The best thing to be said about this hotel is its location, literally around the corner from the Colosseum, and one block to the train station, also plenty of bus stops nearby.

However, the concierge staff was completely indifferent to us, not sure if it was because we are Americans, but most of the staff seemed bothered by us, no matter what our question was - and I even speak some Italian! When we arrived, they didn't offer to take our bags up to our room for us, we did it ourselves in the small elevator. The only two staff members that were friendly and helpful were Ornella and Roberto, everyone else was useless. We asked one guy to recommend a nearby restaurant for us, and he just shrugged and pretty much told us to walk around and find one on our own. NICE SERVICE, PALATINO!! YOU CAN'T THRIVE ON LOCATION ALONE!

The carpet in our room was stained and dirty, and remained that way our entire stay. The breakfast staff (what there was of it) seemed grumpy and bothered, not one smiling face in the whole bunch.

I would NOT recommend this hotel to anyone, there are other hotels in the vicinity, I will research those next time we go to Rome, we will NOT be returning to this hotel.

The hotel was nice, and I found the staff to be nice. The best thing about this hotel was the location. It is about a 5 minute walk to the metro and the colosseum. We did the sightseeing bus with 2 lines (red line and blue line) for 18 euros each for 2 days (9 euros/day) and the hotel was one of the stops for the red line. I looked at other's guests photos and well our room wasn't as nice as theirs. It wasn't that bad either. Thank goodness that the AC was on and somewhat working but I think they turn it down or off during the night because we woke up several times because it was hot in the room. The only other serious problem that we had was with the TV. After walking Rome all day, we like to relax in the evenings and watch TV before bed. The BBC was not working and the only other english speaking stations were CNN which was not clear at all and BBC Sports which had on soccer 24hours a day. The pay per view stations were not working as well in our room, and they couldn't fix the system and didn't offer to move us to a different room. All in all the hotel wasn't that bad, but if/when I come to Rome again, I want to find a boutique hotel since I am familiar with the city now.
I would recommend Presto tours for the Vatican. Ryan was our guide and he was GREAT! However, we also booked a tour with Oddesey tours for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum. If I could do it over again, I would go to the Palatine Hill, and get my ticket for the Colosseum (because when you get a ticket for the Palatine Hill it includes entry to the Colosseum and vice versa) then do the colosseum on my own. The tour didn't allow near enough time in the colosseum which was disappointing. So...we went back!
With all this said, Rome was GREAT!!!! The people were charming and the history was incredible. I'm sure we will visit this place again!

I had the occassion to stay at the Grand Palatino on 2 different occassions in May. I spend 6 months out of the year staying in hotels so I have a good base to judge. The customer service at the front desk was non-existent. There is no warm italian hospitality but rather a front desk staff with a serious attitude problem. They appeared very bothered if you asked them a question and even fought with me about several small items.
I booked 2 different room types and they are vastly different. The executive rooms are on the top floor and they are very nice with turn down service, bathrobes and chocolates on your pillow. There is still car noise from the street but not too bad given the quality of the room. The standard rooms don't look so good and the new style rooms are nice but some are on the first floor literally on the street (no turn down service, no bathrobes) but the double paned windows are nice.
As much as I liked the executive level rooms I don't think it's worth it given how unaccomodating the staff are. OH, beware, 8 euro for wireless internet access! Yikes.

Stayed at this hotel for 3 nights in April, 2009. Within walking distance to St. Peters in Chains church, Coloseum, Forum & Capital building. Had dinner one night at the hotel - very good pork roast. Had a room on the street side of the hotel. Since it was only April, the air conditioning was not yet turned on and it was quite warm, so we opened our windows to cool the room off. The street below was VERY noisy with the window open. Small refrigerator in the room. Comfortable beds, plenty of pillows & towels. No ice machine, so you had to get a small bucket of ice from the bar below. Be sure to insert your room key into the small box on the wall when you walk in - this ensures that the electricity will operate in the room.

Would recommend da Robertino's restaurant within walking distance to the hotel - they did not have an English menu at the time, but the waitress spoke English and was very helpful with our selections - try the Roman artichokes! We sat outside in a semi enclosed area which was very pleasant and all of the ladies receive a rose at the end of dinner.

Be sure to go up on the roof at sunset, you can get a nice view of the capitol building.