We booked this hotel for our first trip to Rome to celebrate our Anniversary. We'd hunted round for something with a bit of character whilst still providing the Modern conveniences of modern hotels. We were not disappointed.
As many others have said, this is more of a guest house than a hotel. There are no porters or room service. It occupies half of the 1st floor of a block of residential apartments. You arrive to an innoculous looking doorway and wonder if you're at the right place. Don't panic though - you just need to press the "Residenza A" buzzer and someone will come down and let you in. As is is a small business, reception closes at 10pm - if you're going to arrive after this time, you'll need to contact them to let them know so they can arrange to be there to let you in! Our flight was delayed meaning we got there at 10:45 - fortunately there was someone there, but he wasn't impressed (until we explained about the delay).
The staff at the hotel are very welcoming and will do anthing they can to make your trip enjoyable. Top tip - contact the hotel in advance to arrange a car to collect you at the airport. We flew into Fiumicino airport and had to pay €60 (fixed price) for a cab to get into central Rome (which was terrifying!). On the way back the hotel arranged a car (nice comfy Mercedes) to take us back costing just €45 (again fixed price).
We were given room ML which is at the front of the hotel. We had no problem with noise from the road outside, and it was quite nice to watch the world go by on the street below and people coming and going from Cafe Strega. We did notice that there was quite a bit of light still coming into the room from outside during the night, but the next morning discovered that there is a switch outside the window to turn off the flourescent light which illuminates the hotel name etched onto the window.
The room was a good size and comfortable and the bathroom modern and clean. The decor was fresh and modern and the individual art that arorned the walls in the room and the corridor gave it a nice individual feel. The Apple Mac computer was very useful for checking email and booking restaurants during our stay. My only critisism is that the internet browser software could do with upgrading as it was struggling with a few of the more modern websites we were accessing.
The DVD player in the room was a nice touch, however the rental list at reception was a bit limited. I recommend bringing your own films if you want to use this facility (obviously European region discs only..) As with every other mainland European hotel we've stayed in, the choice of English speaking TV channels is limited to just one (in this case CNN), but it wasn't an issue for us, as we weren't there to watch TV.
The breakfast was included and I would say was the only weak point. The toast was toasted on one side only and seemed to be cold every morning. Also being british we like our tea, which lead to all sorts of confusion when we requested milk to go with it. One day I ordered cereal and again - no milk! Also Italian croissants aren't like French style ones, they come covered in icing sugar and often pre-filled with a fruit filling - very odd.. At the end of the day we put it down to the Italians just doing things differently - it wasn't a major issue for us.
The hotel is well located for getting around Rome. Barberlini metro station is a 5 minute walk (downhill) and about 7 mins back (uphill). All the major sights are walkable - we tended to walk in the morning and get the metro home in the evening. Worked out really well for us.
Overall, we were very happy with our stay and will definitely return when we're next in Rome.
