Our purpose of visiting Rome was to watch the Italy V Wales 6 Nations rugby match. We booked via a local travel agent called Robert Davies Sports Travel and one of our friends chose the hotel from a list provided by the agent. On finding out that the chosen hotel was the 'Jolly Vittorio Veneto' , as always I consulted my trusty Tripadvisor for reviews, albeit with jittery fingers as on this occasion I was resigned to the fact that however good or bad the reviews were, the selection was beyond my control! On doing so I was rather deflated and disappointed by the comments on the dated, tired 70s feel of the hotel and the indifference of the staff. So on Thursday 12th March I set off full of excitement about Wales beating Italy (which they did!!!) the fantastic atmosphere that awaited us and revisiting some of the sights we'd marvelled over during my husband and my first trip to Rome 5 years ago! The shine was slightly dulled by my apprehensions over the accommodation! On arrival at the hotel I had the most wonderful surprise!! 'Jolly Vittorio Veneto' was no more!! It had changed hands and had become 'NH Vittorio Veneto'! We had stayed in a wonderful NH hotel in Salzburg and the initial sightings of this Roman sister were looking familiar and promising! The reception area, bar and dining room were modern and delighfully decorated and accessorised, the reception staff were friendly and efficient (unphased by the scores of unbeat Welsh rugby fans descending upon them!!) Up we went in the brand spanking new lift and along the brand spanking newly decorated corridor to our room which was light, colourful, minimalist and spotless! The bedroom was adequate in size and hosted a large wall mounted plasma TV with a lovely lime-green surround. The bathroom was all brown tiles and floor -again very contemporary and tasteful-with clean lines. The bed was comfortable and because it was obviously so new it was about the first time ever that I did not wake up each morning with a sniffly nose and puffy eyes due to old dust mites!! My husband often suffers terribly with this as he has asthma and even he didn't have any problems! The breakfast was pleasant, largely the usual continental breakfast with a good selection but scrambled eggs, bacon and little sausages were also on offer The lovely fresh fruit was the defining feature! The locality of the hotel was very good. Despite that fact that the hotel is situated on a busy thoroughfare, it is right next to the Villa Borghese park which was very pleasant to walk around (there are zoological gardens and a museum of modern art for those interested) and we were also at the top of the prestigious street 'Via Vittoria', where the famous 'Cafe de Paris' is situated as well as the amazing 'Harry's Bar', both of which are worth a visit if only for a coffee or glass of wine! The hotel is about a 10 minute walk from the Spanish Steps and we got around most of the sights quite easily by foot although there is a Metro station close by. There are some pleasant bars and restaurants (try 'La Bruscheta' for a lovely meal/atmosphere/friendly staff) locally if you don't fancy going further afield! All in all, I was delighted by the hotel. The only reason I'm not awarding it 5 stars is because I feel quite strongly that the bar prices are ridiculously extortionate! HALF a pint of beer is 7.5 Euros (which at the moment is over £7!!) and a coffee/diet coke is around 5 euros!! We didn't eat in the restaurant but heard reports that it was extortionate! Out and about in Rome, the cheapest pints we came across were in the off the beaten track bars at around 5 euros, but many city centre bars and restaurants are charging 7 or 8 euros!! Be prepared for an eye-opener when eating and drinking out!! One last comment! If you are visiting Rome for future welsh rugby international games, NH Vittorio Veneto is a good one to go for because many of the big names stay there! We saw Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett and the radio presenter Roy Noble in the lifts/at breakfast!!

What a grim experience. My girlfriend and I stayed at this hotel for one night prior to returning home after a holiday in Rome and Sorrento (see my other reviews), it was the worst of the four hotels in which we stayed.

It appears that the hotel is principally set up for corporate visits and had a conference centre feel about it. To be more specific, it had a tired, dirty, 1970s conference centre feel about it. I wish I could think of something nice to say about this hotel, but I can't.

The room had the atmosphere and furnishings of a soviet era council flat, while the staff serving at breakfast clearly thought that their job would be more tolerable if only they weren't forced to provide a grudging and hopelessly inadequate service to their unfortunate guests. In fact, the breakfast service was so bad, that if you managed to catch up with one of the elusive waiting staff to make some wholly unreasonable request for coffee/toast/breakfast generally, you shouldn't be surprised to be told that, under the unfathomably specific breakfast staff hierarchy, the person you were speaking to was responsible for untoasted bread products and you should direct your query to one of the other lightning fast (yet possibly blind?) waiting staff, who may be persuaded, with much pleading and at a time of their convenience, to assist.

Immediately on leaving the hotel you are met by a four lane road, which, while a blessed relief after the hotel interior, was a pain to cross. Our room had a view of a neighbouring building, but you can guess what the front facing rooms looked onto.

Stay here only if you are looking for a benchmark against which to rate all other bad hotels.

If you want an alternative, I would recommend Hotel Villa San Pio (see my review on Trip Advisor: Peaceful Oasis in a busy city).

We had stayed at the Jolly V V in 1993 and found it to be very clean, nicely decorated, fresh, well-located and good value (included VAT and buffet breakfast). When we read the reviews this year prior to booking we were disappointed to see that the hotel had not kept up the terrific standard we had enjoyed BUT we did find out that there were a few terraces. We used email to make our reservation for 4 nights and asked for a room with a private terrace. When we arrived we had to push a little at the desk to get the terrace but we got it. Room 521. (we wanted the 7th floor because the terraces would have better views). The room was adequate - good bathroom, good closet, dresser, flat screen tv (small), bar fridge, electric kettle and coffee/tea packets, window facing Villa Borghese, terrible bed, airconditioning difficult to adjust, glass doors to terrace (step up). The terrace was awesome - 14' x 20' with a nice patio table and chairs. During our four nights at the Jolly; we would enjoy coffee on our terrace in the morning, a lovely buffet, tour in the morning, enjoy a nice lunch on our terrace, walk again all afternoon then back to the terrace for relaxing before heading out for dinner.
Located near the top of Via Veneto we found it easy to walk to Spanish Steps thru the tunnel, down to Trevi, etc. Sometimes we took a taxi back to the hotel for around 8 Euros. We paid 200 Euros per night - VAT and Breakfast included.
Kathy

I had two nights in the Jolly Hotel and problems first started when I checked in and I could not get the room I wanted and was put in a 'deluxe' room over looking the dlightful Corso Italiano, a very (24 Hour) busy throughfare, which seemed to be used for Italian drivers to test their car horns!!!
The room had barely any room at all, with a desk cramped up against the bed, and internet access was expensive and intermittent on the 5th floor (It was much better on the ground floor in the bar, where I ended up having do my work in a reliable way).
Room service was OK, and food was OK, but I have stayed in better hotels for far less money and I would warn all visitors to be very careful about rates.
This was not by any stretch of the imagination value for money.