Great room, very large, good airconditioning. Rome is beautiful but very busy and hot in summer - a nice hotel is key for a family with children so all can recover, enjoy and relax after the long warm days. Location is perfect, although the neighborhood is expensive. Laundry service good and cheap right around the corner.

My wife and I and our 14 and 13 year old daughters visited this wonderful hotel in Rome in July 2015. When you arrive in the neighborhood in the middle of the day it looks a little sketchy with the ubiquitous graffiti that is all over Rome. However by 5 pm all the restaurants and bars have their doors open and their outdoor seating is starting to fill up . By 7 pm the area is buzzing, at 11 pm it is alive with couples and families strolling the streets, checking out the street merchants' stalls and eating gelato.
The hotel is a beautiful little oasis in the middle of Rome. You are buzzed in through a main gate and then walk into a beautiful, quiet courtyard which is where you enjoy breakfast and evening drinks. Trees and vines run throughout the courtyard with murals on the walls. The staff are tremendously friendly and helpful. The rooms are aligned around the courtyard and there is a very secluded roof level patio. The rooms are not huge but they are very clean, the beds are very comfortable and the bathrooms have the latest fixtures as well as the always entertaining bidet. The showers had the best water pressure we found in Europe. We had a family room with bunk beds which our kids loved. Wifi was very fast and reliable. Breakfast is included and is delicious. Croissants and bread are fresh and if you eat right at 7:30 am when they start serving are still warm. It is a continental plus breakfast. In addition to the pastries, meats and fruits, there are also freshly made scrambled eggs. The icing on the cake for this hotel is that they have 6 bicycles that can be used at no charge. My wife and I rode our bikes to all the sights in Rome - the Vatican, the Basilica, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and the Isola Tibernius in about 4 hours with stops for drinks and gelato. Our whole family rode the bikes to the circus and coliseum. You can avoid most of the big roads in Rome and enjoy narrow, cobble stone streets. It is a fantastic way to see the sights. When we next return to Rome we will most definitely stay at this hotel again.

Our arrival started out a little shaky, but the staff made everything right! When I made my reservation months in advance, I made it for two adults and one child. When I received the confirmation e-mail, it just had the two adults. So, I wrote back to make sure they could accommodate the three of us (unlike in the US, they must have a bed per person). I received an e-mail back saying no problem.

Then, when we arrived, there was a problem. They were full, and only had the two-person room for us. At first, it seemed that they might not be able to accommodate us, which would have been a huge problem. But, they checked the old e-mails, acknowledged the issue was on their side, told us to go get something to eat, and said they'd work it out. And work it out they did!

We ended up in a three person room for a night, and then they moved us to this huge suite with a loft and spiral staircase for the next few nights. Big upgrades at absolutely no charge.

Very nice people. And, the place was like a quiet oasis right in the middle of busy, gritty Rome. The rooms were great, the property was secure and beautiful, and the food was amazing. And, they even gave my son a teddy bear (which he loves). You can't beat that.

Well done, Hotel Santa Maria!