I can't sing the praises of Hotel Pisana Palace more. Me and a friend took a chance on lastminute.com with a secret 4* hotel and it was completely worth it. The hotel is out of the city centre as mentioned but the bus stop is literally outside and you simply catch the 881 bus into town, takes about 20 mins (tip: you can buy a bus pass for 1 euro but no one ever checks so you can get away with not paying).

We read plenty of reviews before but just to note that if you're flying into Fiumicino airport you just catch a train from the station to Ponte Galeria and from there the bus 808 which stops right outside the hotel, travel round the city is very easy on buses. Taking taxis isn't worth the price at all.

The hotel was large and the reception area spacious and very modern. The rooms are almost all completely renovated, we had a room on the 6th floor (top) and the lift is incredibly slow, you can walk up/down the stairs at a slow pace and still beat the lift. Our room was pleasant and roomy enough, it was serviced daily with fresh towels and bedding. The TV is lacking in any English channels but to be honest, who wants to watch TV when in Rome? Films are available at a price of 10 euros and there isn't a wide choice but this didn't bother us. Toiletries were available on request if you had forgotten anything and complimentary shower gel/shampoo/soap and shower caps were in the bathroom and replenished daily.

Breakfast was buffet style with cakes, pastries, cereal, yoghurt, ham, cheese, bread, eggs, bacon. It generally doesn't get re-stocked once gone so best to get down there early if you want a wide choice. We did also have a club sandwich one evening when we had already had a full dinner at lunch and this was very enjoyable. You don't see many other guests other than at breakfast as I assume most of them went out during the day like us. Reception were helpful when we asked where they'd recommend to eat (Macheroni restaurant in town, for pasta it was brilliant!) and they also kept our luggage in storage on checkout day which saved us lugging around our bags until we were going to the airport.

All in all, great place to stay in Rome if you don't mind travelling on the bus. Would recommend to anyone, fantastic value for money.

Tips for Rome:

Tours for areas such as Colosseum/Vatican museums are great and means you can skip the sometimes incredibly long lines. However they will know you're a tourist and try to get you to pay more than needed. At the Colosseum don't pay more than 15-20 euros and Vatican 35-40 (if you're under 25/have a student card you get discounts).
Open top buses are good for getting around the city, hop on/hop off. 25 euros for 48hrs was well worth it.

My boyfriend and I booked Hotel Pisana Palace almost by accident...we went for a cheap deal on lastminute.com - a 'secret hotel' deal. It said that "this offer is so good that the hotel chain don't want to advertise that they are giving such a low price". We knew this was a risk but the price (£184 for 4 nights) and the location 'easy access to the vatican city' proved too much temptation and we plumped for the 'secret hotel' obviously ending up with the Hotel Pisana Palace … and…all in all I think we really landed on our feet!

I was initially very disappointed to find out how far out of town it is (12km) but despite being inconvenient it’s not the end of the world as town is accessible. The 881 bus runs from 5.30am to 12midnight everyday and stops outside the hotel and drops off at the edge of the Centro Storico. It takes 20- 30 minutes depending on traffic, which isn't too bad, but longer if you take into account the hanging around at the bus stop waiting - there isn’t a timetable so you just have to hope you are lucky. My estimate is that they come every 15 - 20 mins during the day and less frequently at night.

I would really recommend getting hold of a bus map – available at http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?p=18&i=14

As for the hotel itself it has been recently renovated and is very modern, and clean to the point of clinical. The interior feels minimalist and a little space age – but it is functional more than anything and although it’s not luxurious, everything is comfortable – with big beds, strong showers and well adjusted air conditioning.

The staff are friendly without being fawning and speak serviceable English. The buffet breakfast had plenty of options (cereal, bread, cake, tinned fruit, yoghurt, eggs, bacon, ham, cheese) however my only complaint is that things were never refilled. If they ran out of butter that was it, it was gone. And the muesli was finished on the first day and never replaced. Small gripe.

Getting to Pisana Palace from Ciampino Airport
I think if you fly into Fiumicino airport it is a fairly direct route to the hotel. However we flew into Ciampino and it was a bit more complex.
You could of course get a taxi, but if you have the time and not the budget for that the best way to do it seems to be: Get a Terravision bus from outside departures to Termini in central Rome (4Euros), then walk round the corner to the bus stop and get on a 64 bus (direction St Peters), this takes you through the old town, across the river then under a tunnel, you want to get off the first stop after the tunnel and at the same bus stop you get off at you can get on a 881 which will take you direct to the hotel.

Stayed at this hotel for four nights a few weeks ago. After being messed around by the BA strikes, we ended up flying into the airport late at night, which put paid to our getting the train and bus to the hotel - no worries though as we were able to negotiate a transfer at the airport for 40 euros.
The check-in desk was manned by very helpful staff (who had a good command of English) who checked us in efficiently and directed us to our room, which was immaculately decorated (must have been one of the rooms that has been refurbished recently). As far as we could tell, they are not letting rooms out in the main body of the hotel - all the occupied rooms seemed to be in the same wing - I assume this is because refurbishment is ongoing but we heard no noise and saw no sign of this.
The one bugbear we had was that there was no shower curtain in the bathroom, so water went all over the floor. Aside from that, it was very tastefully decorated, very clean, and a huge room by anyone's standards.
There is a large flat-screen television in the room, a huge bed (and we had a camp-bed set up also, which made for a useful place to put our bags), air conditioning. The view is of the carpark but that can't be helped.
Location-wise, yes, it is out of central Rome, but the bus stop is literally directly across the road from the hotel. The buses are frequent and reliable, and relatively quick. Bus fares are one euro for a ticket with validity for 75 minutes, which is more than enough to get you in to central Rome (about 20 mins), or even changing onto another bus (64 or 40) to get to the station.
The first day we walked about a quarter mile down the road to the local tobacconist to buy bus tickets, but then realised that they do in fact sell them on the bus - there is a machine at the back vending them; once bought you then need to place them in the validation machine.
Another advantage is that the bus route starts just one stop down the road which means it's easy to get a seat on the bus!
Once in central Rome it's easy to walk everywhere, so public transport costs are limited to a couple of euros a day.
The breakfast buffet was substantial which not only featured the typical Italian breakfast of cake, yogurt, coffee etc but also German- (cold meats, cheese, bread, nutella) and English-style (bacon, eggs) breakfast. No complaints there, and the staff were very friendly.
We did have a drink in the bar on our first night; this was relatively pricey but pleasant. We got the impression that as the renovation is going on, the number of people actually staying in the hotel is quite low, so you may have a hard time if you wish to meet fellow travellers in the bar.
The hotel operate safety deposit boxes behind the main check-in desk. These are free to use and you are given the key to the safe to take with you, so we felt perfectly happy using this service.
Our one disappointment was that there was no swimming pool (which would have been nice given the climate!). However this wasn't expected and would just have been a bonus so it doesn't affect my rating at all.
All in all, a very pleasant stay for an exceptional price. Don't let the location put you off as it couldn't be easier to get in to town.

After reading some reviews on this site, we knew that it was going to be a bit far from the center of Rome...but didn't actually realize how far it was until we got there.

We landed at Leonardo Da Vinci airport and it cost about 40 euros to get to the hotel.

Transportation -
The closest metro stop is Cornelia on the A - Line; but it is NOT walking distance. The 881 bus is right outside the hotel and it will bring you to Vatican City in about 10-15 minutes. If you're trying to get to the center of Rome (Termini Station), the receptionist at the hotel will tell you to hop on the 881 to get to Cornelia station, but you might get lost doing that. Cornelia station is still a good 7-10 minute walk from where the 881 drops you off. What I suggest is to take the 881 towards Vatican City and get off right before a small tunnel. From there, transfer to the 64 and it will bring you to Termini station in about 20 minutes (depending on traffic).

Rooms -
The rooms were big and comfortable. They are newly renovated and very very comfortable and clean to sleep in. The LCD tv is a plus, but only has CNN as an english channel. The bathroom is big and very clean, but there are no curtains for shower! I didn't see any amenities besides shampoo and soap, so be sure to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste. Fresh towels were delivered daily.

Food -
The restaurant that they have is currently being renovated, but there is a small bar right by the lobby that serves up small snacks (pizza, sandwiches, etc and drinks. Don't expect to get a full meal, but if you're hungry in the middle of the night, it's great place to grab a quick snack. The breakfast buffet runs from 7:00AM - 10:30AM and is pretty good. There's a decent selection of pastries, cold cuts, along with eggs, bacon, and fresh juices.

Service -
The receptionists at Hotel Pisana are extremely friendly. They speak decent english, enough to understand you. If you are having any trouble at all, Bella speaks pretty good english and has been really helpful during my trip. The hotel offers shuttle service to the airport at 40 euros for 2 people, but taking a cab from the hotel has a fixed price of 35 euros. Right next to the hotel is a small pharmacy, but it is opened at random hours and random days. We stayed for about a week and only seen it opened once.