on April 28, 2006Nevertheless, we were almost very satisfied with our stay. This is to a large part due to the nice location, which will be commented on below. In addition, the rooms were clean and decorated in an extravagant manner, giving you the sense that you were staying at some (doll sized) royal palace.
The service in general was perhaps not more than average compared to what northern Europeans and North-Americans are used to, but given the fact that we were in the Italian capitol, where “the fault is someone else’s, and I can certainly not do anything about it” - mentality is dominating, the treatment we received was quite satisfactory. This is especially true since free candy was constantly abundant in the lobby and elsewhere.
The lobby, also known as the candy distribution area, and other public areas were clean and somewhat upscale, and decorated in light colors. The reception was staffed 24/7, but don’t expect to meet the same receptionist twice. Unknown faces were always appearing, giving the hotel excellent abilities to let you know that you were unfortunately not speaking to the right person for whatever problem in hand.
All staff was friendly though, and your suitcases are brought to the room for you. Tip is probably expected, but don’t overdo it. A euro is plentiful. The biggest hassle concerning luggage is after all finding a place for it in your room.
Some “tourist-aid” were requested and received at the reception, such as information on tour buses and transportation to the airport. A plus for the receptionist letting us check out an hour late; 12:00 instead of the regular 11:00.
The hotel offers in-room cable TV, with additional pay-per-view channels, as well as hair dryer, telephone and a mini-bar. The public areas are air-conditioned. This goes for the hotel rooms as well, but be aware that the in-room AC is not turned on until May, which is not very practical if you, like us, are experiencing the spring heat in April.
The hotel is 5 stories or so tall, and is larger than the intimate doorway reveals. Intimate is an even more suiting description of the one and only elevator, which, in addition to being strikingly slow, leaves little room for more than yourself and perhaps your thoughts.
In the cellar, the breakfast room serves an included and quite average continental breakfast . It is served between 07:00 and 10:00, and you should not take the chance of running late, as the eager waiter promptly removes the food at the set time.
At night the breakfast room turns into a restaurant/bar. The prices seemed reasonable, but it had a limited selection of dishes and not really a cozy cellar atmosphere.
The cellar also rooms two internet-computers, and there is a free of charge wireless network, but it didn't work until a couple of hours before check out the last day.
One particularly stupido thing about this hotel was the 20 € charge per day if you used the mini-bar. After traveling the world and back, we have never experienced such a bizarre rule. As the law-abiding citizens we are, we thus chose to throw away the Gouda cheese, rather than breaking the absurd ban on personal food-preservation. True; this will probably not in itself prevent me from staying at this hotel again. Even more true; this gives the hotel a ridiculous flaw that it could do very well without.
on September 27, 2004
