I stayed for 5 nights with my 4 year old daughter, we found the place clean, neat, good value.
Staff ? Well that depends on who you get, Michael is fantastic! As I was booking last minute I decided it would be easier to deal with things straight away and rang directly, was speaking to the ownner, she was rude, unhelpful and decietful, telling me yes that accom was available and then as soon as she had my credit card no to confirm, wrote back on email to say that I would need to change to another location of Secret Garden around the corner. This was a huge inconvenience with a child. I wrote several times on my day of departure to go to Rome confirmation of accom and transfers that were being arranged from airport and had no response to my emails, ringing again 10 minutes before having to leave to go to catch our plane only to get her husband with an irrate wife in the background yelling all soughts of abuse and obsenities. I was quite nervous apon my arrival but thankfully had nothing to do with this woman and only actually saw her apon my departure on the last day in which she didnt even acknowledge me, its a shame as all other staff were fantastic and thankfully this made my stay not a complete disaster

We stayed at the Secret Garden for a surprise mini-trip before my 40th day. The accommodation is reasonably basic but furnished in Ikea beds, bed side tables and lovely flooring. The place is spotlessly clea and we had a fantastic time. It was particularly moving for me (as a Catholic) as it provided a base to see the Vatican City and St Peters. I would thoroughly recommend this hotel to anyone on a "relative budget". The local restaurants are excellent as they are frequented by Roman citizens so are not overpriced. Meal for 2 including mussels to start, main courses, a litre of house wine (v good) for 30 Euros... can't beat it!

Spent the entire month of September and the first week of October in Italy, Tuscany, and Rome.
I am a painter, so i like small places to stay, with character and accessible rates.
Friends had recommended some accommodations to me, from their trip to europe a year ago, so I took their advice, and mostly booked the same, except in San Gimignano where the hotel they had recommended was fully booked.
In Rome i stayed at The Secret Garden which was in fact as my friends had described it to me: clean rooms, breakfast on the roof(garden), public transport around the corner.
A special word of thanks to Luciano, the manager, who got me a private tour of the Catacombs.

having read excellent reviews on Tripadvisor I made a booking for October which was confirmed in July. 4 days before we were due to leave I received an email saying that they could not accommodate us after all and offering a very cheap apartment with one bedroom and a bed settee in the kitchen. My requests for the address were ignored which worried us - as a female only party we were keen to avoid staying in the unsalubrious area around the station. As the email ended with an offer of other choices I asked for these immediately. We were due to travel first thing on Wednesday but by Monday evening i had heard nothing further so i telephoned the hotel/agency and was met by a torrent of abuse from a woman who said that of course everything was in hand and if I was too stupid to understand this she could do nothing to help me. I sent an email giving my office contact details and requesting urgent attention on Tuesday morning. At lunchtime I discovered that they had telephoned and emailed using my home contact details. I was offered two hotels both of which had very poor reviews on Tripadvisor. Whilst researching these and contacting my fellow travellers i received a final email saying that as i had not responded to any of their emails they could do nothing further since the office was closing. My friend tried to telephone but they refused to speak to her. i would recommend anyone to think carefully before making a booking at the Secret Garden. I thought I was booking directly with the hotel but was clearly dealing with an agency - I wonder why this is not made clear from the outset. I have been booking hotels on the net for years and have never experienced a problem like this before. i am horrified at the truly appalling level of service and will willingly provide copies of all the emails if required.