As other reviews have said, this is basic accomodation for the budget traveller.

Pros:-

1. cheap

2. clean

3. convenient for bus and train station

4. security - 3 locked doors between you and outside (room, property entrance, main street entrance)


Cons:-

1. location is not great
- there are a number of dodgy looking characters around, although we never felt threatened.
- lack of good restaurants in area
- not really in the heart of Rome

2. our room rate was not so cheap that a few extras would have gone amiss - TV, shampoo, 2 reading lights instead of 1...

3. no AC - would make this hotel probably a bit uncomfortable in July and August, although we did have a fan.

We've arrived around 8:00am and got the keys immediately which was good.
We had a double room with a private bathroom
The room was very simple, as espected from a 1-star hotel, but there were a few disappointing features:
The room was dark and the light was very dim;
There was nowhere to hang the towel in the shower;
The towels were not changed at all during our stay.
All in all it was okay for a budget traveller but no more than that.

We arrived at Cressy at 1:30 am due to flight times and we found Roberto waiting to show us to our room and to give us advice about sightseeing, pizzerias and pickpockets - very helpful! (I had emailed and called in advance to inform them of our arrival time because it was so late).

The hotel occupies the fifth floor of a fairly grotty looking building. However, we were pleasantly surprised when the door to Cressy opened to reveal a fresh and clean reception area. There is a lift but you have to make sure that you shut both sets of doors or the lift won't move. We only had one day where somebody had left one door open so we had to walk down rather than use the lift.

We paid for our stay upon arrival (we could have paid afterwards if we'd liked) in cash (no choice about that).

We were a group of three friends who stayed in a room with a private bathroom. I would advise people travelling in groups to pay a bit extra for a private bathroom so that they could be up and out before the heat made it uncomfortable to go walking.

Our room was larger than expected, clean and behind 3 locked doors (door to building, door to Cressy and then room door). This fully met all of our requirements as the purpose of our holiday was to explore Rome, see the sights and then sleep in a hotel room that was safe and relatively quiet. The only noise we had was the traffic. We slept with the window open on the first night but the traffic noise was horrific so we resorted to closing the window and having the fan on.

Location is fantastic! We walked everywhere apart from to the Vatican (we walked back from there) and saw all the sights we wanted to in the 5 days we were in Rome.

We would definitely stay there again if we return to Rome.

Coming in from the street, this "albergo" (hotel) seemed rather sketchy. But after buzzing in and becoming more comfortable with the safety of the place (3 separate locked doors to get to a room), the place was a lot more pleasant. The young guy that worked there was incredible, giving us the lay of the city and telling us what to watch out for, even suggesting some reasonably cheap places to eat.

The room was nothing incredible (we were in a room without a bathroom), but it did have a mirror and a sink which was good. The shared bathroom was nothing especially beautiful but was kept fairly clean and was working perfectly. The location nearby Termini was for us backpackers a blessing, letting us unload quickly after getting of the train. There is no sign out front, but you can look for Pensione Catherine (it shares the same building). Rome isn't as huge as it looks on the map, so although the hotel looks like it's out of the way, you can hoof it to the other side of the city (Vatican) within an hour.

Less than a block away on the opposite side of the street is an incredible internet/phone cafe that was ridiculously cheap (a euro an hour for internet - you can even pay by minute/page - and ten cents a minute to call home to Canada).