Our advice: STAY ANYWHERE ELSE BUT THERE!!!!!

The hotel really is very 'fawlty' - much worst than the TV series after which the hotel is obviously named (Fawlty Towers) - a double irony.

We booked a double superior with shower. Don't be fooled to thinking that this is a nice private room with a full bathroom. The room was not very nice at all. Old and dirty.

Our first surprise was that the room wasn't actually in the 'hotel' premises. We had to walk back down 5 flights of stairs, then down two different streets and around another corner before we came to the actual building where our room was. Then up more stairs. There were no hotel facilities in the location of our room, as they were all back at the main building a few streets away.

When we saw our room we were bitterly disappointed and not impressed at all, as we had not been told accurate information at the time of booking (over the internet).

Firstly, there was no bathroom in the room. (We had been expecting an en suite). There was only a mere shower in the corner of the bedroom, a couple of steps away from the double bed. It just had an old curtain around it, so it was hard to keep the bedroom floor free of water.

There was one bathroom (with a toilet inside) that about 4 different rooms had to share. These were all rooms that were advertised as having a shower, so most people would have assumed they were en suite rooms as there was nothing to suggest otherwise. So if someone was having a shower in the shared bathroom, there was no toilet available for the up to 12 other people in the other rooms.

Due to all of these reasons we trekked back up the various streets and back up to the 5th floor again to talk to the receptionist as we felt we had been misled so we wanted to cancel our booking. (On the way we had stopped at another hotel and looked at a room, much nicer, cleaner, with a full en suite - which was also 10 Euro cheaper per night so we hoped we could stay there instead).

When we spoke to the receptionist at Fawlty Towers, she refused to do anything at all. She said we could not change our booking or get our money back. We asked to speak to the manager. She said there was no manager there. We asked if she could ring the manager so we could speak to them. The receptionist refused. She wouldn't even tell us the manager's name. The receptionist then refused to answer any questions and completely ignored us as we spoke to her. We were very frustrated, insulted and couldn't believe the level of terrible service that we were receiving.

All the receptionist said was that the manager would be in the following morning at 10am so we could speak to them then. Then silence.

At the same time, there were also a couple of young women at reception who also had been misled and overcharged for the room that they were receiving. They didn't get anywhere either and the receptionist wouldn't help them or try to solve any of their problems regarding their room, or reduce the price to what it should have been. (They were charged the rate of 4 people instead of 2 people).

It seems that once they have your credit card details, you are stuffed!!! Beware!

So, very unhappy we went back to our room for the night, which by the way was on a noisy main room right opposite Termini Station (not on a quieter side street like the main building of the hotel) and so was very noisy with traffic noise.

All the other people in the nearby rooms where we were staying were disgruntled, especially people who were there with their friends, and who didn't want to have a shower in the bedroom with their friend able to see in. Hence, the only shared bathroom (with the only toilet for everyone) was quite busy.

Other things that were not good about the room:
The air con didn't work. The TV (which was attached to almost the roof) had no remote and so was much too high to be able to be turned on without a remote. The 'towels' were more like towel-size pieces of sheet.

On top of everything else, the shower water was also cold in the morning.

I went back to the reception a second time that night (walked the streets in the rain to get there) to ask them to come and fix the air conditioning (as the room was advertised as having air con) but they said that they didn't know how, and that it wasn't turned on yet (even though we were staying over the summer period). So the two people sitting at reception at that time refused to come to even look and try to do anything to make it work. They were no help whatsoever.

We were very very unimpressed and unhappy with the lack of service.

We went back to reception the following morning to speak to the manager. Surprise surprise they weren't there and it was obvious that they weren't coming in. We asked that the receptionist call the manager, and this time she obliged. Well, we might as well have been talking to a brick wall for all the help we got. The manager was no help at all, and kept blabbing on about the booking having been an internet booking etc. Big deal!!!! The rooms need to be advertised as what they are, not on some pretence.

Our advice: STAY ANYWHERE ELSE!!!!!

The place is a dive and the service is the worst we have experienced anywhere. It definitely is not good value for money. Overpriced and a stink place basically.

My friend and I decided on Fawlty Towers for our trip to Rome, as it seemed like good value, and was very close to the Central Station. Upon arriving there, I was overwhelmed with a sense of foreboding. The lift (a wooden box, akin to a coffin on chains), was a bit of a squeeeze for two people and two suitcases.
However, on entering the room, we were relieved that it was clean, if a little basic. There were two single beds, a wash basin, a fridge, and fresh towels (which were changed daily). After reading past comments on tripadvisor, we were very nervous about the state of the beds (i.e. bugs!) I must say, we had no problems with this - the beds were absolutely fine. The room was clean, as was the communal shower room.
On the down side, we were concerned when, during a thunderstorm, water was dripping down from the ceiling. Also, on some nights it could get quite loud, as all of the rooms were near the reception. We were disappointed that there wasn't a safe in the room (Just a hole where there used to be one...!) There wasn't really a window to speak of in the room, so we didn't know what the weather was like until we went outside. A little claustrophobic at times.
To sum it up, Fawlty Towers has a few faults, but for 30 Euros a night you can't go wrong. Let's be straight, there is no way that I'd come here for a romantic break, or recommend it as such. If you're just after a place to crash, with a clean bed, as cheap as possible, then it's a good find.

this is a two star hotel and pretty much meets expectations. Some of the other reviewers suggest a multitude of problems, but it seems to me like they were expecting a 3 or 4 star hotel. In terms of location, this hotel is excellent, especially if you use the 'Terravision' coach from Ciampino airport - it drops you 100meters from the front door of the hotel. Also, there are some very good cafes where you can get a great cheap breakfast or lunch within 50m of the hotel.

If you are looking for somewhere cheap to stay (£50 to 60 for a private double room in an excellent location in Rome) and dont mind roughing it a bit, this is the place for you. If you are hoping for a pristine hotel with uniformed and professional staff, look elsewhere.

My friend and I stayed at this so called Hotel in July 2006, and we were not impressed at all.

We arrived in 37 degrees heat late on a Friday night to our Hotel. The foyer downstairs was filthy. looked like it it had never been cleaned and was thirty years old.

Our welcome was brief. We waited 20 mins while the person at reception answered phone calls and were totally ignored. Once he finally got off the phone he had a look at our reservation and asked if that was the only reservation we had, hinting there was a problem ( how many reservations does one need? ) then he gave us a Map and Directions to Room 34 in the Bubbles Hotel - We thought we were staying at Fawlty Towers? We were given no further guidance, for the next 3 days we were on our own.

10 minutes later we were trying to figure out what floor this bubbles place was on as the buzzer suggested 11 but there was only 5 floors ( go figure ). We pressed one of the buzzers of another hotel who kindly informed us Level 3.

Finally we got to our room. Very basic with a crummy open shower with no screen. The shower was right opposite an open window with no curtains ( NO PRIVACY AT ALL..... in the morning we had workmen perving on us from the opposite building! ) but we were so tired we didnt care. We just wanted sleep and to turn on the airconditioner. To our horror the aircon was not working but at midnight theres nothing one can do. We walked back to reception ( in the Fawlty Buidling as there were no phones in the room for communication ) and advised it was not working.

The next day the hotel advised us that someone was looking at the aircon. It happened to be the cleaner ( since when do cleaners become air-con mechanics ? ). We got back to the room at 6. Still the aircon wasnt working, we went to complain and we were not offered another room or a discount on our hotel rate. they really were not bothered.......Trust me it was HOT! The manager was never around to complain to and the reception staff clearly were just waiting for their shift to be over.

The staff were generally kind but i would never stay there again.

Fawlty is a great name to give to the place.