This hotel is located on the outskirts of Rome and is very hard to find - the directions on their internet site are very poor as they omit key turns if you are driving. No interest was shown in rectifying the omissions when we remarked on the problem at reception- we were just told 'yes, it's very complicated'. If approaching from the GRA (motorway ringroad) you cannot simply turn left before Aurelia Railway Station, as the website says, as it's a dual carriageway with a solid barrier in the middle. Instead, you need to exit right, take the flyover and return the other way. Even then the turn is hard to spot as the hotel is not signposted and the road sign is very small (so is the road) - the road is next to a McDonalds, follow the signs for the Holiday Inn. The hotel is in a quiet area, and is quite clean, apart from a lot of scuff marks on the wall. The staff were pleasant. The bedroom was an ok size, as was the bathroom. However the room looks nothing like the picture on the website - tiled floor, cheap furniture, poor bedlinen etc. On the plus side, rooms are air conditioned and have shutters to block out light. The bed was unusually low but comfortable. On the minus side, the rooms seem to have very thin walls and every sound from every side (above, below and to the sides) was audible. We were awoken every day at 6am by what sounded like furniture being dragged around above us. The breakfast was truly awful - very limited in choice, and of some of the sustenance provided amounted to a Crime Against Food - certainly a Crime Against Coffee! It seemed to be mostly foreigners staying here so maybe they thought we would eat any old thing and not complain. I didn't bother eating breakfast after the first morning. My husband did, but as he memorably heard an American visitor remark, 'Man, this really -----!' The hotel is well out of Rome, although there are regular transport links to the city - walk to the bus stop (bus regular but always very hot and crowded), bus to metro, metro to centre. However, the metro (line A) stops running after 9pm, and you would have to get a bus home instead (usually standing room only), which takes a lot longer. It's not that it's difficult to get to or from the hotel, but it takes so long that you wouldn't bother going home to change and shower and go out again in the evening. We ended up staying in Rome all day and eating a big lunch, and not bothering with dinner - fine, but not what we had in mind when we booked the hotel. The hotel website says that it is a 'few steps' away from the Vatican - this is completely untrue, it is nowhere near it. You have to get the bus to the metro, then go 3-4 stops. I don't think you could walk it in under an hour, and it might well take more. I see that the website says a shuttle service to the Vatican is available, but I don't recall it being mentioned when we were there (although we were given a useful info sheet on bus/train links). Overall, the best thing about this hotel is the price - we got a very good deal on the internet. It was quite clean and quiet (apart from the early morning). I would not personally stay there again as it was so far out of Rome, but I would recommend it to budget travellers who don't mind some inconvenience in return for a good price.
