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"Eco" Air Conditioning

I'm planning a trip to Rome for next summer (July). There will be 6 of us so being close to the train station would be helpful getting into and out of the city. I'm thinking of using Hotel Aberdeen which is near the station. There is no elevator (that is not a problem for us). That said, Rome in July can get hot and gritty. We want A /C. They said they had "eco" air conditioning. Some sort of water cooled A/C?? Maybe like a swamp cooler?

Has anyone experienced "eco" A/C on a hot day while staying at Hotel Aberdeen?

Your comments would be appreciated.

Posted by
28247 posts

I'd suggest going to booking.com and reading a bunch of reviews of the Aberdeen from this summer and last summer. Those reviews are generally legitimate because you cave a review unless you've stayed at fhe hotel. The link for reviews should be near the upper right after you follow the link below. Sort by date.

Hotel Aberdeen on booking.com

Posted by
7936 posts

Haven't stayed there, but I'll note that, in general, even central air conditioning in Europe is not designed and installed to the meat-locker requirements of American customers. (Including me, not making fun of you.) We stayed in two luxury hotels in Germany where the air conditioning just could not keep up with a heat wave, we had to sleep in our underwear. The lobby was like that too, so it wasn't just our room's ducts or something. And (unfair generalization) few things work perfectly in Italy ...

Posted by
16133 posts

I’ve not been at the Aberdeen so I can’t speak about the specific hotel.

An eco AC is an eco friendly air conditioner that uses inverter technology to minimize electricity use, many now also use motion and humidity sensors that detect the number of people and humidity level in the room and adapt temperature and humidity to the needs based on preset levels.

Italians have rather advanced AC technology given the outrageous cost of electricity in Italy (I pay almost 60 euro cents per kWh in my house in Italy, all charges and taxes included, twice what I pay in California, the most expensive in the US after Hawaii).

One thing you will notice in all Italian hotels is that electricity is activated only after you insert your chip room key inside a slot located near the entry door. So when you go out and take the room key with you everything is shut off, including lights and AC (no waste of electricity allowed). In some hotels you can insert a credit card in place of the room key to make the electricity stay on but that trick is increasingly ineffective, hotels have figured it out and now the slot works only with the room key.

The other thing you will notice is that many hotels control AC temperatures centrally or at least set a minimum temperature below which you cannot lower the AC thermostat. In none of the hotels I stayed this July I could lower the room temperature below 23 degrees Celsius (73.4 Fahrenheit).

Italians at home can set the temperatures however they want, even at meat locker temperatures if they don’t mind the shocking energy bill, but, as I said, hotels put a clamp on what guests can do, so you will likely experience levels of room temperatures in hotels in Naples Italy that are above what you are used to in Naples Florida, without the possibility to lower the thermostat on your own.

Posted by
11946 posts

10+ years ago I was there and found the a/c very much like a US hotel, i.e., room was comfortable temp.

No idea if back then it was described as 'eco-airconditioning' or just "a/c"
Cannot imagine they downgraded to swamp coolers

It was part of our RS tour.

Posted by
28247 posts

During potentially hot months I stay in the cheapest hotels I can find that have a/c, OK locations and reviews that are positive for features important to me. I'm definitely way below the midpoint of this forum in my hotel selections, though I do sometimes end up in a better-quality, large hotel because the cheaper places are full. (I'm in a Mercure at the moment.)

With the exception of a very few occasions (broken a/c during a hot spell in Dresden, apparently non-existent though promised a/c in Messina, etc.), I've had no complaints about a/c quality. I think it's because my preferred (cheap) rooms are usually very, very small. I think the a/c throughput is generally adequate for a small hotel room though perhaps borderline--or worse--for a larger room. So my suggestion for those who are really miserable in a warm rooms is to consider booking the standard room rather than the premium room.

I do have a complaint about the nearly universal hotel policy of opening the curtains when a room is cleaned, even during an extreme heat wave. In hot weather I close the curtains before leaving the room for the day, because I do not like walking into a hot room after the sun has been beating on the window(s) for hours. Due to the aforementioned control mechanisms, in most hotels you cannot check in, turn on the a/c and leave the room to do something productive while it cools down.

Posted by
325 posts

Thanks for all your feedback

Acraven, I had forgotten Booking.com as a potential source

Thanks to all.