enjoyed staying here
positives
quirky old building but modern hotel
great location regards sights/transport
good resturants nearby (est est est)
decent if basic breakfast
good discount price £50 a night

negatives
being told you cant have a bath plug as you havent booked a room with a bath even though they had given us a room with a bath
hard hard beds
bit noisy in rooms near reception
not the most helpful reception staff (would help us validate a jet2 booking form)

result: would stay again. oh and Rome is fantastico

We stayed here at a really good price (around £50 a night) for 2 nights, and its a perfectly good base to explore Rome from. Basic, with an amazing shower, clean and our room was a good size too. As others have stated, breakfast is limited but ultimately its as good as required to set you up for the day.

The area feels alot nicer than the area immediately around Termini too, quiet considering its only just off a main raid, and being a 5 minute walk to the Metro, useful if you feel the need to use it. My only slight issues were the travel of noise from our next door neighbours, and the slightly sterile lack of atmosphere in the hotel, but thats being too picky, and certainly not worth worrying about when using the hotel as a base!

We stayed at Hotel Galatea for 4 days at the start of December 2011. We are a young couple (aged 22 and 23).
We looked at many hotels online before finally booking this one and it was done purely for the price. We paid £200 for two people for 4 nights B&B which is exceptionally good for the location of this hotel in Rome.

We got a bus from the airport to Termini, and then walked to the hotel. It took about 10minutes with 2 cases! Look up walking directions on yahoo maps from Termini to the Hotel before you go and you will have no problem...easy!

The hotel is in a building of many floors (containing apartments and some businesses) so there are a lot of stairs - but there is also a lift, which like stated in other reviews, is a bit creaky and old-school but works none the less and helped out after a long day of walking!

Hotel staff are very lovely and very helpful, the manager is great (tall slim man with dark hair). There is someone at the desk 24 hours a day which I always find comforting. They have maps at reception and will help you out with directions and bus numbers etc.

Rooms are basic but spotlessly clean and cleaned well every day. Bathroom is very nice and always spotles. Beds are very hard but I hear this is normal in Italy and it didnt stop me sleeping!
Each room has a unit on the wall where you can control the AC/Heat which was great as it wasnt summertime and I am always cold.
There is also a safe in the room which you dont need to pay a deposit for...i'ts ready to go. This was very handy and we used it.

Negatives about the room - there are no tea/coffee making facilities which we really missed. Also, although it won't matter to some - the TV doesnt have any english channels. We dont drink so we were getting back to the hotel about 10pm and luckily we had books and magazines and also brought an ipod with mini speakers, but usually when we are away there are 1 or 2 channels that we can stick on in the background.
The hotel also doesnt have Wi-Fi but the manager told us he is going to be doing this in the New Year and I am sure it will say on their website when they do.

Little facts!
The hairdryer - for girls like myself who have very long and naturally wavy hair ...it's very old school and weak but it did the trick. We were flying with Ryanair so I couldn't afford the extra weight to take my own but I survived with their hairdryer - and brought my own mini-straigthners to smooth over after!
You dont get any proper shampoos/conditioner so either bring your own or buy them at the wee shop accross the street.

Breakfast - is basic but it did the trick. For fussy eaters it may not be too great. There are 2 cereals, an oaty one and a corn flake type one. Croissants, mini rolls and fruit cocktail. There are a selection of jams also. There is plenty of tea and coffee (my boyfriend cannot function without his morning coffee and was having many cups to fill up!) but this is only available at breakfast time which is 7am until 10am I think it was. I am quite particular but just ate anyway to start the day!

Main sites...
Trevi Fountain (which is where we ended up every night for pizza and gelato) is about 10-15 minutes walk.
Colosseum - about 10 mins walk.
Pantheon - about 10/15
One day we even walked back from the Vatican which was about 40 minutes although you can get the 64 bus accross the main road outside what looks like a big Museum (you will know the building when you see it...its at the end of the hotels street, big grand and white!). This bus (the 64) will take you to Vatican City if you stay on till the end. The bus stops are really easy to read so dont be scared to use them! We didnt in fear of getting lost but by the last day we could hardly feel our feet and tried it and its so easy. We just got on and off and managed to see all the sites one last time (starting from The Vatican Museum) in about 5 hours! So the bus stop next to the hotel is very handy.

There is a pastry/coffee shop right next to the hotel which was very handy after breakfast time was over in the hotel. There is also a few restaurants on the street but we did not try them. There is also a little grocery store accross the street which was handy for juice/chocolate/crisps/fruit to take back to the hotel.

What an absolute rip-off. I booked this hotel online and they have been deducting money from my account without notice. I have tried in vain to contact them to rectify the problem but the proprietor "Antonio" does not respond to emails regarding CREDIT CARD FRAUD!! There are so many other hotels in Rome, I'm kicking myself for choosing this one.