We arrived in Rome very early in the morning and went to our hotel to check in,

the receptionist told us that check in time was 2pm ( we knew this ) but we asked if it was possible to get in before, but it wasn't possible.

We went out for a coffee near Via XX September my iphone beeped a sound, cause my map guide was still on, it indicated me a hotel near by – curious of this we went to see. From the outside it looked cute, we entered and ask at the reception the rates & availability for a few days, a nice and helpful person

at the reception gave us the rates ( good rate ) and offered us a coffee to think about it.

We took it - because of the kindness and friendly gesture.

After our check in at ( 10.00am ) we went and cancelled our previous hotel

( loosing the 1st night )

Hotel Flavia was a good choice, very clean hotel, large rooms with all comforts.

Good breakfast in a cute restaurant, plenty to eat with good coffee and cappuccino.

I am normally quite a forgiving reviewer, but I really would advise you - if you can, just try and go to a different hotel! I know you get what you pay for, and we had 3 nights accommodation at this hotel as part of a really well priced package deal. However I wish now that I'd shelled out just a little bit more and stayed somewhere nicer. This hotel is advertised as 3 stars - i have stayed in 2 star hotels which have been much more pleasant. We stayed in a comparably priced 3 star hotel in Paris last year, which was wonderful.

The Foyer looks fairly impressive to walk into, however that's where it ends. Firstly; Our Room. I'm not particularly fussed by the size of a room, and the size of this room was ok. As other reviews have mentioned the only light came from 2 bedside lamps (one with a broken shade that had ripped and torn off) and the light in the bathroom. The bed was uncomfortable, had no duvet, just a sheet & quilt, (i know this is often the case in some continental hotels - but just incase you were expecting a duvet), we had one pillow each which I would generously describe as WAFER THIN. The room was clean-ish, but there was lots of scuffing on the walls etc. The bathroom was adequate - apart from the shower, which you couldn't really describe as a shower....more like a hose protruding from the wall, with ill fitting shower doors and bad drainage. In the room there was a safe (good) and a minibar, but NO information whatsoever about the hotel, the prices for the minibar, fire exits, local attractions...infact no information AT ALL. Plus side, a good TV with plenty of channels. Some reviews have commented that if you just want somewhere to sleep at night, this place is fine. I'm unsure if I agree - cos really that's all I was after, and I'm not particularly fussy. But I was unable to sleep at night due to the discomfort of the bed and the NOISINESS of other guests, running down corridors, shouting....I know that's not the hotel's fault, but really the walls were so thin I thought there were people IN the room.

Breakfast was also poor. To get to the breakfast room you had to walk outside through a really grotty courtyard full of odd shaped concrete. I love food, I love eating and I love continental style breakfasts, But everything about this spread was just not very nice. The coffee was awful, you had to wait for an attenant to serve you any other drink - and there wasn't always anyone there. The 'juice' tasted of weak squash. The pastries looked good, but proved inedible. The boiled eggs were ok. On day 2 we decided to just skip it and eat out somewhere. On the plus side, they had european MTV playing (bizarrely) and we saw some rather entertaining Italian rap videos!

BUT...the thing that gets my goat the most, and the reason i've written this review and not just kept it to myself, is the absolutely awful level of customer service we received. Despite all of the above, I would be entirely forgiving if the PEOPLE had made us feel at all welcome, or had hinted at even having a speck of friendliness about them. Instead we were greeted at reception by one word grunts, no eye contact, no helpful information. I'm astonished that other reviews described the staff as friendly. I've never met more unfriendly people, and it rather gives the impression that they know they don't have to try because it's Rome, and they'll always have customers.

I feel that on a city break like Rome, its so important to have somewhere comfortable and relaxing to return to at the end of the day. THIS is not that place.

3 nights at this hotel in July 2010. The bed was the most uncomfortable one we have ever tried to sleep on. The pillows were worse so i tried to use the 'clean' towels to put my head on. No way, the clean towels in the bathroom had a very disgusting smell. The toilet and the shower were dirty in deed. One other thing, there was no remote control for air conditioning so i needed to get out of the bed to control it. There was a tv in the room which sometimes did not work without any reason. The road to the hotel from centre is quite uphill. There is a bus station nearby. The breakfast was ok, may be the only positive thing about hotel flavia.

We stayed in Rome for 3 nights after a couple of weeks in the south and needed an hotel as a base for sightseeing in Rome. We selected this hotel after reviewing it in Tripadvisor but did not select it because of its rating - we simply didn't have any other options in such short notice.
This is not a hotel for couples looking for a romantic break, it is an average base and nothing more.

Pros:
Location - 10 minutes walk from Termini or a short bus ride and also a bus ride from everything else in central Rome. surroundings feel much safer than near Termini with some nice restaurants around.
Service - receptionists were very kind and helped us with recommendations of what to see and where to eat.

Cons:
Price - for such a level of hotel the price was over the top (perhaps because we ordered on the day of arrival).
Room - very small, don't go there if you plan to stay in the room for a considerable amount of time.
WiFi - in the room with charge, but was quite cheap.
Cleanliness - room was clean and tidy, but the halls were quite dirty in our floor (2nd).
Decor - feels a bit rustic and old, requires a refresh.
Toilets and shower - this was strange, the toilet was in a cubicle where the shower is supposed to go and the shower itself is exposed, a second person cannot enter the toilet during a shower. In addition, it was an electronic flush toilet and it made a lot of noise.

Bottom line:
Go there only if you need to spend a night before your flight and other higher rated hotels are occupied. Would not go back there. got the 2 star rating based on the only two cons.