We stayed in an apartment round the corner from the hotel which was pleasant but basic. Advertised as a self catering apartment, there was a fridge freezer in the second bedroom but no utensils or area in which to prepare food. The directions from Termini Station were awful! They say to get a train then a metro, then walk to the accomodation, but we found it much easier and quicker to get the number 64 bus from Termini straight to San Pietro station. From there you go under the underpass, turn right and carry on to the end of the cobbled street where there are some steps leading up to the left. Carry on to the top of the road up the hill and the hotel is on the left. It is very badly sigh-posted from the road. You can walk to St peters from the accomodation in about 10 minutes, or get a bus, the location was good. None of Rome is good for heels, I suggest you take flat shoes for day and night or you will be in a lot of pain!
We thought the aparment was OK, but it was in the basement and would have been nicer if there was an outside seating area or at least bigger windows for natural light. For the price we were happy overall.
One final tip, DONT book your transfer from the Airport to Rome city centre with Terrorvision bus. They sold return tickets on the plane and at the airport, advertising regular, efficient transfers, but we were left waiting for over an hour and ended up on the Shuttle Bus, which was also cheaper.

As I had to stay one night in Rome on a trip from New York to lake Como (the great discount on Alitalia was only valid to Rome, not to Milan), I asked a friend of mine to book an hotel room in the Eternal City, which he did at the last minute.

Coming from FCO airport, I followed easily the indications you find on line. However I got a bit lost in the trip from the train/subway station to the via Clemente and the streets get very steep to climb; so be ready if you have many luggages!

The Alessandrino hotel is located in a remote area very close to the Vatican and very quiet, which you might appreciate at night.
But it's not an easy access to the center of the city.
At night, you have to take a taxi to get there. Which I did twice in a day.
My room was very small but very clean and comfortable (actually someone took a picture of it; room 201)

When I came back around midnight exhausted, a sketchy guy at the reception asked me if I still wanted my free breakfast at 8:10 in the morning. Earlier in the afternoon, I originally said 9 and then changed it to 8AM. So I told the guy in Italian it was 8AM and not 8:10...a weird time I remember thinking. The guy corrected it.

The following day as I got ready to go out to enjoy the morning, I couldn't find my wallet. Right away I thought I left it at the front desk cause I knew I had it when I paid the cab. The nice lady at the reception this morning didn't find anything and contacted the night shift guy who didn't find anything either.

I was a bit panicking cause I didn't have any money left and was supposed to reach the airport to catch a flight to Milan in the afternoon. Luckily the cousin of a friend of mine lived in Rome and met me to bring me some cash (I admit I was VERY lucky for that). So I went to see the local police - the carabinieri- to make an official statement that I lost my wallet with credit cards and driving license, after I called Visa and Mastercard to cancel my cards. In that regard, the hotel personnel during day time was very helpful and cooperative. They even let me used their acces to the web.

The following day when I was in Como, not only I realized that my three credit cards have been used for expensive sums at a local Rent car agency at the FCO airport, but I remember specifically that night opening my wallet before going to bed to take business cards and phone numbers I needed, putting it back in my jeans that I left on the tiny table near the TV, and LUCKILY placing my passport with my cell phone near the bed.

Which means that someone came into my room while I was sleeping and stole my wallet (I was dead tired as I landed in the morning and had been waking all day long) .

I know it sounds like paranoia but I swear I had my wallet in my jeans right before going to bed. I remembered even which cards and papers I pulled out from it to be ready for my trip the following day. And the ladies who brought me my breakfast at 8AM didn't get inside the room. Of course they could have come back when I was taking my shower, but my credit cards transactions appeared to have been done originally on Friday US time...which means the day before but if you consider the time difference between the US and Europe, most likely between midnight and 6AM Italian time.

Then my friends told me thieves stealing people while they were sleeping happened often not only in hotel rooms but even in private houses! Some even used spray. Which I don't believe was my case although I was very tired by the jetlag.

Retrospectively, I thought the young taxi driver that took me back to the hotel that night looked a bit odd to me but more importantly, the guy working at the reception at night seemed very strange. And I remember finding weird when I first checked in earlier in the morning that the only lock at the door was the key, and I couldn't tell which way was I supposed to turn it to lock it.

Once again I got lucky my passport didn't get stolen that night - I placed it near me - but more importantly that I didn't wake up to confront the thief, not knowing what could have been my reaction or his/theirs.

Apart from that incident, the hotel was nice and the personnel during the day too. But I would question the safety of the hotel itself, cause it seemed everyone could have get in and out at night...

Guillaume, New York

The hotel is beautiful, UNFORTUNATELY the "apartment annex " makes most American Jails seem palatial and comfortable. This is not even equivalent to a one star Korean hotel and should not be allowed to be rented other than as a hostel. This is by far the friendliest and most helpful staff working for a "slum lord" owner....hotel.com amd trip advisor should remove this Hotel from their websited until they drop the "Apartment annex" as a option to be "sentenced" to...abismal is the term coined for this lodging experience....STAY AWAY

This hotel is very clean and the room we stayed in was very quiet (5th floor) room to the of the elevator. It had a HUGE private balcony that was beautiful. The only thing is the directions to find it are AWFUL. Its up a hill that you need to climb, there are no restaurants in the vicinity. The front desk staff was NOT friendly, in fact they were condesending. I booked on priceline europe and would recommend it if you want to be close to the Vatican and are physically fit. There is no onsite parking, but the train station is nearby.