hotels with shared bath

What price range are you looking at?

It is not a pity. The demand for en suite far exceeds the demand for shared baths. I think the last time we saw a shared bath was in the the 70s and maybe very early 80s. Even the Europeans like en suite baths.

Thanks, scythian. That's what I figured. I read somewhere that Americans want their own bathroom, so a lot of the older, smaller hotels are trying to squeeze en suite bathroom units into each room. Just wondered if you guys knew of any of the old-style places. We rented an apartment in Monti through AirBnB for $129 per night which is perfectly acceptable but it adds up on a 3 week trip and I had hoped to do some shared baths without being in a dorm.

Have you looked at apartments?

https://www.cross-pollinate.com/rome/p/1/1553120615201

Rome: take a look at the Beehive hostel. Yes, really. They have some single rooms, and some of them have shared baths. It's a really popular place that gets very good reviews:

https://www.the-beehive.com

Thanks, you're absolutely right. We could stay in a double room with shared bath. Right now, I can't book our dates - because the entire span is not available, but will keep in mind for next trip. I am sure there will be one!

I am surprised Booking offers no 2 star family run pensiones. Try Hotel dot com, or start googling 'pensione Rome', or whatever town in Sicily. There are also Convent Stays but they are no longer super cheap anymore. If they have upped their game, chances are others have as well. What you seak still exists in other countries, (or with ensuite but at an affordable price). Perhaps the locs2tion in the city and if high peak travel season is limiting choice. Are you prepared to move further oit and commute in?

Thank you, Maria. I was surprised, too, but when I put in the filter of shared bath, what came up were 4-6 bed dorms. However, as Kathy pointed out, some hostels have double or single rooms with shared bath. I noticed the Beehive when I was first reading RS Rome guide but decided not to stay near Termini to be closer to the center of the historic district. For that reason, I don’t want to stay further out. I’d like to walk most places, the atmosphere in the center is worth paying for, and the public transportation limits how late one can stay in town.

I did a quick google search for pensiones in Rome. Some in June were under $60 a night even with ensuite.....but I think not in an area you wanted. I am a solo traveler, and found the cost of hostel single rooms were often matched by more comfortable alternate lodgings. Maybe search Booking by neighbourhood of choice and lower pricepoint rather than 'shared bath' (BnB perhaps, or a AirBnB private bedroom, shared bath/lodging?). Or see if you can save in Sicily and balance out the costs over the trip rather than per city.

Thanks. When I put "Pensione Roma" into the google search, some cheaper hotels did come up near Termini along with hostels. I booked our apartment quite a while ago when I hadn't yet done as much research as I have now. I had the impression at that time that Termini was a much longer walk from the historic center and also that it might be somewhat of a rough neighborhood. None of that seems to be the case so next time when I have more lead time, I will consider it. My husband thinks the apartment we rented is just fine and wants to stick with that since the neighborhood is so convenient and charming.

Not in Rome, but the last time we stayed at the Dali in Florence (about 2014) we had a bath-down-the-hall.

I was surprised, too, but when I put in the filter of shared bath, what came up were 4-6 bed dorms.

I believe this is referring to booking.com. I'm a bit confused why you would put in that filter. If you don't put any filter in regarding baths it will bring up both with and without and multi-bed hostel rooms. You can then sort by least expensive first. If you're just looking for the cheapest rooms what difference does it make if they are shared baths or ensuite? Sometimes the cheapest rooms do have ensuite baths. Having a shared bath doesn't always ensure that it's the cheapest option. As stated by Frank and others previously, so many lower starred hotels have upgraded to ensuite baths but they are still economical options. I would think the best filter to use on booking.com (and other booking sites) for your purposes would be your desired price range.

I think the places with baths down the hall are often at the very cheapest end of the scale and operating on pretty thin margins. I imagine many feel they can't afford to pay the commissions charged by websites like booking.com. I think a lot of us have gotten accustomed to using websites like booking.com, at least for preliminary screening. Fred has often urged us to look at the websites of German towns for more complete lists of accommodations, and I bet sources like that would turn up more possibilities than booking.com.

@acraven and Fred, I am all for alternate booking or listing sources, but I haven't seen links provided with this advice to educate the newbies to the concept (myself included). How about a link or a specific phrase to google as a jumping off point?

Nancy, that is good advice. I was assuming that a shared bath would be cheaper. I have been checking around and you are right.
Regarding trying to book outside of the big sites, RS does suggest booking through the hotel website itself since it benefits the owners and also may be cheaper. However, sometimes the websites for the hotel take you to booking.com anyway, e.g. Hotel Rosetta in Monti. It's a RS recommendation.
Maria, if you look through recommendations in the RS guide or browse the big sites, you can go to the hotel website itself and book direct.

One tip that's been given on this forum (I believe by Lee) for German towns is to use townname.de and see what comes up. In my quick experimentation, celle.de and ingolstadt.de pull up the official websites for Celle and Ingolstadt, respectively. Many of the smaller cities have websites in German only, so you can use Google Translate. On the town or city websites, many have lists of accomodations, as well as other tourist information.

If you can't find the official website that way, you can always Google "townname official website"

A good source of inexpensive listings for many popular cities is EuroCheapo: https://www.eurocheapo.com/. Many of the lowest priced listings have shared bathrooms.

You can also investigate hotel websites, like Hostelworld https://www.hostelworld.com/ and Hostelbookers https://www.hostelbookers.com/. These sites include some places besides hostels (I booked a place with shared baths in St. Petersburg through one of these - not sure which one).

Sarah, thanks. I do also tend to use the hotel website directly - and yes, some link back to Booking. Truth be told, I prefer apartments from another source, but use 2 star hotels for those 1 or 2 night stops. I was hoping that ACraven or Fred would give the specifics that Harold has just provided. Thanks Harold.