Raeli Hotel Floridia

The room was quite small, with nowhere to put our luggage, and it wasn't soundproof. We were woken several times by street noise and other guests. The windows were so close to the street that we worried someone could break in and steal from us. On arrival we were suddenly moved to another hotel, with no proper explanation, and had to carry our heavy luggage all the way there. After the move, the front desk said breakfast was included, but we were charged extra after eating there one day. Staff communication and administration were inefficient, and guests weren't given the right information.

We slept well, the staff were welcoming, and breakfast was good. Public transport is very close, too. For a budget stay in Rome, this was just right.

The air conditioning didn't work, but opening the windows cooled the room a little. Having a bathtub in the bathroom was nice, and I could unwind in it after a long day.

The location is handy if you want to be near Termini, about an eight-minute walk away. There's a large Conad supermarket right behind the hotel, with plenty of restaurants and bars nearby, and the area didn't feel sketchy. Even so, I wouldn't stay here again or recommend it. The service felt cold and bureaucratic from check-in through checkout. When I asked at check-in for a luggage scale, the refusal made me feel silly for asking. I then asked where to find a digital scale and got a vague suggestion to look down the road. They couldn't give me a shop name, and Google Maps showed no such place, so I had to find one myself. Staff never greeted me warmly. They'd silently hand over my key each time I came in, and after a full day of that coldness I responded in kind. It continued throughout my three-night stay. No hello, just the key. It was odd. One morning, while I was sick at the end of a two-week trip through several cities, I asked for hot water in my room. I was told it was “impossible” to send it up and that I could use the water in the main lobby. Sometimes staff weren't available at breakfast, but a little explanation or apology would have helped. A blunt “we don't do that here” made me feel unwelcome as a paying guest. At checkout, I got an “okay, let me see here, okay yes, you can leave,” with no offer to help a 60-kilo woman handle her 35-kilo suitcase. Nothing was overt, but all these small incidents together left me thinking the staff need a complete overhaul in hospitality training. They seemed unwilling to do more than give a quick no.