We stayed at the Aran Blu on a very chilly, windy, stormy night in March 2008. It's a very modern, clean hotel right on the beach in Ostia. The room was spotlessly clean and offered all the ammenities you'd expect in a hotel. The bed was comfortable, the television got English channels, the bathroom was crazy modern. I liked it a lot.

Ostia isn't close to Rome, we had to take a train followed by a bus to get to the hotel. I would not recommend this if you were trying to enjoy the sites of Rome. We stayed here because it was our last night and we wanted to be close to the airport. The airport was only a 10 minute ride away, but as other writers warn, the taxi ride cost 35 Euros.

The hotel is directly on the beach. If you're expecting a slick, blue water, white sand Mediterranean beach like you see in the movies, you won't find it. Instead, there's a sweet, very long beach front of sort of rocky, black sand beach. Great for walking up and down, not so good for sunbathing.

There is a very long boardwalk filled with shops and a few restaurants. We spent quite a bit of time wandering and window shopping.

The staff of the Aran Blu was very nice and professional. They called us a taxi in advance for the next day, and gave us our wake up call right on time at 4:30 in the morning. They all spoke very good English.

I'd recommend this if you're looking for a quiet way to top off your holiday in Rome - a little sand, a little surf, a little seafood before heading off to the airport.

I choose this hotel for our last night in Rome before flying back the next AM. It is close to the airport and it is on the ocean so I thought it would be a perfect choice.

First a note: To get to the Airport you have to take a Taxi which costs between $28 and $40 euro...so you have to take this into consideration when looking at the cost of the room.

To get to this hotel we took a metro from rome to Lido North stop and then took a taxi to the hotel. As the below reviewer mentioned it is not a beautiful area of town, but I would not call it a dump and I did not feel unsafe.

The area right to the north of the hotel has a nice lounge/bar and a few nice restaurants, a couple of wine bars and some stores...I thought it was a very nice area (we ate a steak house there that was very good).

The hotel was very nice, excellent bathrooms, nice rooms, our room (like most I think) had a balcony overlooking the ocean and the marina and we had a very nice bottle of wine on our balcony with a nice sunset over the ocean.

The common areas were also clean and modern. The AM breakfast was adequate and the staff we very helpful.

All in all If you realize that the ride to the airport is expensive I think this is a good choice for a last night outside of rome on the ocean.

We staid at Aran Blu Hotel our last night in Italy before taking a morning flight to US. We thought it would be nice to spend last night on the beach and close to the airport. We were wrong. This town is a DUMP! While we were driving around searching for our hotel we were horrified! It is an extremely run down town all in ruins (not the Roman ruins of course). However, the hotel itself is nice. Beautiful modern décor. Nice rooms, beautiful bathrooms. Really beautiful. But again, the surroundings are a dump. There is no restaurant at the hotel. So you have to go out to eat. The only place to go is to the right from the hotel to marina, where they have a couple of restaurants. Don’t go to the left! That neighborhood is awful! The restaurants are more than a mile away and not good either. The beach is awful! They say they have their own beach - this is not true! They have a tiny little spot on a public beach where they will put a chair for you. This public beach is small, very small, and very dirty. You can’t go into the water, since huge rocks are everywhere. I saw an airline crew coming to the beach and jumping into the water recklessly. Some of them came out covered with blood all scratched by those rocks in the shallow waters. There is no way to get to deeper waters because of huge rocks surrounding the entire beach 50 yards into the sea. I would have stayed in Rome for the last night if I knew. But again, the hotel is wonderful. If only it was located in a better place!

Modern hotel, located right on the beach front and only 20 minutes from the airport. Nice sized rooms are tastfully furnished, with very comfortable bed, room safe and great bathroom. Excellent breakfast and very nice staff. No extra charge for parking. Only negative is the lack of a restaurant in the hotel. However, there are a number of good restaurants within easy walking distance. Good value and highly recommended.