Our hotel of choice in Rome is the Albergo Ottocento. It is consistently wonderful. However, on this occasion, they were booked out but they recommended their sister hotel, the Relais Ottocento. The web site pictures looked good but there were no reviews to assist. But, since it was just for one night, we took the chance.

When our taxi took us to the address, we were a little perplexed. It was just a side street with a series of nice but unremarkable old buildings; no obvious hotel entrance or anything. Then, we noticed a small brass plate near a large door saying "Relais Ottocento". Pushed the intercom and were greeted by the (very cheery) receptionist welcoming us by name.

Turns out the Relais used to be a few apartments housed inside this old building and the owners of the Ottocento Hotel just converted them into 5 (yes, there are only 5) rooms.

After our initial worry, everything worked out just fine. The service at the Relais reaches the same high standards as the Albergo Ottocento. The rooms are decorated in more or less the same fashion too. Yes, they are small but, hey, this is Italy. the Albergo is most definitely a 4 star hotel; the Relais is closer to a 3 star but still very nice.

The location is not as central as the Albergo but it is still within easy walking distance of all the main attractions (in fact, the Relais is about 10 mins walk from the Albergo). It seems to be located in the financial district - judging by the number of banks around the place.

Anyway, looks like this is the first review of the Relais so, bottom line: recommended (although my first choice would still be the Albergo Ottocento).

Special word of praise for the staff: very very friendly and embarrassingly good English.