The best thing about hotel Garda is the location – 30 meters from via Veneto, in a lovely and safe neighbourhood. Transport connections are good (if they can be good in Rome), with metro stations Barberini and Spagna within 10 minutes walking distance and numerous bus stops even closer to the hotel. There is a big GS grocery store near the hotel - in the undeground passage leading to metro station Spagna.

Now to less enjoyable points. Access to the hotel from the street is inconvenient and complicated: one has to pass through at least 3 barriers. First, there is a front door, which is usually closed, so one has to ring the bell to get the receptionist to open the door. After that, there is a long hallway with another door at the end, and the same procedure is needed to open it. Then one has to take a rather slow elevator to the 5th floor where hotel’s reception is. Finally, with the room key received from the reception, one may need to climb the stairs one floor up (hotel rooms are situated on 5th and 6th floors of the building). All in all the procedure of getting in or out of the hotel takes several minutes and, when repeated several times a day, becomes tiresome.

My single room was of a decent size but had some problems that made the stay less enjoyable than it could have been otherwise. The bed was inconvenient – too small and too soft. The blanket was an old woollen one, also inconvenient, as it was difficult to keep it over the sheet that served as a blanket cover. Bathroom was small and had an inconvenient layout. Worse, there was a problem with water – it was neither hot enough nor cold enough, always something in the middle. The pressure was extremely poor and it took time for the water to warm up. The shower cabin was old and inconvenient. The room had a mini-bar and an old, small TV (with two English language channels – BBC and CNN). The window overlooked a narrow courtyard.

My room had yet another problem – every evening there was a distinct mechanical noise coming from within the building (as if some machinery was operated somewhere). This noise would disappear around midnight, but was quite annoying before that. Also, all noises in the corridor or neighbouring rooms were clearly heard in the room.

Hotel’s public areas seem to have been recently renovated and look nice, especially the reception and the breakfast room.

My rate (60 euro/night) included breakfast, which I never had, (couldn't find anything edible there). The breakfast offer consists of coffee, croissants and low-quality flakes.

Hotel staff was generally friendly, except for the lady that seems to be in charge of other staff, who was somewhat pushy. They are not all knowledgeable about Rome however – I once asked for directions to one very well known attraction near Rome and the advice I got was of little value. Other receptionists were more knowledgeable, though.

One tip: one can get a lower price by booking directly from the hotel web site just before the stay (some kind of last minute discount).

In conclusion, at 60 euro/night hotel Garda is good value for money, but only due to very good location. Otherwise, lots of minor inconveniencies spoiled my stay, so I will probably not consider Garda again.

We booked this hotel through EasyJet and chose it for its location, in spite of reading one or two dubious reviews with Trip Advisor. Having read tips about finding the hotel - there is no obvious frontage - we had a very pleasant experience. All the staff on the reception desk were extremely helpful and friendly.
Our double room was large enough - the bathroom had a glass fronted shower and the bed was comfortable. The breakfast is basic but adequate.
The great selling point of the hotel is that it is very safe, and in a wonderful location. It's easy to get to any part of this wonderful city either on foot or using the buses or metro. Just up the road is the beautiful Borghese Park and down the road are the Spanish Steps - all within five minutes of leaving the hotel.
This was our first visit to Rome and the Hotel Garda, but definitely not our last.

We stayed at Hotel Garda and booked with Easy to book and sure enough they were!
The hotel location is excellent as it is just off the Via Veneto, a curving road with nice shops and restaurants. It is also 5 mins walk from the lovely Parc Borghese, so for those who seek a respite from the city - here is perfect. You can hire bikes and rickshaws and the Galleria Borghese, located in the park, is considered one of the most important museums in the world. It is stuffed full of works by Bellini, Canova and a Reubens that you can get right up close to.However you
must book in advance and arrive 30 minutes early otherwise you don't get in.
Also near are the famous Spanish steps. At the bottom are fantastic shops - Dior, Gucci, Armani etc. Check them out just to see how the other half live!
With regards to the hotel - it is quiet and safe as it is 4 floors up. There is no problem coming back late as reception are on duty 24 hours a day. The reception were particularly helpful, providing maps and information and advice. Breakfast was adequate for us juice, coffee, rolls, croissants. The room was fine, but as some visitors had previously mentioned the shower does not come with curtain, howver provided you were careful it was possible to have a shower without soaking the whole room.
Rome is fantastic. I was surprised how much is within walking distance.
Definitely recommend the Travestere area, just wander round the streets to get a glimpse of the working life of Rome.
The catacombs on the outskirts are good also, again would recommend the walk along the Appia Antica - the old road into Rome, very atmospheric and again a chance to escape the buzz of the city.
We used the Terravision bus when we arrived. If you have children buy the tickets at the terminal in Rome and not on the plane they are cheaper. On return to the airport we just asked about buses at the booth outside the train station advertising bus tickets. They sold us even cheaper tickets than Terravsion and our child went free. 12 Euros in total for 3 of us.
We felt very safe in Rome, although of course we were careful when travelling amongst the crowds.
The buses and metro are great, cheap and easy to use.
If you go to the Colosseum with a child take thier passport so you can take advantage of reduced price. We paid for a guide, they are situated outside the Colesseum and they say you don't have to queue. This isn't strictly true as everyone has to go through a scanner for security purposes and this can take some time. Our guide was quite informative but we only stopped in 2 places and she read it all out of a book!
For anyone interested in plants take a visit to the botanical gardens - very pretty lots of interesting trees, palms, cacti etc.
It's about 1 1/2 miles from the Vatican.
All in all a great trip, we love Italy and once again we came back wanting more! FANTASTICO!!

After staying at two other nice hotels in Italy, we had the misfortune of staying at Hotel Garda on our last 2 nights. The lobby looked OK, which was deceiving. Our room was a TINY triple, with 3 beds within inches of each other, two of them with a tacky mirror headboard. There were various dirty smears on the walls and the carpet was filthy. We had to ask how to use our TV and make a special request to get the air conditioner controller. We called the front desk 3 times one evening, but could not get anyone to answer. The bathroom consisted of a moldy tub with no curtain and a filthy floor. The toilet ran and ran one night, keeping us awake. We heard another guest complaining in the hall to a member of hotel staff about loud unexplained noises. The maid service was a complete joke and consisted of nothing more than re-making the beds with the same linen (since we found a piece of our own laundry made INTO the bed) and leaving some new towels behind. The maid also moved our luggage around, when there was no need to, since they did NOT vacuum. The "free breakfast" was nothing more than cold cereal and a surly woman serving bad coffee. What a disaster.