I recently booked a 4-night stay at the Hotel Invictus to spend a long weekend with my partner in Rome. It was actually 3 nights however because the first night we had to go round the corner to another (2*) hotel because of 'plumbing problems' in the room, albeit this was handled very well with minimal fuss and we weren't too bothered about it.

Then coming to stay in the hotel Invictus, the initial impression of the room was a good one, it seemed very clean with some natural light in from the window and was adequate for our needs. We only really wanted somewhere to get some sleep inbetween exploring the fabulous city outside!

However, we did have a few issues with the hotel, on the first morning there we went to breakfast (as it was included when we booked online), there was a little bread, a small packet of french toast with some butter and small sachets of jam and the suggestion of there having been cereal earlier on. We sat down in the noisy and small breakfast room but was ignored by the staff. In the end we decided not to bother and left to seek something to eat on-the-go. According to the hotel if we had wanted to pay for the breakfast (if it was not included) this would have cost us about 7 euros per person! - definitely not worth the money in my opinion - instead go to the panini shop over the road!

Couple of points about the room itself, the shower was good but seemed to be lacking a door - resulting in quite a lot of water on the bathroom floor, also the TV worked but had no English language channels whatsoever (the 2* hotel did have BBC world news).

The quality of sleep I had at this hotel was regrettably poor, the pillows were flat and provided little support and there was no duvet, just a sheet and a rather thin blanket. We had to have the noisy heater on all night to prevent from waking up with the cold! As well as this the street noise with the window shut was still very loud and disturbed our sleep in the mornings, some double glazing would have been much appreciated.

In all, I would not recommend this hotel, I would have been happier to go back to the two star one!

Our trip started off badly to begin with since Orbitz wouldn't fix a booking error between our original hotel. The staff was OK except for the Indian guy who worked the front desk; he was tremendously rude and made us feel like an inconvenience. The hotel is a dump, bad location from most of the major sites in the historical center. You have to ring the front desk just to get into the building, the elevator is "shaky" at best, and the computer in the hallway didn't even work. Not to mention the horrible smell from the restroom; the entire trip (5 nights) we were nauseated by the smell of sewer gas. We were forced to run the water all night just to be able to stay in the room. The hotel staff did not accomodate our needs and blamed it on the old building. The AC didn't work the whole trip and the TV wouldn't until the rude Indian guy finally came up to the room to troubleshoot the problem. The room did not have hangers to hang our clothes and the cleaning staff did not always bring fresh towels when they made up the room. This hotel is not worth the stay; its way too far from the main sites and its not worth the hassel. I love Rome and this was my 3rd time visiting... I'd just hope that if you are debating chosing this hotel you take this negative comments seriously when making your final decision. Very dissapointed with my stay here...

In principle OK, but
- The rooms are somehow stylish but not well maintained
- The whole building is very strange and dark. The Hotel is only in the 2-5 floor. Rest is occupied by business companies. You have to ring a bell that somebody lets you in.
- Breakfast room is too small. People have to wait.
- Breakfast is not good
- Location is compared to the price too far away (Hotel Solis (same manager) is better located). You have to walk 10 mins to the next train station.
- Service is OK but it took me several days to get my money back from a Taxi transfer.

I think there are better Hotels to choose.

Location - very close to Roma Termini which was good. It's a bit out of the way from the main attractions but that being said it was not far at all to walk.

On first impressions the hotel looked a bit sketchy as it is above what seemed to be a bank and you have to buzz in and then walk up 2 flights of stairs past a doctor's office before you get to the reception. Once there however it's a very pleasant environment.

The hotel is quite plush inside although you get the feeling it could do with a touch-up soon. The desk staff were extremely helpful and printed out a train ticket for us at the reception desk at no cost (as the computer with internet didn't have a printer attached). Internet access was 7 euros for 3 hours - good if you intend spending 3 hours on the internet but not such a deal if you want it for half an hour. As it turned out I had to do some work from the hotel and had to the use the computer which is situated in one of the main (narrow) corridors. I had to stand to use it and its location didn't lend itself to privacy.

The room was good with a large washroom. Some features of the room were a bit tired-looking - a lamp fitting hanging off the wall and some damp on part of the flock wallpaper. The bed was very comfy.

Had to pay for breakfast which was a bit disappointing.