I used GTA hotels to book. We booked it because my bf and I were planning on spending one romantic night together and the other nights with friends (ended up spending 3 nights in 3 hotels) and we liked Petra the best. We were confused on how to get IN the hotel though. We ended up following in some guests. Key card stopped working in the morning and the concierge came and let us in without asking our names or anything... it concerned us for security reasons. We liked it overall. If you want to know anything more, just let me know! Only bad thing- way too many Americans!!

I read a few of the reviews for this Hotel and took the plunge anyway. We stayed there for three nights and I felt that the submitted views were unfair. The staff were excellent and even endured our feeble attempts at italian to order food and beer on the first evening.
The next morning we enquired at reception about the bus stop to get into town and received excellent help, they even had bus tickets at reception - 1 euro for 75mins of travel and validate the ticket when you get on the bus. Magic.
It gives one bus journey and one metro journey and considering that you can get on the train at Annagnina and then travel all the way to the nearest metro station at the Vatican city it is fabulous value for money.

Too many good sights to mention in Rome but I would use the Hotel again as it was very good value for the money paid. Food served in the Hotel restaurant was excellent and there is no chance of being ripped off for coffee or beer from the small bar in reception. (1 euro for a coffee)

In all, good Hotel, very clean and the staff were great.
No issues at all.

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.