The ARS hotel is a true hidden gem. It was on a hill. It was spacious, modern and the staff was very gracious; not overly friendly, but I suspect that is because of our languaage barrier. The rooms were nice and cozy, the king-size bed was comfortable, the room clean and the large open shutter windows (which took up most of one wall) stayed open every night of our stay.

The hotel is the best value for your money because of its location. It is right outside of city centre and right up the hill from a great bus station. Everyone travels by bus in Rome so it was a very comfortable experience. They make it very navigatible. With a week-long bus pass and a great map we were able to visit all of the sights ourselves and never once got lost. We always got off at the same location: Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (or what is known as the Typewriter or Wedding cake). It was centrally located and we were able to walk to the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Coloseum, Museums and local shops and diners.

The hotel is also within walking distance to several restaurants, pizzerias, a pharmacy, a local grocery store/pastry shop (where we stopped everynight for the best pastries), open-air market with fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables and the weekend had a great crafts fair where I bought all my souveniers.

If you have mobility issues - this is NOT the hotel for you. My husband and I are not active people and we were out of breath by the time we reached the top of the hill (our hotel); however, we would not let that stop us from booking with them again. It really was a great hotel.

Stayed here on a short business trip to Rome. The hotel is located in a quiet side street, with hardly any traffic. As soon as you get close to the hotel it's quit good signposted (for Italian standards). The offer free parking on the hotel grounds, be prepared though to leave your car key in the reception as it's narrow space and sometimes they need to move cars around to give everybody access to the parking.
The hotel staff is friendly and helpfull, especially the night manager is very nice. All of them speak English. The rooms are standard, the beds are hard and there is no pillow menu (which I think everyhotel should have). Free internet access available, both in the lobby as on your room. No wireless, you need to get a cable from the reception.

My room had a step in the halway and off course I tripped over it and squeezed my enkel, which a set back for my whole trip. There is A/C in the room, though adjusting it is a bit of gamble. You can open the windows (which have blinds in front of them) and overlook the garden (and the parked cars). Some rooms are in the basement, make sure to avoid these. If you sleep with the window open, you will experience Roman traffic sounds throughout the nigth

Breakfast was reasonably OK, limited but with fresh bread, cake and cappucino up to Italian standards. Beautifull breakfast room with nice furniture and glass facade, but even nicer ... walk out of the breakfast room and turn left through the emergency exit, where there is a nice little garden to sit in! Although the hotel offers a short menu off warm meals I found that it was impossible to order them late on the evening (which is basically the moment you don't want to go out for a meal anymore). Within 200-500 metres from the hotel there is a good choice of restaurants, ask the reception!

The hotel offers a 50 euro shuttle taxi to the airport which is recommendable (at least you sit in a comfy car and not in a crappy fiat punto, it's still a lot of money though)

Because we were on business trip we had to use cars to drive around the Roman area, which is definately not recommandable and only managable for really experienced European drivers!! In any other event, use public transport or taxis. Traffic is pure horror!

There are a few things this place needs to work on. First of all the woman who greeted us was practically contemptuous of the guests she encountered. (Graziella). She should get out of the tourism industry completely. She is not doing the hotel a favor. Overall most of the people who worked at this hotel seemed like they would rather stab their eyes out than be of any service to any of their guests. Nary a smile or helpful attitude. I'm sorry, but I don't speak italian, and maybe if I did they would have been a tad warmer, but I doubt it.
HINT: Don't be tempted to check in early, either, as you will be assigned a room in the dungeon next to the housekeeping office. Did they bother to tell us when I checked in that the toilet was not flushing and that there was no running water? NO! I had to call them and when I asked about it, again, an insulting tone of voice. They really should have told us when we checked in....but that would have been too easy.
The location is a pain to get to and the neighborhood is somewhat sketchy. Of course street signs in Rome make it almost impossible to find by car or on foot (from the bus). Even though you might get a better rate staying here, you will spend that money on a cab getting there or going to Termini or elsewhere in Rome...especially if you have a cab driver (one of the official ones mind you) that charged me 30 Euros and an additional 2 for the bags. Ha! I only gave him 20 so he was not so happy about that, but after I found out that my partner took a cab from the same location and was only charged 12 Euro I felt justified. Okay, back to the hotel....they are simply adequate. The breakfast was good though and they will make you delicious cappucino for breakfast. The breakfast dude didn't look happy either. When you work in a hotel where there are very many tourists coming from all over the world, kind words and a smile are appreciated. When we asked for directions the gentleman at the desk wrote all over a map
(and by this I mean he wrote over the street names so we couldn't read them!). A suggestion would be that they print out directions in English, French and Italian, as a supplement to their directions. They should also have directions printed out to get to the airport and Termini by bus and car, along with the general going rate for taxi service to the top spots in town. By the way, they do have internet service in the lobby, but the printer did not work...a simple sing written in English and ITalian stating that the printer is broken and that if you need to print something out, email it to the hotel and they will print it for you would have been better than stressing out thinking that you might not be able to print your boarding pass. They don't go any extra mile whatsoever. This place did not cut the mustard and I do not recommend it unless there is no where else to stay.

Over all the hotel was ok, have stayed in better and worse. Would not agree that its a 4 star though having stayed in 4 starts in the past. We had booked a triple room as always as we have a young child. Was quiet surprised to find a folding bed for my son rather than a proper single bed. The hairdryer did not work and the bath was very dirty, however the hair dryer and bath was sorted the next day. We decided to not comment about the folding bed and just accepted it.

Breakfast was ok, no hot breakfast though, croissants, cereal and biscuits mainly.

Although when booking it stated complimentary tea and kettle, the seven days we stayed there we there was never any milk left in our room. We therefore everyday had to ask reception for milk. On the 6th day the guy complained that we were asking for milk every day which was a cheek as we should have been given milk every day for the tea anway!

Overall the recpetion staff were friendly, helpful and spoke very good English. Our experince was somewhat positive untill the time of checkout as I was charged £15 extra for a packet of crisps, biscuits and a small packet of nuts and a phone call to book a taxi. I had asked whether I would be charged for the crisps and nuts and biscuits and I was told it was free but later.....

Also a bit far from all the sights.