Avoid this flea pit at all costs. It's years since it was remodelled and is decorated in a hideous, dark, gloomy style. The bathrooms of all 3 rooms we stayed in stank of, well, effluent (the drains, clearly), the showers leaked (mine soaked the carpet of my room's entrance), mould was evident on the shower tiles, the beds were hard and you could feel the springs in them, their WiFi Access (lobby only) is a joke and rarely works (6 Euros for an hour!) and breakfast was weak. To be in Rome and have to drink coffee at breakfast made in an automatic Nescafe machine is unacceptable). My co-worker's bead had a very stiff, unsavoury looking stain on the bed spread and his initial request to be moved to another room due to the fact that the bathroom stank so badly was met with an unhelpful attitude. They even sent the bell hop up to make sure he hadn't damaged the first room in some way.
The level of cleanliness is very poor indeed and it's pretty noisy too. The marble halls are tired and seeing the fire hose literally hanging off of the wall is enough to show you what the hotel's owners really think about their guests' comfort and safety. My room was entirely covered in a rich, heavy fabric which smelled of cigarettes despite it being a non smoking room (apparently). The fabric was coming away in many places and it's just utterly oppressive. It's like being an an old Hammer horror movie. I half expected a bat to be trying to get in through the window....
It seemed to be full of tour parties and maybe they're happy with such squalor but I'm not. It's NO WAY a 4 Star hotel by the standards we expect for that these days (just scrapes by with a 3, at the very best) although when it was brand new I imagine it may well have lived up to it's rating. The last night we were there the lobby stank of the drains too....
I travel a lot, and sometimes you come across a place (just occasionally) that you want to warn everyone about - This is it. I've been home for less than 2 hours and feel it's my duty to ensure nobody else ends up in this miserable dump. If you're on a budget there are many other options in Rome for clealiness and location. This hotel really, truly has nothing at all endearing at all about it. It's stuck in an age which is long since past, and only a full renovation program can save it. Frankly, I'd rather sleep on the streets than go near the "Ritz" again.... If anyone pictures of this place, feel free to contact me. I've loaded a few up for starters ('phone camera unfortunately) which should give you an idea of what you can expect.
- Grand Hotel Rome
- Ritz Rome
- Rome Ritz
- Grand Hotel Ritz Rome
