The hotel is situated near the American Academy, where our son-in-law is a fellow in landscape architecture this year, so it was convenient for us, though removed from most of the historical sites. It is very dangerous going out the front door onto a street with no sidewalks and traffic travelling at high speeds. There is a rear entrance, but it is closed for some reason.

The breakfasts were exceptionally good for an Italian hotel, including scrambled eggs and American bacon as well as Italian cold cuts, pastries, cereals, juices, cappucino, caffe latte and much more. The breakfast staff was attentive, courteous and efficient, as were the maids. The room was very nice.

We had a major problem at the desk, where we reserved a tour of Tivoli and were told we would be picked up at about 8 a.m. on a Tuesday. The tour transportation did not arrive and the woman at the desk called them, but chose to take their word over her own associate that they had no record of our reservations. We had precedent for this at another Rome hotel, where the woman had gone out of her way to put us in a cab to the beginning tour site at the tour's expense. The woman at the Gianicolo was of no help whatsoever, telling us we would have to take a cab at our own (considerable) expense. We tried to make it on the bus, but arrived too late.

Clearly the fault lay either with the tour agency or the hotel and we should have been put in a taxi and they could have haggled over who paid later. There was no apology until I really laid into them...at which point we did find a bottle of Prosecco with an apology in our room, but that didn't make up for missing Tivoli. This event left a very bad taste in our mouths and was the lowlight of our trip, given that we booked the hotel for ten nights.

The bus rides into Rome offer spectacular views of the city.

I would recommend this hotel unconditionally except for the rude treatment we received at the desk, particularlly from the woman. On the other hand, the rest of the staff, including the porter, were outstanding.

The location is problematic, so I'd say you would want to have a reason for staying on the Gianicolo rather than in a more central location.

Michael D'Elia

"Grand Hotel" is a misnomer. The hotel has no restaurant, no room service, no lobby to use, no lounge, and instead of a concierge an amateur receptionist. The rooms are so small that not even a writing desk will fit in most of the rooms we saw. One single chair, a wardrobe and one bed ist the standard furniture in the double room. The bathrooms are designed for contortionists. We made the mistake of securing reservations for three nights by venere.com and this meant that we could not move out without getting hit for the full amount for three days. Basically, there is nothing hospitable about this "Grand" Hotel. Oh, dont expect to be able to order eggs for breakfast: not possible, even at an extra charge. And wait to get your passports back while you are registering: they will forget to return them. You may discover that at the airport. They will then send them by taxi, which will charge 80 dollars for the delivery.
Stay away, there are lots of normal, comfortable and not "Grand" hotels such as this in Rome.

I stayed at the Grand Hotel Gianicolo in late August for 4 nights with a friend. My overall impression of the hotel was excellent, despite a few teething problems at the beginning of our stay.

We arrived late at night and pretty frazzled due to a long journey to find we had been allocated a double room, despite asking for a twin - not a good start. I must admit, if I had had to stay in the double room for the entire stay I would not have been happy - the room was tiny and had a view of the breakfast room roof !
However we reported this to the concierge at reception and he allocated us a twin straight away. This room was far better, with a jacuzzi bath no less, and a view of the gardens. It was also much more spacious.

Apart from that our stay was fantastic. We found the hotel staff to be extremely friendly and helpful (especially Marco the concierge and Enzo the breakfast waiter). They directed us to bus stops for all the major sites and provided us with a very helpful map to guide us. The hotel is located in a residential area quite a way from the centre, but to be honest we found this to be a bonus. It was quite nice to return to a quiet area after a full days hectic sightseeing ! Plus you have the best view in Rome literally on your doorstep (so good that even tours stop off to see it). The only thing lacking in the area was restaurants, but we found we were staying out in the centre until at least 7pm so we had our evening meals there where there is an abundance of eateries.

There was a bus stop a few metres from the hotel which took you directly into the centre of Rome. We bought a 3 day bus/train/tram pass for 11 euros but found nobody checked the ticket even once ! (not that I'm advocating not buying one !). The busses were frequent and the journey only took about 10-15 minutes. Even the bus drivers were extremely helpful. If you ask, they will let you know when you reach your destination, although it's better if you can learn the phrase in Italian as most don't speak English. We didn't find it a problem to get around at all. The 44 and 75 bus routes are the best for getting to and from the centre. Learning a smattering of Italian is a definite bonus as many people only speak a smattering of English and they definitely seem to appreciate your efforts (no matter how rubbish they are !).

The breakfasts at the hotel were absolutely superb with a fine range of breads, cakes, pastries, fresh fruit and vegetables, yogurt, spreads, cheese, ham and of course fresh cappuccino (which you have to ask for incidentally). We ate so much at breakfast we didn't really need lunch !

The pool is the perfect antidote to the Roman heat and was mostly empty. We booked a taxi to the airport on the last day which, although expensive at 55 euros, was very comfortable and made for a stress free end to the holiday.

I would definitely recommend this hotel and will be staying there again next time I visit Rome. I think it's extremely good value for a city hotel with a pool. The only thing I would say is take some ear plugs - the walls are paper thin and you can hear everything that's going on !

We would not recommend this hotel, especially for first time visitors to Rome. Here are our reasons:
1)The hotel is located at a very busy intersection; walking around it is very difficult and potentially dangerous due to the bliind corners.
2) It is too far away from the major sights. We were told that we were a 10 minute walk to Trastevere and a 15 minute walk to the Vatican Museum. It took about 20 minutes to get to the part of Trastevere where there were a significant number of restaurants and shops. The Vatican Museum would have taken about an hour along some very busy roads (with little or no sidewalk) that cross back on each other as they wind down the hill. For the Vatican, it's not so much the distance but the busy street and the lack of sidewalk that would make the walk unpleasant. Also, the walk down -- and back up -- the hill is very steep. Some guests were having trouble with it, so unless you're in good shape or plan to take taxis, this is really not a good choice.
3)The hotel contracts with at least one taxi service that starts billing you from the time the hotel calls them, which adds about 5 euros to your total bill.
4)The front desk staff reception was poor, with no introduction to the hotel, information about breakfast time and location, etc.
5) As of June 2006, there was no food service at the hotel (other than breakfast) and the rooftop garden/bar was deserted -- no furniture, etc....
6) There were very few people at the hotel. It had an odd, deserted sort of feel.
We would not stay here again, and after this stay decided that it's better to pay a bit more to be closer to the city so that you can enjoy evening strolls through lively piazzas and walk by the beautiful floodlit monuments of Rome.