I had booked a single room in Hotel van Gogh before finding this website. Imagine my shock reading all the negative remarks. I seriously considered cancelling my booking and look for another hotel!
Now I must confess that I was absolutely DELIGHTED with Hotel van Gogh. I agree with all reviews that this hotel is small. Do not expect a room with more than enough space for unpacking and packing your suitcases. The wardrobe in my room was too small to be of any serious use. The hotel has the smallest reception desk I have ever seen.
The hotel was nicely decorated and maintained. I believe the owner makes a sincere effort to give the hotel a unique character. Clean sheets and towels. The room where a simple Italian breakfast is being served is on the 2nd floor and can accommodate only six people. By taking breakfast early (7.45) I was always first and alone for some time. The staff was very friendly, helpful and gentle. They spoke reasonable English and were delighted with the Italian phrases I had learned at home.
The location is great. In a typical Roman alley very close to the Spanish Steps. Great area for strolling around in the evening. Within walking distance of The Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and so on. More than enough restaurants and shops from the very first second you leave the hotel.
Do not take a risk if Rome is to be a once in a lifetime experience. I have the impression that most Italian owners and their agents exaggerate with phrases like “a unique historical building”, “national treasure” , “a little gem in the centre of Rome”. Take pictures on their websites with a pinch of salt. Look for one of the hotels with an established reputation and accept the inevitable higher than average prize.
For me the advantages of Hotel van Gogh by far outweighed the disadvantages and I would certainly consider returning for its atmosphere and surroundings.

I honestly thought that the crit on this website was unfair, and thought i'd give it a go.
Firstly, when we got there the hotel was so narrow, we had problems wheeling our luggage through the corridor. The reception desk is on a corner turn on the stairs - so if you were talking to reception and someone came up or down, you would have to either get behind reception, or walk up to the landing.

The room - TINY!. If you had the bathroom door open, you couldnt get the door to your room open.
The bathroom - you had to be double jointed to get INTO the shower/bath. Incidently, the "bath" isnt even big enough for a child! There was no ventilation, so you either steamed alive or had an asthma attack whenver you sprayed something.

The bedroom - barely had enough room to walk between the 2 single beds. The mini fridge didnt work! The air conditioning... They call that wall box air con?! Did nothing. Walls were paper thin - felt like you were intimate with the guests in the room next to yours!
There were 2 telephones in the room - they both had a dial tone, but incoming calls only came through to the phone in the bathroom! AND if reception needed to process a card payment, you couldn't use the phone! Satellite tv consisted of 3 channels! And the TV was 14inch - small, like the room. The wardrobe, lovely and old though it was, was too narrow for the coathangers to hang! We never had a problem with bed bugs - but that was because we never slept under the sheets!!

Breakfast consisted of a croissant, 2 slices of hard bread, a little pot of butter, jam and a triangle of cheese. 1 cup of coffee or 1 glass of juice. Only 6 people could eat at one time - and even then it was a tight squeeze!! The maid could speak no english at all - so it was difficult to communicate at any level.

There were 4 people manning the reception desk - the older man was an absolute delight. The girl - unapproachable and surley, not to be confused with shy! A man that did the night shift understood NO english - only numbers. The other woman, was pretty rude, even by European standards.

Verdict - if you want low quality, hideously overpriced accomodation, in the best area -this is the place to stay!

Not as bad as some reviews, but not the greatest hotel in Rome by any means. Very good location. We had adjoining rooms with our son and daughter in law. They had a good impresssion too. Close to Metro Line A station. Staff was helpful, especially Glenda. Owner is absentee so I imagine service can vary. We stayed two days, our son and daugher in law stayed four. Price matched the accomodations. Supermarket less than two blocks away helped us save on eating out at expensive restaurants/snack bars in the area. Breakfast was weak for price we paid. Probably won't stay here again. Try something else in this price range next time.

We just returned yesterday from a 3 1/2 week stay in Europe. This was the worst place we stayed in. First, let me tell you, we have been Innkeepers in the U.S.A. for the past 9 years. I would be embarassed to operate a place like this. First, the location is great. That's the only positive. The room was so small, I had to step on my own suitcase to get out of bed. The place is not clean, the sheets are not luxurious. They were old and patched. The towels, I actually showed to a new girl who was working at the front desk. ( she was sweet), she commented that she wouldn't use them at home even. They were old, thin, and ragged.Our toilet was filthy from previous guests. The place is said to be airconditioned, not true, it didn't work. The man at the front desk said it's because the system was overloaded. Other guests said there A/C wasn't working either. Back to the beds, my 12 year old woke up with welts, bedbugs? I don't know, but we were bit by something. Also, one of the beds had a spring popping up. Breakfast, packaged toast, and a hard roll. Staff, not very helpful, except when we were leaving and I think he was trying to makeup for the horrible conditions. Owners do not come around, and do not live there. Please don't ruin your stay in Rome and stay here, spend the money for someplace nice. I am writing the Rome Tourist Board and the reservation service about this hotel. One other thing, our bathroom lights never worked, and the hot tub was out of service. Take my advice, I am an Innkeeper and care about other tourists. PS, we tried to change hotels but others in the area were completely booked!