Rome Lodging

Bill,
I've had good luck with the Hotel Montreal.
Centrally located, reasonably priced, decent rooms and bath.
It's listed in Rick's guidebooks.
Tom

Hi Bill,
I too am planning our first trip to Italy and just booked a hotel in Rome today. Since I was looking for the same kind of hotel as you and after doing extensive research (kicked out any hotel that received a bad review), I came up with Hotel Alder. It is located near the train station and within a block to the bus & metro stop. After I wrote Alessandro at [email protected] explaining I am a Rick Steves reader and quoted him the price Rick states in his book, 2 days later he wrote me back and offered me an additonal 10% off for prepaid advance booking (only if with Rick Steves). Since we are staying 3 nights, this saves quite a bit. There is 4 of us and our room for a Qb is 171 Euros per night. This includes breakfast buffet and as many of RS readers have said...very friendly and helpful family run hotel. Booking.com rated them 8.8 (one of the highest ratings) and tripadvisor.com reviews were all excellent except for small shower stalls. Hope this helps, Linda

I just got back from Rome. I stayed in two different places, both recommended.

The first is Arena Guest House, very close to the Colosseum. 120 euro a night for a very small room, private ensuite bath and PC with internet in the room. No common areas in the B&B, though, and the room is tiny and the shower tinier. But it was very clean, close to attractions, and the hosts were friendly and helpful. It met all our basic needs. Breakfast was included at a nearby bar.

http://www.arenahouse.com/

The second place I stayed is San Jouan Guest House. It is further out of the city center close to San Giovanni in Laterno. Rooms were more spacious, and there is a nice common area inside and outside. More expensive, we paid about 145 euro a night. It was very clean and had wireless internet access and a PC in the lobby to use. It took about 10-15 minutes to walk to the Colosseum. Breakfast was included at a nearby bar.

http://www.sanjouan.it/

Bill,

My son & I stayed at the Adler Hotel in March 2006.

We found it to be nice, very clean, safe, & in a good location.

The entire staff was also very helpful & friendly.

It is actually located in a building that also houses two other hotels, Belle Suites & Residenza Cellini.

Bill, as Linda said the Adler may be what you're looking for, especially since the other two are just a little fancier.

Jim

I reccommend trying to look for places to stay on www.vrbo.com (vacation rentals by owner). I use this site when I travel to South Carolina (hilton head and charleston) and FLorida. It is a great site and I have chosen an apartment in Rome to stay in next summer for my honeymoon. It is a large 2 bedroom flat with a kitchen, bathroom, linens provided, air conditioning, a great view and a balcony. It is in a great place called Trastavere which can be compared to Greenwich Village or Soho in New York City. The price is unbeatable (180 US dollars per night and I am staying in July which is the peak season) I reccommend it because you will get a great feel for the culture and the people. The owners are great to work with and Trastavere is a safe and clean place to stay in Rome very close to everything! Let me know if you want anymore information! Whitney-Washington, DC

My son and I stayed at a convent about a mile striaght south from St. Peters and you could see the dome from the bathroom window. You have to press the buzzer by the gate and when they let you in walk about a block. There were two American nuns there in Aug. and at least one more who spoke English. The breakfast was typical Italian: a hard roll, a soft sweet roll of some type (different everyday but think along the lines of an Italian version of a Twinkie or Little Debbie, coffee tea and fizzy water. They were very nice, it was clean, close to the San Pietro bus station where you can get on the 64 bus to Termini and all points between. There is a Supermercato right across the street open until 8 PM. Here is the info from the Santa Susanna Church website:
MAESTRE PIE FILIPPINE, Casa Auxilium Christianorum
Via Giuseppe Messori 19
00165 Rome
Tel: 06.635.201; Fax: 06.636.347; E-mail: [email protected]
The rates are: 35 Euro for a single room; 66 Euro for a double room; and 93 E

Heres the rest of what the webite says about them: 93 Euro for a room with three beds. Prices include breakfast, no other meals are served. Curfew is at 11:00 PM
If you want to try this, I can give you a link to a website that goes up and down many of the streets in Rome with 360 degree photography so you can see exactly where their gate is, where the Supermercato is, etc.

We could find nothing available. My Italian cousin found us a place called Pensione Virginia. It is actually a 2BR, 2BA condo right by the Cornelia station and cost us 70€ a night. We had the BR with private bath and were alone for a few days. The place had another small BR and guest bath as well as LR and kitchen with dishwasher, clothes washer, oven, fridge. When the other couple came, they used sofa bed in LR so we no longer had use of that room but still had kitchen.

With restaurants, cheap food places and everything else along with little subway traffic in our direction, it was a great place to stay. And we walked to Cornelia bus station for a cheap <4€ ride to airport.

PM me for more info if anyone is interested.

John

We stayed only one short night at Hotel Miami before we left for home. It was not too far from Rome Termini and was nicely located for restaurants and walking to other attractions like Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, etc. It was recommended to us by a travel consultant who also advised us on a place in Sorrento.

Last month I spent 5 nights at Matteo B&B, about a 20-minute walk north of the Vatican and about 10 minutes from the nearest Metro stop. The B&B is on the ground floor of an apartment building. It has just two (immaculate) rooms, both with queen bed and en suite bathroom. The owners will leave a basket outside your door every morning with great coffee, fruit juices, and packaged pastries. If you need to get across town for a 6am train (which I did), they'll make darn sure a cab shows up on time for you, too.

http://www.cross-pollinate.com/info.asp?id=444&kind=2&city=rome

yes to Arena House. the owners are super nice and helpful, it was clean but not fancy and having internet and a frig in our room saved us some money and time trapsing around town. there is a big grocery store around the corner and we got picnic lunch stuff to supplement eating out which is very, very expensive. across the street on the corner was a great gelato place. have fun! take an Angel walking tour, they were wonderful, you can find them on the web.

You didn't mention a price range, so I'll throw this out. It's low for Rome, we paid 70 Euro per night which included breakfast and ensuite bath.

http://www.bandbrome.it/bed_breakfast_rome.htm
The owner rents out 2 rooms in her 7th floor apartment. It's just 2 block from the Cipro Metro stop on Line A. It's in the heart of a middle class Rome neighborhood. It's convenient, clean. The rooms are a comfortable size. Beds are hard but that's the norm. You have use of the kitchen where she sets out a variety of breads, jams, fruit, sweets, and sometimes meat. You eat when you want. You have a key to the building, the apt., and your room so you come and go as you please. Remember that being on a Metro line will zip you anywhere quickly. (Line A has the cleaner trains.)

Bill
September 2007 stayed in rome in an apartment 8 blocks from St Peters square 5 blocks from the metro good neighbourhood close to the flower markets its 2 bedroom on 7th floor has elevator washing machine shower bidet wc basin small kitchen comfortable beds large foyer and dining/lounge 2terraces to chill out on great value cost for week was 375euro included a 45euro cleaning fee we got the apartment through sleep in Italy and had to pay finders fee 50 euro but can you contact owner claudio through his friend umberto @ [email protected] lots shops restaraunts etc close by double glazing keeps out any noise and umberto also ran us to airport at half cost of taxi Claudio runs the gentlemens club in next block flat was very tidy and clean but in older building really enjoyed our stay would return there again found it much nicer than hotel and great cheap local restaraunts in the block and supermarket 2 blocks away its not the hilton but clean tidy and reasonable