The hotel was wonderful! Four star with all amenities. Great bus connection to downtown with a ride to the metro for 1 EURO each way.

I selected this hotel, as I was using my points for my vacation and didn't have enough points for 4 days in the city center. This hotel is outside the center but does have a shuttle for 6 euro one way and 10 euro round trip into the city - which is great! However if you are going to miss your shuttle, it will be 30 to 35 euro back to the hotel from the city. The hotel is very nice, but there is nothing close by, no restaurants, nothing. So if you don't want to pay the hotel prices for breakfast, prepare yourself and grab something while you are in the city. Also if you decide to go to dinner in the area of the hotel, a cab starts out at 8,90 euro - since they are outside the city center, they charge from when you call them. the concierge told us of a mall and a restaurant to go to, the mall was non-descript and the restaurant he spoke of was no where to be found. then i talked to other people and they said they went to a local place that was pure italian and had the best food and it was only a 15euro cab ride away in the little town. So i guess it all depends on who you speak to at the desk. they also charge for internet usage in their business center - 7 euro an hour.

i also stayed at the Sheraton Parco di Medici hotel across the highway from them and preferred that hotel (free shuttle to city and free internet; rooms were just as nice = and their pool was open as well) Not sure how you earn points with the Sheraton but it was only 95euro for the friday night stay and would've been 7,000 pts if I had points.

My husband and I used our Marriott Points to stay here three nights in April, 2009. We got to be there for the Earth Quake, which surprisingly woke us up at 3:30 am, thankfully Rome was far enough away from the center.

The points were significantly lower than the Grand Flora which is closer to Rome's center, and we figured it was worth the hundreds of dollars we would save.

We got a little nervous as our trip got closer and we read a lot of the negative reviews on here.

Here are some key take-aways
1. The Hotel has started offering a new Airport Shuttle bus from FCO. The cost is 10 Euro per person for a one way fare. This was a great convenience, and sounds like a big improvement from some of the negative reviews from earlier dates (people complained about the high cost of taxis)

2. If you stay at this hotel and plan on site seeing, just give yourself time to get to Rome in the morning. The shuttle bus service to the center of Rome was great... and pretty convenient (took about 30 to 45 minutes during rush hour... 25 to 30 minutes during other times). We would recommend that you don't book any tours before 9:30 am (10 am on the safe side) and you will be fine. An 8 am shuttle will get you into Piazza Cavour by 8:45 the latest... but then walking from there to your destination can take some time. Rome can be a confusing city, so give your self time to just wander and enjoy the sites.

3. The shuttle bus service was very convenient... though at 10 euro / person round trip... it can add up over a few days of vacation. In early April we had no issues with shuttle availability... the shuttle was a large bus, very new and modern, and there were always plenty of seats for us to sprawl out.

4. Public Transportation is a cheaper alternative. We took it one day in both directions. Only 2 Euro's per person each way. Just take the Bus 128 to the end of the line (they call it St. Paulo, but it has a different stop name). Then pick up the Metro (about a 2 minute walk from the bus stop). It was pretty easy.... though a little intimidating at first... because it is hard to know when to get off the first time you do it. The St. Paulo stop has a beautiful church (St. Pauls)... which is definitely worth looking at (though by the end of our trip we were pretty tired of seeing churches =)).

5. We also took a taxi one morning... we had an early tour, and realized the shuttle wouldn't get us there on time. THe taxi during rush hour was a big hurt on the wallet... cost 43 Euro to get to the center. Considering our train ticket from Rome to Florence was less than that... . So definitely try to avoid the taxis.

6. The concierge & front desk were VERY helpful and patient. We had a ton of questions, and they were great to work with.

7. Don't plan on spending any money at food at the hotel, unless you want to pay a fortune. We had a burger and a sandwhich, with fries... and the total cost was 34 Euro. The burger and sandwhich were very good, but no hamburger should cost 18 euro's. The nice restaurant was too expensive to consider.

8. One knock on the hotel is that the Fitness center and in door pool are not complimentary to the common person.

Thats about it.... either way you will love Rome... what a great place to visit.

I don't doubt that this hotel has excellent business facilities, but if you're going to Rome primarily for a sightseeing/cultural journey, you're better off paying a bit more and staying close to the center of Rome. The hotel is newly remodeled and spacious with a new terrace-bar area and nice restaurant. The service was friendly and everyone spoke English. We were in one of the new, modern rooms with a balcony and a huge flatscreen tv that had internet access built in for €10 extra.
There is a complimentary shuttle every hour into the city center that drops you off near the Ottaviano Metro stop, but it only seats 16 people and is first-come, first-serve. If you don't push your way onto the shuttle (and people do push!) then a taxi ride is about €20-25 to a similar drop-off point. On two occasions we split a cab with another couple who were also unable to get on the shuttle, which worked out well for everyone.
Also, the last shuttle out of the city center is at 21:30, so if you're eating dinner at 20:00 or so, you're probably not getting on it. (And again, the shoving and lining up early to get on.) What you may save on your room rate, you may end up making up in taxi fares. There is a commuter train that stops near the hotel, but one night we waited an hour for it to no avail and finally took a taxi. The hotel's website says it's '15 minutes from the center', which is a bit misleading. Map it out. If you've got a car in Rome, I'd recommend this hotel. It's much more affordable than the ideally located Marriott Flora, but now we know why!