Hotel Residenza In Farnese

We had a lovely two-night stay, and the room had a great view and a big bathroom. The staff were friendly, the location was great, and the hotel was beautiful. It was easily the best hotel of our trip.

The location is superb. We could walk to almost every Roman sight we wanted to see. That was the main bright spot in a really dreadful stay. I booked through Booking.com, but couldn’t pay there. My credit card company said the hotel’s payment terminal didn’t meet its security standards, and all three of my cards failed at the hotel even though they worked elsewhere in Rome. On Sunday, the hotel messaged me through the platform saying they couldn’t take cards and wanted a wire transfer or they’d cancel my booking. It felt like a scam, so I checked around and found this was apparently how they did business. They needed the first night paid to keep my booking, so I wired that amount. We arrived late Sunday night with our two young kids. A large man with an enormous white beard said I had to pay for the whole stay right then. I tried several credit cards, but none worked. I offered to wire the rest in the morning, and he refused. He then told me, as if I were an idiot, that the room electricity was tied to the billing system and wouldn’t work unless I paid for every night, even though I’d already paid for the first one. We were standing there with the kids, and it felt like blackmail. I tried a debit card, and that worked. Keep in mind debit cards don’t offer the same protection as credit cards. After that, the hotel would have had to be heavenly. It wasn’t. They claim four stars, but I can’t see how it meets that standard. I couldn’t get an iron and ironing board, though they offered to iron my clothes for a fee. No thanks. At breakfast, the staff seemed sullen and standoffish. Other guests were shown to tables and served coffee, but we were left to seat ourselves. Front desk staff were dismissive too, except for one lady who was always lovely. We were in room 306, which felt dilapidated, tired, and shabby. Maybe it looked okay in 1984. Fixtures were worn out, the wardrobes and walls were chipped, plugs and switches were worn, and things were coming off the walls. The smoke alarm was covered with masking tape. The beds had nasty, thin mattresses that had seen better days. The shower barely trickled. The shampoo and shower gel came in little ‘Dolce Vita’ bottles, but they all smelled different and none was screwed on straight. I wondered if they’d been refilled with something cheaper. There were no glasses or bottled water, and the hot drinks station had sachets of instant coffee. Breakfast was a mess. The buffet kept running out, staff didn’t seem to be keeping up, and there wasn’t enough of anything. In my opinion, the food didn’t match what the website described. There was no cooked food, and nothing was hot, even some things that were supposed to be. It was an awful, overpriced hotel with awful staff and breakfast. The first interaction felt like a scam, and the next felt like blackmail. I’ll never stay here again. I’ll review it wherever I can to warn people, and after telling anyone who asks about Rome what a beautiful city it is, if I have the energy, I’ll invite them to join me in mocking this hotel fiasco.

We loved our stay here. The staff were really nice and helpful, the room was good, and breakfast was good too. The location made it easy to walk to a different attraction each day.

We had a great time and would come back on our next visit to Rome. It’s especially handy if you want to walk to all the attractions. Breakfast was nice, the staff were very helpful, and our room had a comfortable bed and shower. Grazie mille!