recharge our batteries from being out all day and night.
The staff of marchello and claudio were very friendly and helpful.

I have just returned from a 3 night stay at the Hotel Eliseo, Rome with my boyfriend. On arrival to the Eliseo, we were greeted by a very friendly receptionist who told us everything we needed to know re breakfast, surrounding sights etc and were provided with various leaflets and maps to assist. The lift was very small, as per previous reviews on here but we were only on the first floor so didn't really need to use it that often. On entering our room, we were taken aback, it was very roomy and very nice, the decor was pleasant and there was more than enough room for the both of us and suitcases. However, there was a strong smell of cigarette smoke which we could not get rid of despite leaving the window open. The bed sheets and towels were replaced every day which was good and the room was very clean. We also had a safe in the wardrobe which was handy.

With regards to breakfast, we found this on the 6th floor, a lovely big room with magnificent views over the surrounding areas. Breakfast was on from 7am to 10 am and on one of the days we didn't get up there until 9.45 and were surprised that there was still a lot of food out and it was being replenished regularly despite there being a lot of people there. There was a vast amount of bread, juice, yoghurts, meat, cheese, fruit, tomatoes, eggs and croissants and a hot drinks machine. There was always plenty there.

The mini bar was very cheap which was good and this was payable on departure. We found drinks in Rome very, very expensive so we reverted to the mini bar on quite a few occasions and it was definitely a lot cheaper. Unfortunately, we did not get chance to try the hotel bar as it appeared to be closed everytime we went past.

The Eliseo is in a very good location and you can get to most of the sights by foot- we found that the excursions were very expensive and as long as you have a comfy pair of shoes on you can get to most of the sights- spanish steps, trevi fountain are not far from this hotel. Be careful though if you are venturing down the spanish steps, I slipped down them one morning and badly bruised my elbow due to either rain the night before or possibly being washed down.

Also, be careful at night, there are lots of people hanging around the spanish steps mithering you for money and they are difficult to get away from! Also there are a lot of people standing outside restaurants enticing you in, just ignore them.

We went to various restaurants and cafe's but the most memorable was Harry's Bar- you must visit this place- very, very expensive may I warn you so make sure you have a lot of money with you- we had only 2 mains and a bottle of wine and it came to 114 euros!! Service is fab and decor is gorgeous and there is no one outside here enticing you to go in.

Also, the piano bar was very nice, but drinks were extremely expensive- steer clear unless you have money to burn- 12 euros for a pint of beer and 15 euros for a cocktail and it was empty but staff were very friendly!

Have just returned from almost a week in Rome, somewhere I've always wanted to visit. The city is amazing, everything I could have hoped for, the hotel however very much not. There were three of us away and we arrived early evening to a room with the wrong number and layout of beds, we notified the clerk on the desk and were told that there was nothing they could do until the next morning and we would just have to make do for a night, not great but ok it's late and we were exhausted. We moved into a different room the next day which seemed fine on the intial glance round but on a more detailed look discovered we had a lovely infestation of ants that were happily crawling around the skirting of the entire room, this meant we spent the week living out of suitcases so as to avoid transporting any of them back home! The desk was made aware of the problem on the same day and nothing was done, we reminded them the next day and still no resolution, we stayed from the Sunday until the Friday and nothing was done about the ants the entire time, the only comment made was that they sometimes get in from the outside even though the largest group seemed to be getting through an internal wall! The only positives I can come up with for this hotel is the breakfast room on the sixth floor, looks right over the park and on a clear day you can see a good portion of the city, also the location at the top of the Vio Veneto is good so long as you don't mind a bit of a walk to get to the major attractions. This is definitley not a hotel worthy 4*, infact I would rate it closer to a 2*. Avoid the resaurant recommended by the hotel if possible, worth a ten-fifteen minute walk to the spanish steps for a far superior meal for the same cost, similarly don't book your taxi back to the airport through them, it will cost you fifteen euros more than if you walk round the corner to the taxi stand. When I go back to Rome I will most definitely not be staying here.

We celebrated our anniversery with 4 nights in Rome at the Eliseo and enjoyed it very much. Room was quiet old, not big niether small with good queensize bad. Bathroom was newer, well equiped and clean. The heating was very good, tv wuth forign channells (CNN BBC etc), a new ectronic safe.
Breakfast room was superb, breakfest was good. Lobby very large with wi-fi (5 euro for 120 minutes). Staff was helpull and nice. We paid 100 Euro for a night throu the hotel website, a GREAT value for money.