It tries to be a lovely hotel. If nothing else their reception desk people are great. Luciano's smile is always shining and he is eager to help with whatever you need. Here my positive experience with this hotel kinda stops.
I call this a 'shoe box hotel' because this is how I felt being there. All spaces are so small, you sometimes need to lean against a wall to let another person pass by. Room is actually fine, but nothing special to write home about. The other reviewers are right - the bed is stiff. Worse, though, (for me) was that the pillow was very thin. Bathroom is very small. The worst about the bathroom is the shower. I already said once in my reviews that a proper working shower for me is half victory for the hotel. The shower in my room was a shock therapy. I can't figure out why, but the temperature of the water goes in a cycle from very hot to refreshingly cold. I figured out this cycle and dived in at moments when the temperature was tolerable. We reported this to the staff and in the evening the water flow was stronger, however the temperature cycle remained there. On top of that because the bathroom is small, they tried to fit everything in there, so after you take a shower, your whole bathroom is completely soaked (and I am talking about a 5min shower - you cannot take more than that with this shock therapy). Gladly they have an adequate supply of towels to throw on the floor.
Other issues are:
- wifi does not work properly in the hotel. There is only one spot where you can get a fair signal. They don't charge for wifi because of the signal issue. I was warned that the signal can go off any moment, but then it would come back.
- breakfast is simply poor. The selection of cold cuts was shrinking by day. In our first breakfast they had mortadella, pancetta, turkey ham and cheese. On the second day mortadella was missing. On the third day pancetta disappeared. So we went outside for a breakfast because the choice was really bad. Always cold cooked eggs, cheap orange juice concentrate (very sweet), train-quality coffee... the bottom line - they should work on breakfast. Charge me more, but give me a good selection and fair Italian quality.
Here is an example that gives good description: on the second day I saw a waiter standing over a bowl of cereal flakes with a spoon and he was going through the flakes as if looking for something. I wouldn't eat cereal in this hotel.
Good - location. Although I'd prefer to be closer to piazza venezia, but I admit the room prices most likely are steeper there. You can pretty much walk to most great places in Rome (aside from Trastevere, perhaps).
Bottom line - if you have a good deal (eur 100-150/night), perhaps it's a good compromise (after all most go to Rome to walk the streets and not sit in a hotel room). But if you are paying EUR200 and more, find yourself another hotel. Let it be a bit further away, but at least you'll get what you paid for.
