Would you rather: Smeraldo, Realis Rione Ponte, Arch Roman Suites?

I've only stayed at the Smeraldo, and in rooms facing the street - I love the bells from the very close church.

I found the breakfast good, the location excellent for getting everywhere I want to go - Trastevere and Vatican City about the same distance or time and neither very far (OK, I guess the Vatican a little further but through the Pantheon and the excellent coffee and pizza made it seem much closer) and the little cafe / mini grocery store / bakery around the corner was mmmmmmm goood

I can't comment on the others because I don't know them.

I'm not extremely tall but am somewhat larger around than some. For me the showers were not overly huge; for a tall person unless less round than I dropping the soap might be an adventure.

The other thing, I always try for around 20 sqm, at the least 18, so I think that your choice 2 with only 12 sqm would get cramped for a longer stay like yours of 6 nights

good luck in your search...

I don’t think the fact that a hotel is not part of RS’ pick should be a concern. There are thousands of hotels in Rome, many are great hotels that RS probably has never seen. I don’t have experience with the hotels you mentioned (by the way there are two Smeraldo hotels in Rome), but assuming it’s the one near Campo dei Fiori, all hotels you mentioned are in a good spot.

12 Sq m is 129 Sq ft; 16 Sq m is 172 Sq ft, or approximately 13 ft x 13 ft. If your husband is "giant" than the safer bet is the larger room, especially if he also has a "giant" temper. Do you have a bedroom in your house of comparable size? The two of you should spend some time in it along with two open suitcases and consider whether you can put up with it for six nights.

12 sqm is too small for a six night stay. You will be bumping into each other for a week. A one or two night stay could work. Go for the largest room within your budget and compare reviews on several booking platforms.

Last year we reserved a smaller room in Venice and we had to upgrade to a larger room because we didn't want to end up divorced before we left.

Enjoy your trip.

Wife’s 1st pick,

That's your answer

I think it's difficult to compare a full service hotel to a B&B - Just a question - how many of those services do you actually need? For example, Smeraldo has a nice rooftop bar we enjoyed & only took an elevator to get to. Is this your first trip to Rome & do you think an extra $575 is worth those services?

(Smeraldo gets a lot of love here because it's so lovable! hahaha. I would rate the breakfast as superior, and OMG the friendliness! Front desk & cafe staff were amazing. My side of the bed didn't have a nightstand, I had to request one, as an example. So your room might not be as big as you need it to be.)

The level of service is probably the biggest difference between husband and wife’s comfort levels with these options.

Wife speaks Italian at about a A2 level (so advanced beginner - C level is fluent for those of you who don’t know that scale), used to live in Rome for a time, more comfortable with less support like a well regarded B&B or guest house.

Husband is more nervous about staying somewhere without a person 24/7 at a desk, hence his preference for Smeraldo.

Interesting about the language difficulty for your H playing into your decision. I just think the room size at Smeraldo would be a deal breaker, both rooms we stayed in were a bit of a squeeze and neither of us is very tall. Is this your first trip to Italy together? In our case, hubby loves letting me handle all the Italian interactions, I speak decent colloquial "Romanaccio" dialect, makes Romans laugh. Good luck with your decision-making.