Insula Campo de' Fiori

We booked with Chase points and were supposed to stay for a week, but there were no keys when we arrived, just confusing instructions and a phone number nobody answered. When we finally reached someone, they kept forwarding our calls. The next day, a guy said he was driving, told me to text him, and hung up. We were left stranded in Italy. Not great.

The smell from the bathroom was unbearable. It was a sewage odor that spread through the whole apartment and made us feel nauseous. Despite the appealing location, I wouldn’t recommend staying here: the landlord’s organization was appalling, and the cleaning and maintenance were more than inadequate. The apartment is split into three areas. The bathroom has a sink, shower, toilet, and bidet, but its dated style doesn’t quite fit with the bedroom, and there’s a tricky step. The bedroom’s large bed was decent, though our son slept very poorly on the sofa bed. The decor was fairly modern, but there were no shutters, only curtains, and one was hanging down where we couldn’t reattach it because of the high ceilings. Housekeeping was mediocre, with dust and suspicious marks on the walls. There’s also a large, somewhat shabby kitchen with broken cabinets, damaged walls, and a pod coffee machine that didn’t work. We didn’t try the other equipment because we ate out. The apartment is just a few meters from Campo del Fiori, so it’s easy to explore Rome on foot. Finding the place was difficult, with no signs on the front door or floors. Booking.com had advertised an apartment/hotel, but this was actually a private apartment renovated for rental, with a lockbox instead of a reception desk. We didn’t have the code. Luckily, a friendly bilingual neighbor knew the owner and could contact him, since the phone number we had didn’t work. It was a terrible start, with truly appalling organization.

The sofa bed creaks, and its mattress is too soft. We also heard a baby crying upstairs, though apart from that the apartment was worth five stars. It’s on a small street just off Campo de Fiori, one of Rome’s loveliest squares, with restaurants all around. It’s handy for bus stops, and there’s a local produce market on Friday mornings. Towels and soap for the shower and hands are provided. There’s a kettle, but no microwave.

Booking.com mistakenly offered me a reservation for the following night, which I didn’t notice. I asked the hotel for a refund right away, but the next day I only got a “request declined” with no explanation. Charging a €160 cancellation fee seems excessive for an establishment of this size.