Rome - Apartment, Hotel, or B&B

I am in the same boat. If you are a close 4 and are in Rome for a week or more, think about a Apt rental on VRBO.com. If not and the "affordable" is a big point, you need to look at 2-star hotels for some nice deals. Look for other posts on the boot page under rome hotels.

Hotel Aberdeen is great. I hope to return someday again.You can walk to it from train station very safely and close to many sights.
www.travel.it/aberdeen,[email protected]

My advice, Bernice; book ASAP. We've just done ours for Rome in May and had several no-replies, several no-rooms available, and finally got a booking at the Oceania on recommendation from the Aberdeen (a no-room response). Good luck, Ciao.

There are pros & cons of each type of rental. If you better really like the other couple if you plan on sharing an apartment - not a lot of private space. But you will have access to a kitchen. Apartment rental requires travelers to be independent. A full service hotel will have staff 24-hours a day but many of the B&B's do not. I'd opt for 2 rooms in a hotel or B&B and have daily cleaning - one less thing to argue over.

It's hard to recommend a place with your budget listed as "affordable." But I've stayed at the Hotel Portugesi - www.hotelportoghesiroma.com - and Nicolas Inn, - www.nicolasinn.com - a B&B - both great.

We were unable to get the sub 100 EUR Rick Steves recommendations for November last year - surprisingly they were all booked up. We stayed at the Hotel Raffaello, which is walking distance from Termini. It was nice and clean and had a fantastic continental breakfast (although I recommend getting their early).
http://raffaello.hotelinroma.com/
They do have quad rooms in May at 305 EUR/night or doubles for 215 EUR/night. They also gave us an additional deal to pay with cash. The prices are a little more expensive if you're staying the first few days of May, but go down after that.

Vrbo is good. You can also google 'vacation rentals rome' & come up with some good sites. Many won't rent for less than 3 nights, & the weekly rate is better if you're staying that long. You can track down some sites from slowtrav.com also. Or check venere.com & click on B&B's or hotels if you're not interested in self-catering. It'll give you an idea of what's still available for your dates. Again, it depends on what you consider 'reasonable.' Most of the hotels mentioned in previous answers are showing rates around 200 euros ($300) for the end of April, e.g.

Bernice

You might try to get a couple of rooms at Hotel Gerber - from Rick's book. I stayed there last summer and highly recommend. Not too expensive by Rome standards with wonderful breakfast. It's one block off a Metro stop and just 15-20 minute walk to the Vatican. The staff was friendly and helpful.

David

This was our apartment in Rome:

http://www.primitaly.it/appartamenti/casaparadiso/uk.htm

Wonderful location and much cheaper than a hotel.

We were in Rome this past September on our 2nd visit and stayed in a convent. It worked out very well for us. Reasonably priced, more spacious rooms than a 2 star hotel, breakfast included, close to the train and many sights, very clean and comfortable, quiet and safe. We stayed at Suore St. Elisabetta for around 65 euros a night. St. Susanna has a good website with several links for convents in Rome www.santasusanna.org. Some have a curfew, but not all. An apartment is also a good option. If you have never been to Rome before, you may be disappointed with the type of hotel rooms you can get for your money. I would seek accomodations in this order: Apartment, convent or B&B, hotel. Tripadvisor.com has great reviews of accomodations by travelers and Rick's grafitti wall has lots of good tips, too.
Have a wonderful trip and try not to get too overwhelmed with the planning, I know it's easy to do!

We rented our Rome apt thru VRBO, and we have used them in other countries. We have also used homlidays.com, and were very satisfied.

When we travel with friends, we find an apt to be a very relaxing way for the two couples to plan their day juants, and get together at nite.

My son & I stayed at Hotel Adler which was very nice, simple, & Very Clean.

Located in the same building are Residenza Cellini & BelleSuites which are a little fancier.

Location is near the train station in a very safe area.

I think two if not all three were in the RS 2006 Italy Guide, which we used.

Our tour guide booked us in the Hotel Giolli on via Nazionale (July 2007). Their website is: http://www.hotelgiolli.it/welcome.html. There were 5 of us on the trip in two adjoining rooms. The rooms were very clean, bathrooms huge, bed hard as a rock to sit on but it turned out to be the most comfortable bed I have EVER slept in! Continental breakfast is served. The hotel is up about 5 big flights of stairs but they do have a small elevator that fits about 3 people at a time - bringing luggage up can be a challenge. It's within walking distance (or short bus trip) of most major attractions and if you book guided tours, they will pick you up and drop you off right across the street. Would absolutely stay there again! Ciao!