Better be in good shape if you stay out here. The location is about a 20 minute, 1-euro, many stop bus ride to downtown. And, that requires a 5-10 minute, mostly uphill walk to the bus stop. (The hotel has a one-trip, free shuttle you can reserve, but it only seats eight people -- you do the math!) The Room: Our first room on the 1st floor was awful -- crammed, noisy all night and early am -- thin walls. Also there was a notch out of a metal piece on the outside door -- apparently forced open (maybe by a guest). No chain or peep hole on hallway door. Couldn't sleep! The unhelpful guy at the desk suggested we keep it, that it was as good as it gets. I almost did! Our second room was a big improvement -- spacious, reasonably quiet, not at street level! This may account for differing opinions. The Neighborhood is nice -- some upscale cars at the neighboring apartments; good pizza place, and a snack bar nextdoor, a few minutes away. BEST of Zone...great full breakfast, wonderful meats. WORST...Front Desk (& cab drivers) not friendly or real helpful. (FYI: It cost 22 and over 24 euros, respectively, to get to and from the main train station (Termini) in town.)

The good news
-Clean hotel
-Great Breakfast
-Security safe in room
The Bad news
-90% of hotel staff unfriendly
-Could not obtain internet access in the hotel the login/password didn't work
-Very, Very Very hard to find the hotel
-The "full size" consisted of 2 twin beds pushed together
-AC did not work
-Shower leaked water onto the rest of the bathroom floor
-shuttle will only take you to the very outside of the city and its last return to the hotel is at 6:30 p.m.
-you have to sign up for the shuttle and may not get it if it's full.
-TV had no reception

**Spend the extra $ and get a hotel closer to the city

After reading all reviews of this hotel, I decided to book a room in this hotel.The reason for this hotel, is that reviews of other hotels were even more critical, and some reviews here were positive.

Ok...there are good things, and there are bad things with this hotel. The bad things.

1. I have spent a lot of nights in hotels in Europe. This is NOT a 4-star hotel. Whoever gave them the 4 stars must be currupt!!

2. The rooms are extremely noisy. Not from outside traffic; there is no traffic as the hotel is at the end of a dead-end road. The noise comes from inside the hotel. You can literally hear everything that is being said in the room next to you. Even if you fart, they will hear it!!! Also, the hallway has laminate. This means that you will wake up as soon as the first people go for breakfast. The cleaning process is also extremely noisy, and starts at 08.15.

3. I have never seen a 4-star hotel with a curtain in the shower.

4. The breakfast is ok for a 2-star, but not adequate for a 4-star hotel!

5. The gym is nice, but who uses it after walking the entire day in Rome?

6. I ordered a single room on bookings.com, only to discover that the hotel has cheaper single rooms on their own websites.

7. Getting there from the airport is a nightmare; take a train to the city centre (Termini station, 11 Euro), then take a taxi (25 Euro for suitcase and Termini surcharges). Forget about buses and undergrounds. That is not practical in the evening with suitcases.

8. My single room was very small.

9. Usage of the airco requires a science degree.


The nice things:
1. At 10 minutes walking distance, there is a great Italian restaurant. Follow the road, keep right, and at the end go to the right.

2. The only place in Rome where you can sleep with an open room in the night.No traffic noise.

3. Transport to the city centre is easy. Take their free shuttle, and walk. Go back by taxi (15 Euro).


Summarising: This is not a 4-star hotel compared to Spanish and Portuguese standards. And believe me, I am an experienced traveller.

Now a meesage to the Zone Hotel staff who tends to respond to these postings: Instead of appologising, please take action. My criticisms are exactly the same as those made by others 1 year ago. The breakfast is still bad, ok..staff is now friendly.....but if you know that your rooms are noisy, try to put customers as far as away from each other. Adjust your pictures on your website; I did not have a fancy bathroom and glass panels. Start the cleaning process later. Put a carpet on the halways. Add a device that ensures that room doors are closed c losely and quietly, instead a big bang.

And above all, be honest and remove a star. And please, don't tell me that this for Italian standards it is 4-stars. The room + breakfast is 3 stars. Having a fancy gym should not count for an extra star.

And if someone pays 100+ Euros per night, do you really have to charge extra for WIFI? Make it free.

We stayed here for 3 nights at Easter and were really disappointed with the location of the hotel. The website says it is near the Vatican, it is in fact a 20min bus journey away and a 5min walk up a hill to the bus stop. There is no metro nearby, and if you want to get to some of the other sites of Rome like the Colosseum and Trivoli Fountain, then you need to allow at least an hour to get there. It meant that we never bothered to go back to the hotel before dinner as it took too long, and there are no restaurants nearby as it is in a residential area.

The hotel was okay, but the buffet breakfast didn't give much variety, the shower wasn't hot and we did not like our bathroom being part of the bedroom (no door) with see-through doors for the shower and toilet!

We would not go back to this hotel again, mainly due to the location but it also isn't great when you do get there.