The Petra is a pretty good place for a short stay, but--as previous reviews make clear--it's not for everyone. The area in fact is not too bad; the Italian habit of spraying graffiti and litter over everything makes it look a great deal worse than it is. But neither is it romantic, glamorous or atmospheric: rather, a characteristically anonymous Roman suburb in the outer belt (i.e. lots of 1960s apartment blocks, relatively few shops or restaurants, and plenty of busy four-lane roads). It is, I think, best suited for people looking for a convenient and decent-value stopping-place for Ciampino airport.

To get there from the airport, the simplest way is to take the CO.TRA.L or A.TRA.L 'bus from the arrivals terminal to Anagnina station (10-15 min.), then switch to the 046 city 'bus that will take you to Via del Ponte di Sette Miglia (6-7 min.). This will deposit you almost outside the front door. It's a short taxi trip, but Roman taxi drivers are almost incredibly ignorant of the geography of their own city. Though the straight-line distance is also fairly short, walking is, alas, impossible: you would be travelling along a divided highway with no walkway and overgrown vegetation forcing you into high-speed oncoming traffic every 50 metres or so.

The hotel itself is a typical Italian 4-stelle: large if simply-furnished bedrooms with bath and balcony; plenty of conference rooms; and a pool that doesn't seem to be in use in the winter-time. The breakfast is excellent, with a wide selection of items. I didn't try the restaurant: but with the exception of a couple of indifferent-looking trattorie and pizzerie, there aren't too many alternatives within walking distance.

Because of the distance from central Rome, I wouldn't recommend the Petra as a tourist base. If you have a hire car and are exploring the area to the south (Castelgandolfo, etc.) then it might do nicely, if you're prepared to sacrifice ambience for value. Other than that, airport users with an early flight are probably its natural client base: and for them it should prove quite satisfactory.

I booked this hotel to be near Ciampino Airport...it was incredibly difficult to find, and when I rang up, the front desk couldn't adequately give me directions in English. In saying that, I was of course in Italy and maybe should have been able to speak better Italian, but in an international city such as Rome, it was a bit off putting. I finally found it...in a neighbourhood I would not dare tread through during the day, much less during the night. There was grafitti strewn on numerous walls, and the area was quite deserted at the time of day I was checking in. To access the room, I had to walk through the lobby, past security gates, and found myself on the road again outside the hotel, only to have to cross the road to another security gate before entering another part of the hotel where my room was located. In other words, the hotel's in 2 parts ! The room itself was adequate, but it had shutters, leaving me thinking, maybe this wasn't the safest neighbourhood to be in after all. There was a noticeable foul smell around the balcony area as well which didn't bode well. The pool was closed and not accessible, and to be honest, there was nothing else there to do after that. Food was surprisingly good, and that was probably the only highlight of the hotel.

Don't be fooled by the flashy website this hotel has.

The Accomodation
I personally thought the hotel itself was fine but not 4 star. It was clean and tidy as you would expect. The only thing that was concerning was the 8ft solid security gates that surrounded the hotel. You have to ask yourself are they trying to keep you in or them out?

The Location
Absolutely dreadful, it's in the middle of the ghetto and fairly difficult to get to places. Nothing local in August as it's all shut so if your at the hotel for the evening there's nothing for you to do. Would not recommend this for anyone with walking difficulties and definately not a wheelchair user. To get into Rome itself it's a 5 minute bus ride to the local Metro station then a good 30 mins on that before you hit any civilisation.

The Hotel Restaurant and Bar
Bloody awful! It's shameful that an Italian Hotel can not cook a simple pasta dish. They have the same menu for lunch as they do for dinner and they only have 5 item on the starter and main menu. Beware of the prices at the bar, at the beginning of the week a bottle of white wine was €6 by the end of the week it had increased to €10.

The Staff
I found the staff to be polite and fairly well spoken in English.

So it gets a 50/50 from me. If you don't mind the walking and travelling and don't plan on eating at the hotel then it's a cheap and cheerful hotel. If your looking for a little luxury with decent hotel food and surrounding areas this one is not for you.

Stayed at Petra Hotel with my wife for 4 nights in 05/2006 after reading good reviews on tripadvisor & seduced by the hotel's flashy website. Once we arrived, after a long bus ride from the nearest metro station (Ananina), we were shocked by how different the hotel looked to the website. The hotel is near what appears to be a dodgy industrial estate & is protected by an automated door, the sort you find in war zones (tells you a thing or two about the area, I suppose). We hoped that the service would make up for the shortcomings of the surroundings but,again, we were disappointed. The staff at the reception desk were positively rude on most occasions when we approached them; for instance the A/C in the room was not functioning (when we complained, the curt response was 'we don`t do A/C until June, despite the fact that it was touching 30C).The only saving grace was the sumptous breakfast but it does not take away the fact that the hotel is definitely not 4 star, is in the middle of nowhere & the staff need to be put through an intensive course on politeness & good manners.