Holiday Inn Express Rome East, Rome > Reviews > Good hotel at a good price

Author's product rating:   

Quality of Rooms	Excellent
Standard of Service	Good
Quality of Food & Drink	Excellent

Advantages:	Free Continental Breakfast, shuttle bus to the metro, cheap, comfortable
Disadvantages:	Not enough around the actualy hotel to do

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I stayed at this hotel for 3 nights in November and have to say I cannot complain. As with every Express by Holiday Inn, they are all very similar and this one was no different. As we arrived in Rome around 9.30pm and had never been before we took a taxi to the hotel. This didn't take very long and cost €55 but between 3 people this was fine. The hotel offered a price of €50 to pick 2 people up in a private car waiting at the airport where someone waits with a sign with your name on it. As there were 3 of us it made more sense to get a taxi.

Check In

As we arrived at the hotel after 10pm it was very quiet in check in was quick and simple. I gave my name and everyone staying was asked for their passport. A copy of all passports were taken and we were issued with our keycard. Our room was on the 6th floor and the lifts were next to reception so very each to get to.

Hotel Rooms

I had booked a room with a double bed and also a sofa bed as there were 3 of us staying in the one room. The keycard has to be slotted into the holder on the wall on order to turn the electricity on. The room was very clean on arrival and the sofabed was already pulled down and made up as a bed. In our room we had a kettle with tea and coffee sachets and some cups to use. There was also an ice bucket with plastic cups for cold drinks. The ice machine was located at reception and you just help yourself. We had some english channels on the tv but not many. The toilet was spotless and the shower was huge. The toilet had squeezy dove soap at the sink and also a shower wash in the shower. Not a lot of space for putting clothes away so kept them in the case for the time that we were there. The room also has a desk all set out for business use and wi-fi is available in all rooms. I tried both the sofabed and the double bed and would have to say the double bed was the most comfortable. It was actually huge in size, much larger than what we call a double bed so plenty of room to stretch out.

Continental Breakfast

This is included in the price of the room and the times are displayed at reception. This was a buffet laid out against one of the walls. The things on offer were bread, croissants, cold meats, cakes, pastries, cereal with a selection of milk and chocolate milk, scrambled egg, boiled egg, cooked bacon, yoghurt, fresh fruit, orange juice, coffee, tea, jam, nutella. The list goes on. There is a machine which allows you to toast your own bread. If you don't like coffee from the machine the staff were more than happy to make you fresh stuff. I seen many people with Expresso's and more. The staff were very efficient in clearing away the plates and were very helpful.

Shuttle Bus

The hotel runs a free shuttle bus from the hotel to the local subway station called Ponte Mammalo. This takes 5-10 minutes and is very easy to use. This runs from 7.30 am to 11am, picking up every half hour and then from 5.45pm to 10pm. The bus can then pick you up from the subway and will pick up at the same place it dropped off.

If however, these times do not suit you can get on a 451 which will take you close to the hotel.

Around the Hotel

There is a large supermarket, Auchan, next to the hotel which is like our asda, sells everything you require. Drink is very cheap and I would recommend buying the drink from here to drink in the hotel as the drink is expensive as in any hotel bar. There were a few pizzeria's but their english wasn't the best and the menu's were all in italian which is difficult if you don't speak any of the language.

If you would just like to stay in the hotel in the evening there is a large widescreen tv in the great room and a bar to purchase drinks from. They can also provide you with a menu in which to order takeaway food from. We did this one night and it was delivered to our room but it did take over an hour to arrive.
The hotel also has a computer with internet access which can be used but this was not working whilst i was there.

Overall, this was a great trip and I cannot fault the hotel. As in all places in Rome, smoking indoors is not permitted so you had to go outside to smoke but the weather was great and this wasn't a problem.

Great hotel at a great price. It is on the Blue subway line near the end but doesn't take long to get into the centre of Rome.