After a long day getting to Rome, the welcome and vibe at the hotel/hostel was fantastic... Fantastic staff with excellent local knowledge that will allow you to see and do as much or as little as you want in Roma. After a day or so, you really feel part of the family. Most of the time a hostel is place to crash on your travells, but this is one of those rare gems that stands out and makes you want to travel back - just to stay there.

I've been going to Rome every year since 1989 and have experienced many hotels in that time. I can honestly say that I have never had such a warm welcome as I experienced in Hotel Lodi, the staff and management make you feel like part of the family. We arrived hungry and tired after a long trip and we were invited to join the owner Fabrizio for a Bar-B-Q in the beauttiful garden which he was cooking for friends in the garden - at no charge! He also invited a young American girl in her 20's to join us as well as she was on her own. We had such a splendid time and I have never experienced such genuine hospitailty in all the time I have been travelling to Rome. Fabrizio you should organise BBQ's in the summer and charge your guests if they want to eat - if you do the cooking I'm sure you will get plenty of takers!

The hotel itself is a cross between a hostel and a hotel - there are some rooms like the one I used which are for 2/3 guests and I understand there are a couple of rooms that accomodate more people on a hostel basis. So there are a range of rooms available to suit all pockets. The rooms are functional and clean and what I would expect for 2 stars in Rome. Breakfast is continental with coffeee and cornetti and can be served out in the garden if the weather is good. The garden is great - a real surprise with a massive palm tree in the middle providing some shelter if the sun is really hot. There are a number of chairs and table outside with reasonable space between them which gave us privacy from the other guests. We could also use the kitchen ourself to cook food for ourselves - not that we used it as we ate out everynight!

The hotel is situated a little out of the historic centre but a short bus ride takes you to the Metro or to Termini. We did the journey on foot and it's OK but probably worth waiting for the bus if you've been walking round all day. I think that they are building a metro station at Piazza Lodi round the corner so once that opens the location will be excellent.

Overall the hotel represented excellent value for money and the staff really made the difference - nothing was too much trouble. I nearly forgot to mention that there is free internet as well!! Great for keeping in touch with people back home and Facebook etc. If your expecting 4 star accomodation with a swimming pool this isn't for you. But if you want decent accomodation that represents great value, with a smile, then I can thouroughly recommend Hotel Lodi - I'll be going back!

We stayed at Hotel Lodi just after the easter period when we got there we were straight away given a warm welcome, and dont get me wrong the service and also the helpfulness of one member of staff was great, however when you go to a hotel it's not the person at the desk you want to be best. We were put in a room, which looked dated, old and dirty, the worst thing was that the bathroom was a joke there was an open shower which when you turned on covered the whole of the bathroom with water, so you couldn't go back in, it still had dried out by morning. So the next morning we decided we'd leave but when we got to the desk the guy basically blackmailed us he said either i changed your room or you pay £350 to leave basically, he also said yes i know we gave you the terrible room and it wasn't good but we have to let all our rooms! So we went to the new refurbished room, that wasn't refurbished and still didn't look like the internet photo. However the shower was better. On a more serious note Hotel Lodi is a fire hazard as there are no doors on the stairs and there are no emergency exits, this means that the stairs going up the miidle act as a chimey. The fire exstinguster was hidden behind a curtain and the doors would last 5 minutes in a fire and were not secure in case of a break in, the hotel was shambles and is very far out you have to get a bus and a metro!!! ridculous, do not go here or you'll have a nightmare, it is a disguse covered up by the staff's smiles and helpfulness.

The Hotel is close to several bus lines, yet in a quiet neighbourhood. The 4 bed private room was simple, spacious and very clean. The staff is helpful and friendly, Fabrizio is the best host. He speaks a few languages. We loved our breakfast in the garden. We will come back again.