Rome Hotels ???

[AltaJoe]

I'm looking for recommendations for hotels and B&B's in Rome. My research indicates that the best locations (in no particular order) would be:

Spanish Steps
Piazza Navonna
Campo Dei Fiori
Vatican

Our budget will be in the 100-200 Euro range and we'll be there during the high season.

So far we've heard good things about these hotels:
San Carlo
Sant'anna
Dei Consoli
Alimandi
Cesari
Farnese

and these B&B's:
58 Via Cavour
Daphne
Cellini

Any thoughts or ramplings will be greatly appreciated.

[happycruizer]

You might want to check out Hotel Lancelot. It has good reviews on Trip Advisor and good rates.

[rdytocruz]

We are staying at the Nicloas Inn. It gets very good reviews on Trip Advisor in other boards and appears to be in a good location. The rates are very reasonable and the owners are an American woman married to an Italian man. She has been very helpful with information.

[patticake1448]

I highly recommend the Hotel Diplomatic. it's in the low end of your price range, and is walking distance from the spanish steps, collosium, tomb of the unknown solider, vatican city, and just about anything else you'd like to see.

[cruisinsince75]

We were trying to find an inexpensive hotel in Rome also. We booked on Priceline and got the 5 star Intercontinental at the Spanish Steps for $205 per night for mid May

[AltaJoe]

We were trying to find an inexpensive hotel in Rome also. We booked on Priceline and got the 5 star Intercontinental at the Spanish Steps for $205 per night for mid May

Please let us know how it works out. I went on to www.biddingfortravel.com and felt that the ICON could be had at that price, but was uncomfortable with the fact that no one had bothered to write a review of their stay. My biggest fear is that PL customers will be given a broomcloset of a room and DW will kill me. lol

[cruisingmimi]

Alta Joe,

Here is a good website for you to check out.

http://www.travel.it/roma/ourhotel.html

It has the hotels grouped by 4*, 3*, 2* and you can view the hotel without having to go to the particular hotel website. I thought the prices were excellent on some of them and you can check the online availability right there also and discounts also.

Hotel Aberdeen is on the list & is recommended by Rick Steeves. I thought it looked very nice. Price was right also. Would discount if you had Rick Steeves book in hand when you checked in.

Hotel Piccolo Borgo looked nice also. Was new on the list. (E120.00 dbl.)

Hotel Morgana nice also. (E145.00 dbl.)

Hotel Panama Garden nice. (E135.00 dbl.)

All had reasonable prices too. These are the ones I checked out that look decent to stay at and good prices. We are traveling in Oct. so prices may be cheaper for different dates. When are you going?

Let me know what you think. Maybe others will have input about these.

Mary

[cruisinsince75]

Please let us know how it works out. I went on to www.biddingfortravel.com and felt that the ICON could be had at that price, but was uncomfortable with the fact that no one had bothered to write a review of their stay. My biggest fear is that PL customers will be given a broomcloset of a room and DW will kill me. lol

I usually check it out at www.tripadvisor.com

[AltaJoe]

I usually check it out at www.tripadvisor.com

Unfortunately Tripadvisor reviews rarely mention if the room was booked through Priceline. In most of the Grand Hotels, like the ICON there are rooms so small that you have to leave it to change your mind. My fear is that these rooms go to Priceline bookings. My life wouldn't be worth a plugged nickel if I push for the ICON through Priceline and the room is a bust. Especially since we're going with my brother and his wife. That's all I need is 3 sets of glaring eyes. This could be an unreasonable fear, but so far I have yet to read a review that puts it to rest.

I am dissapointed in the Biddingfortravel users. There are so many posts about how they won the ICON, but no one stepped forward to review it after their stay.

[cruisingmimi]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if certain areas in Rome are better to book hotels than others? I was at Borders yesterday browsing Italy travel books & they mentioned not to stay in the Termini (?sp.) area because it was very dark and unsafe. However, this is where most of the reasonably priced hotels seem to be. Maybe that's why they are budget priced. I do not want to stay in an unsafe area. Guess you need to take it all w/ a grain of salt though. We are only planning to stay over 1 night.

Thoughts please!

AltaJoe, I totally understand your feelings on booking a hotel that will not be satisfactory to you and your in-laws. That just happened to us this past October in Ireland. This was not a cruise & I planned the whole trip. I did a massive amount of research on hotels, etc. We were planning to stay in Galway for 5 days. (this was in Oct. also, a high travel season). So being the picky person I am (w/ a sister who is even pickier about hotels), I found a reasonably priced hotel in Galway. Checked it out on TripAdvisor, etc., emailed people who had stayed there and everyone said it was a great place to stay. Went ahead w/ the booking & looked forward to our stay. We arrived in Galway by taxi (we had my DH, myself, sister, brother & sis-in-law) in the party. Taxi let us out in front of hotel and headed back to Killarney. We all went inside to sign in. From the minute we walked in the door, we knew this was going to be a nightmare. The lobby area was so small, only a reservation desk, no nice chairs to sit in, etc. Little children were running all over the place, up & down the elevator. Waited a good 5 minutes for someone to come greet us. Reservationist told us we'd have to come back later because the rooms weren't ready. It was now 2 pm. We asked her what she proposed we do w/ at least 15 pieces of luggage. She told us to just leave them right there in the closet-size lobby. She then told us the rooms we had requested were not available because the party booked in them had decided to stay over another night. I asked her to show us what was available. She took us upstairs & the rooms were so small we could bearly turn around in them. No extra sitting area that we requested so we could sit and have drinks, etc. We had cousins going to be visiting us also. Just a postage stamp sized room. Bathroom was so tiny. By now, my sister was absolutely freaking out (so was I). Went back to the main desk and told the girl the rooms were not acceptable, were not what we asked for, and we were going to look elsewhere. The 2 guys stayed w/ the luggage & the 3 women went down the street to the tourist office. Fortunately, she recommended a beautiful upscale hotel right next door to where we were supposed to be staying. They gave us a better rate than the 1st hotel, with dinner included. We thought we hit the lottery we were so happy. It was the most fabulous stay.

Not trying to alarm you, but sometimes what you see on the internet is not what you get. I have used TripAdvisor for comparisons and recommendations but you also need to take the recommendations w/ a grain of salt.

Good luck. Did you check out that website I posted?

One other thought, I also found that if I found a hotel on a booking agency website, I got the room price from them and then emailed the hotel directly. I found better deals this way than going through the booking agency. Frequently, the hotel has the better deals. I have also read that people have booked through these agencies and then got to the hotel and the hotel didn't have a reservation! Buyer beware!

[OregonDuck]

I highly recommend the Hotel Diplomatic. it's in the low end of your price range, and is walking distance from the spanish steps, collosium, tomb of the unknown solider, vatican city, and just about anything else you'd like to see. WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE HOTEL DIPLOMATIC???? HAVE YOU STAYED THERE??? THE REVIEWS LOOK TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE FOR THE PRICE, COMPARED TO OTHER HOTELS IN THAT AREA? HOW DID YOU ARRANGE TRANS. FROM THE AIRPORT?? ANY INFO WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THANKS

[Mparis184]

The rates for the hotels really jump in Septemember.

We will be in Rome pre-cruise from September 13-September 16. What goes for 120 Euros off season jumps to over 200 the week we are in Rome.......ouch. The hotels that I have been looking at I would consider a bit above flea bag, nothing special and will cost us over $160 American per night, really did not want to spend that much. Everything that I like would run over $300 per night. My taste does not match my budget in Rome !

I will check out all the recommendations from this thread - many thanks to all who shared.

[MaseratiCruiser]

Don't think September is the only month for these high hotel prices. We are booked for May at a very popular hotel across from the Pantheon at the rate of 225 euro per night. For our five nights stay there I am looking at spending almost $1,500 US! I have never paid this much for a hotel room and it hurts to think about it, but I do want to be in a great location of Rome and in a clean hotel with a good reputation, so I am biting the bullet.

[goingtomed]

Has anyone stayed at the Atlante garden or the Atlante Star? We're looking for a hotel close to the Vatican and they seem to have good reviews and are close. Thanks for any input.