Damiva

The host was friendly and really easy to communicate with. The apartment was clean, nicely equipped, and the room was lovely. The building felt well managed, with security and a newly renovated elevator. It’s on the main street, close to Trastevere station, supermarkets, and several shops.

We arrived about four hours after the reservation began, and ended up staying at the Marriott instead. We booked three nights because of positive Booking.com reviews and photos, then saw Google reviews describing issues similar to ours. We take responsibility for not reading the listing carefully enough, though the pattern made us wonder if it was intentionally misleading. There was no designated parking, so we left the car in the middle of the main street, which was a rough start. We saw many transient people nearby. That can happen in major cities, but it didn't give us a good feeling about the location. We couldn't find the entrance and called Ivan. He directed us to an apartment building entrance beside another building under construction, then remotely unlocked the building so we could enter. This wasn't a hotel. The lobby led to a small, dilapidated, very dated elevator. On the sixth floor we met Ivan outside the apartment door and learned the rental was a room in a shared apartment. We apologized and explained that we had misunderstood the listing and were concerned about the area, elevator, and access. Ivan seemed understanding and agreed to process a refund, though his hesitation made us nervous. He said cancelling from his end caused problems with Booking.com and asked us to submit a request, which we did. He even suggested another place that sounded more like what we wanted, and at that point I was impressed with him. The request said an agent had to approve it, and we thought he would approve based on how the conversation went. After about an hour without an approval, we contacted him on WhatsApp. A few more hours later we called, but he didn't answer. He eventually texted back, apologized for the delay, and blamed poor phone reception. He then said someone else would have to rent the room for us to get a full refund, because he'd turned down a reservation during our four-hour window. That was odd, since in person it sounded like more than one room was available. When I asked what would happen if no one else rented it, he ignored us. They were trying to keep the full three nights' rent after we had only held the reservation for four hours. I had planned to write a positive but informative review. If Ivan hadn't led us to think a refund wouldn't be a problem, we might have stayed and dealt with temporary roommates and the other issues. I expect Ivan or another representative to reply to justify keeping money they didn't earn, but that's their karma to deal with. Ask yourself whether your hard-earned money and vacation time are worth the risk, or whether there's a better option, perhaps the hotel Ivan suggested. I hope you make a better choice than we did. In an update, Ivan replied to this review and denied that I had ever been to the property. That's a blatant lie. He also denied that the elevator was there, which seems comical since anyone who goes will see it. His reply reinforced my suspicion that the listing is intentionally misleading and that he's trying to block reviews to keep deceiving people. Don't fall for the scam. He had already tried to block this review, but Google overruled the attempt. Thanks, Google, for supporting review integrity.

The location worked really well for us, just 20-30 minutes by public transport from the city center. There were lots of bars, restaurants, and shops nearby. The room was super clean, with tasteful new modern furniture and a comfortable bed. Great accommodation and a great host. We had an amazing stay.

This isn't a hotel, just a small flat in a public building, basically one room with a toilet. I booked through Booking.com and lost my money. The “breakfast” was in a completely different building. Be careful, places around here seem to operate the same way, like a tourist trap. I wouldn't recommend it.