Having comfortably booked a double room in Vesta Residence through the internet before leaving on holidays, and being promised a place in the centre of Rome, we were quite surprised that the hotel was located in an uncheerful suburb next to a noisy highway. Having arrived at the indicated housenumber, there was no trace to be seen from a hotel. Thinking we got ripped-off (having been obliged to make an advance payment), a nice neighbour informed us there actually was a hotel and he helped us getting in (without that I don't know if we would have). A non-english speaking and quite rude girl made a fuss over our internetreservations, which appeared to have never got through. The girl disappeared for a considerable time and finally got back and grumpily said it was ok after all. We had to pay the rest of the money right away, and she showed us our room. The room was fine, simply furnished with ikea-stuff. But as one opened the window, one got almost blown away by the noise of the highway underneath the window. Sleeping was therefore difficult; with the Roman summer heat there is no way you sleep with the window shut. The strangest thing was that our key to the frontdoor didn't work. We asked for another one, and were being treated as if we asked for some extraordinarily big favor. In the end we got one.
Our conclusion about the hostel so far was very negative already, through the behaviour of the staff, the malfunctioning key, the noise and the location.
To finish it up we probably lost some of our clothes and a small backpack in here. Though we are not completely certain, we think they might have been stolen here. For as we checked out, we double-checked the room and there was nothing to be found. Then, when only afterwards we discovered the loss, we've send email and made telephone calls to the Vesta Residence. No answer so far...
Certainly a no-go place!!!

We shared a triple room with our son at the Vesta residence. It was easy to find and very close to Tiburtina railway and metro station. First impression was good and very pleasant young lady showed us to our room at the front of the building. The room appeared to be clean and well furnished and perfectly suitable for our needs. Unfortunately when retiring to bed that night the bed collapsed as I lay down. It was the slat type so after reassembling it we tried again with the same problem. I tried to contact the staff but no one was there only a mobile number to ring but I had no phone and did not want to go out to find one as the area was a bit dubious with lots of drunks hanging around. In the end we placed the mattress on the floor and spent the night ON THE TILES. Next morning we told the young lady what had occurred and she was very apologetic and moved us to another much better room right away. We shared a bathroom just across the corridor this was clean and well maintained but was in constant use in the morning so we had to wait our turn which was an inconvenince. The other downside was the room overlooked the main road at the front of the building so was too noisy to allow the window to be opened for fresh air to come in. The residence would probably not be suitable for anyone with mobility problems as there are quite a few steps to the first floor where the lift is. We did not bother with breakfast at the residence, so I can not rate it and none was actually offered. On leaving I asked about booking a room for our return trip through Rome and was surprised it would cost considerably more to book direct at the time than on the Net. All in all not a bad place to stay if you are travelling on a budget and just want to see the sights.

Clean, confortable,spacious room furnished with good taste, quiet area, far from mad Rome.
No internet or kitchen or laundry. I think they should say that before.
They clean and make beds everyday.
No explanations about anything, just about how to pay them as soon as you put one foot inside. The girl pretends not to speak English, that way she avoids complaints and she just sends u to talk to the responsible. The responsible is her brother, a bad tempered man. No maps or advises...it's difficult to be in contact cause they are almost never in the place.
No tv room, no common room where to share experiences with others.
The area is surrounded by rumanian gypsies (carefull with your money), scary groups of east europe, homeless drunks and urine smell. U have to pass in front of them everytime u go somewhere cause they sit in front of the metro entrance. Going out at night is difficult cause pubs are quite far....u can take bus 492 till 12 at night. It takes u to Navona square.
We were very disappointed to realised there were no kitchen or internet...we would have chosen it anyway, but we felt cheated. Also we had food with us and we had to throw it away.

I stayed for a week in the Vesta Residence and my stay was very enjoyable. Our room was a double and it was very large and spacious. The room was spotless and the shared bathroom was cleaned everyday as well. We were given clean towels and our beds were made everyday. All in all a very pleasant place to stay when you want to escape the madness of Rome.

The only minus point to this hostel is the location if you were wanting to sample Rome's nightlife. The hostel is close to Tiburtina station and there are no bars at all in the close vicinity. There are also a lot of homeless drunks around this area. You have to walk past them every time you come out of the station and there is a digusting smell of urine in the area.

However as most people don't go for the nightlife the Vesta Residence makes an excellent base if you are just there for the sightseeing. The no 492 bus is useful, it goes from Tiburtina bus station to Piazza Navona/Camp d' fiori area and runs until 12 midnight. Considering the week only cost around 240 Euros it was an absolute bargain.