Express Holiday Inn San Giovanni, Rome

I was thrilled when I got the message that we would be going on a company trip to Rome. Since I had been there before I got the task of finding a hotel. Finding a hotel for 24 people in central Rome in October turned out to be quite a difficult task. Many of the centrally located hotels are smaller and many were fully booked. In the end we decided to stay at Express By Holiday Inn San Giovanni located at Via Assisi 53. We had to pay 125 € per room.

Arriving in Rome
We landed in Rome at about 11 am in the morning of October 21st. We walked over to the train station at Leonardo da Vinci airport also known as Fiumicino (FCO). From here you can take the Leonardo Express to Termini but since the hotel is located on the way we decided to go for a local train direction Orte-Fara Sabina for 5 € and after about 30-40 we reached the train station Rome Tuscolana. It was easy to find the hotel…we just followed the instructions from the hotel web site and it was only a 5-10 minute walk.

The room
I got a room on the first floor and the room itself must be one of the nicest rooms that I have seen in a 1 star hotel. The room was standard size with a blue carpet and yellow/light walls. The double bed was comfortable enough but there was only a blanket as a cover so it got a bit cold at night. There was an air con control on the wall but it didn't seem like it was operational because nothing happened when I turned the knobs. There was also a desk and a chair in the room and a small color TV with some Italian, German and English channels. There was also quite a lot of hangers and that was useful since I had brought along a number of tops.

I got a room for disabled people (is that the politically correct term?) and the bathroom was a bit strange due to this. The bathroom was tiled with white tiles and had a shower corner with a curtain to avoid spilling the water all over the room. There were no little bottles with shampoo etc that you find at some hotels…only a big Dove shower soap container on the wall.

The drawbacks with the room in my opinion are the lack of a safe, lack of mini bar, the shower curtain and the view. From the ground floor I just looked right out on a concrete wall. Behind this wall or nearby was the railway and I was fearing that the noise would keep me up all night. But it was not as bad as I thought.

The breakfast buffet was good with a selection of the standard bread, cereal, fruits and sweet cakes. The best of it all was the coffee machine that was in the room. It was possible to get a fresh made espresso, cappuccino etc and the coffee was great.

The hotel has a nice inner courtyard that we used in connections with meetings that we had, for having a drink outside at night etc. I hope that we didn't make to much noise because some of the rooms do face the courtyard.

The reception area was small but there is a small bar there were you can get something to drink (beer, wine, coffee etc) and there is also a PC where you can access the internet for a few Euros. The hotel has a wireless internet so if you bring your laptop you can get online for a fee.

Location
The area around the hotel is not that exciting but it was pretty easy to get into town. We normally took the metro and the nearest metro station is Ponte Lungo which is a 10 minute walk from the hotel. On line A you can reach Termini (to switch to get to Collosseum), Spagna (the Spanish Steps), Barberini (Trevi fountain) etc. A taxi back to the hotel at night was not that expensive either…I think we paid about 10-15 €.

Conclusion
We paid 125 € for the rooms and for a 1 star hotel the standard was very good. The service from the staff was also great. The "problem" with this hotel is the location related to the city and the minor drawbacks that I have mentioned already in this review. If you can't find a hotel in town this is absolutely a good alternative. Check out more info on the hotel homepage http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel/ROMTU/welcome and check out reviews from other travelers on http://rome-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Hotel​_Review-g187791-d313193-Reviews-Holiday_​Inn_Express_Rome_San_Giovanni-Rome_Lazio​.html