Melia Roma Aurelia Antica Hotel, Rome

Melia Roma Aurelia Antica Hotel Rome.
Via Aldobrandeschi,
223 Roma, Italy.
=============================

The Melia is a four star Luxury Hotel with conference centre.

We stayed three nights.
Cost £196.59 for a standard room. This was for three nights (£65.53 per night).
(Breakfast is not included in this price)

Check in time 1pm. Check out time 12 Noon.

...
...Our visit to the Hotel Melia was an exceptional experience, we thoroughly enjoyed
our stay and would definitely go back. This is all about how we got there and what
it was like during our visit.

How we got there.
---------------------

It was a little more difficult for us to travel directly to Rome as we live in Inverness
in the North of Scotland. Inverness is a city but our airport still ... more

Melia Roma Aurelia Antica Hotel Rome.
Via Aldobrandeschi,
223 Roma, Italy.
=============================

The Melia is a four star Luxury Hotel with conference centre.

We stayed three nights.
Cost £196.59 for a standard room. This was for three nights (£65.53 per night).
(Breakfast is not included in this price)

Check in time 1pm. Check out time 12 Noon.

Booking Time: July 2005.

Location: About 6km North East of the Vatican City.

Airport we flew into: Fiumicino. Aprrox 24 Kms from The Melia.

Our visit to the Hotel Melia was an exceptional experience, we thoroughly enjoyed
our stay and would definitely go back. This is all about how we got there and what
it was like during our visit.

How we got there.
---------------------

It was a little more difficult for us to travel directly to Rome as we live in Inverness
in the North of Scotland. Inverness is a city but our airport still doesn't have direct flights to all European and International destinations. We booked our flights using accumulated air miles so it was a little cheaper for us to fly; we still had to pay £75.09 per person in airport charges and taxes. I checked out the availability and prices of flights to both main airports in Rome and there are a lot of cheaper flights around from all over Britain, However, when you see the cheap prices bear in mind you will still have to add airport charges and taxes onto the flight prices. This can make your flight a lot dearer than you initially thought. There are lots of deals out there so just make sure you do your homework and check out lots of search engines for the best deal.

We flew from Aberdeen Airport after spending the night in the Speedbird Hotel, (This cost £54.95 per room per night) which is only a few minutes walk from the Airport Terminal. We then flew by KLM to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam; we had a few hours to wait for our connection to Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) Airport. When we arrived we took a taxi from the Airport to the Melia Hotel. Make sure you agree a price with the driver before you get into his/her car. The transfer cost us around 40 Euros (about £28.00).

The Hotel.
------------

When we arrived at the hotel we were very pleasantly surprised as it looked even better than it did on the internet. You can see pictures of this hotel on many Rome Hotel sights. The entranceway was situated in the middle of the hotel; the hotel and entranceway are excellently maintained and very inviting. To the left of the entrance is the low rise convex side of the building, to the right of the entrance is a six story high block of rooms. The overall first impression of the outside of the building is indeed of a four star luxury hotel (as promised on the internet). There are lots of different web-sites that you can book this hotel on so shop around and check out the various prices. We booked at Hotels.com.

The Lobby.
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On entering the Hotel we were delighted to find a spacious, opulent and welcoming area, to the left was a sitting area with comfortable sofas and internet facilities and to the right were notice boards and a long check - out desk. In the centre of the Lobby was the reception for checking in. There were two staff on duty at the time and both were smiling from the second we walked in the door, when we approached the desk we were greeted with extreme warmth and professionalism by the delightful staff. We booked in and were given a map of Rome, this map turned out to be the best map we had, shame we spent over £8.00 on two maps before we left. There was a problem with our room and it turned out that the room we had booked on the internet was not available, this however was no problem at all and with a little shuffling of further bookings we were put into a larger room at no extra cost. We paid £196.59 for a standard room which we booked at Hotels.com. This was for three nights and the price charged was per room. (Price per night: £65.53) We actually ended up in a room that was about £94.00 dearer to book so I know we got a really good deal.

The Hotel has stairs and lifts for both sides all of which are easy to access and use.
The rooms are easy to find and the hallways clean and well lit, with good quality carpeting and decoration throughout.

Plus Side: Exceptional Staff and free upgrade.
Minus Side: Got put into a non-smoking room.

Our Room.
-------------

Our room was spacious and very clean; tastefully decorated with clean good quality bedding and "nice" pictures on the walls. The bed was a large double with two side tables and lamps, the coffee and tea making facilities were on one of these small tables; There was a kettle and some sachets of tea and coffee, no milk cartons or sachets of dried milk are supplied. There were three large windows in the room providing plenty of natural light and even though we were in the low rise convex side of the hotel overlooking the parking area it was well insulated and we were not disturbed by any outside noise at any time. There is a mini bar and fridge in the room with the normal contents (and prices). On top of the mini bar is the television which has all the local stations and pay-per-view movies. The hotel also supplies some nibbles which are laid out on the dressing/writing table; these are also charged for on a daily basis if used. The opposite side of the room had a very comfortable sofa bed, small coffee table and two small armchairs. Opposite the bathroom door was a large mirrored wardrobe with a free of charge safe inside. The rooms have no balconies which may deter some people as it is extremely hot in Rome a lot of the year, for us however this was not a problem as we were only staying three nights. The room was carpeted, which I found unusual, but also very pleasant as I prefer carpeted floors. The air-conditioning was adequate and automatically shut off if you opened the window. The bathroom was very clean and well stocked with toiletries and clean towels. The shower was quite powerful and the temperature of the water was always hot whenever we used it. All in all our room was spacious and a pleasure to retire to. All rooms at the hotel have a view of either the gardens at the front of the hotel or the swimming pool at the rear.

Plus Side: Lovely Room.
Hairdryer attached to wall in bathroom.
Room Service Available.

Minus Side: Inadequate supplies of Coffee.
The kettle didn't boil for long enough and there was no milk of any kind
supplied. (Can you tell I'm a Coffee Lover?)

There was no mirror by the dressing table where the only spare plug was for me to use with my hair styling appliances.

Suggestions: Take your own travel kettle and your own supplies as there are no food
shops in the hotel or within walking distance.

Hotel Amenities.
--------------------

The hotel has 270 rooms. There are 12 Executive Suites and a Presidential Suite.

Swimming Pool.
-------------------

This hotel has a lovely clean (smallish) swimming pool with changing facilities and a shower and toilet facility at the poolside. The pool is Kidney shaped and has the hotel to the left and a grass sunbathing area with sun beds and Parasols to the right. There is a wooden fence around the poolside to deter small children from just running up and jumping in. Large towels are available free of charge, you just have to sign them out quoting your room number and make sure you sign the towel back in. The Lifeguard doubles as the pool attendant and I never once saw the pool unwatched or anybody waiting around for towel service. The poolside and grassy area surrounding it were both very clean and rubbish free. There are small bins provided around the area.

Plus side: Clean and tidy.
Minus Side: Pool opening hours are from 9am till 8pm.
The pool also shuts if the surrounding garden area has been hired out for
a conference or party. This did happen while we were staying at the
Melia, but we were made aware of it on the notice board early in the
morning.
The pool is only open in the summer time.

The Pool Bar.
---------------
The pool bar is on the next level above and overlooking the pool area. Again this area is very well laid out with tables and Parasols. There is a bar and food can be ordered at the pool bar. The staff at this bar again were extremely helpful and courteous.
The food was very good and with a good variety on the pool bar menu we weren't stuck for choice. We ate here a few times and the meal along with a few glasses of wine each came to about £20- £25.00 and was very good value for money. Tasty and plenty of it, served by a smiling bar attendant that was friendly without being too familiar.

Plus side: Cheaper than the main restaurant.
Low level lighting and gentle music gives the pool bar a lovely ambience in
the evening.
The pool itself is shut after 8pm so you can relax in the pool bar without
being disturbed by noisy swimming pool activity.

I have put the pool being closed as a plus and a minus, you have to decide for yourself which plus or minus suits you. For me it was both a plus and a minus. The pool being shut was a minus on the day we got back late from the city and then the pool being shut was a plus when I was enjoying a romantic evening meal in the pool bar with my husband.

The Sughereta (a la Carte Restaurant)
--------------------------------------------

The main restaurant is open for Lunch from 12pm to 15.00pm and again in the evening, the times for the restaurant are displayed outside with a menu for you to peruse.
This is a four star restaurant and if you don't like getting served by lots of very well dressed "silver service" waiters/waitress at your beck and call that appear about every three seconds and hover about to cater for your every wish, this is not the eating place for you. However, if you like to be pampered, made to feel special and served with politeness, grace and professionalism you should eat here. It, of course, is not cheap and I have to say I didn't find that many choices on the menu, but what we did have was delicious. We both ordered Steak with mushroom and pepper sauce. We had Red wine and water with our meal. The cost was around £60.00 for both of us, which I thought was reasonable for the food and the service we received. I did ask if the meal came with vegetables like potatoes etc, but ahemm, not having any Italian I didn't make much headway and was told yes. Poor people must have thought I was mad the way I was trying to explain what I meant. I gave up in the end and they told me yes with vegetable. This was the first time that I came across any language barrier in the hotel and this reminded me that perhaps I should have made more of an effort to learn a little Italian. Serves me right. My meal was beautiful but it consisted of a huge piece of perfectly cooked steak (cooked to my liking: well done) served with a mushroom sauce and that was it. The meal was so big there was no way I could have eaten anything else anyway but I would have liked to have been able to order a side dish at least for some variety on my plate. But like I say that was my fault, not the restaurant.
There is no smoking in the restaurant but I don't find this a problem, I am a smoker but don't like to eat in smoky atmospheres.
The restaurant is quite large and gracefully furnished and laid out with high quality linen tablecloths and napkins, the cutlery and glassware are of the same high quality and this all adds to the pleasure of your visit. There are inside and outside areas to this restaurant and the outside is situated on a semi-circular terrace with canvas awnings, which can be closed in bad or windy weather. The terrace overlooks the pool bar and swimming pool. The view from the restaurant is of rolling fields, some houses and in the distance the mountains. It is well lit inside and out without being overly bright and citronella candles burn to keep any flying insects at bay.
This is a lovely restaurant to eat at and I left feeling full-up and pampered.

Plus Side: Great Service.
Minus Side: No Vegetables came with meal.

Lobby Bar.
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A Lobby Bar is advertised on the internet and it does exist but while we were at the Melia it was not open at all. It is situated up some steps to the left of the reception lobby, there is a bar and some comfortable sofa type seating opposite the bar.

Majorca "Breakfast" Restaurant.
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The breakfast room is situation on the first lower level of the hotel where the conference facilities and rooms are. It is a large airy comfortable room where you can get your breakfast in a help yourself buffet style. However breakfast is not include in your room tariff and there are quite a few options available ranging from just rolls or croissants to a full breakfast. we just had the croissants and butter with coffee with cost around 8 Euros each which I thought was expensive.

Plus Side: Varied Breakfast selection.
Minus Side: Cost.

Services and Facilities.
---------------------------

There is what is described as a shopping arcade; this consists of a few (more expensive) kind of souvenir small shops and not much else. You can't buy any food stuffs or drinks (not even water) at this hotel apart from at the bar restaurant.

Plus Side: They are there if you forget to buy someone a gift in the city.
Minus Side: Cost and no edible goods.

There are Laundry services, parking and valet services available but as I did not use these services I cannot comment on them.

Likewise there are also (On Request) Car rental, Business Centre and Medical services; again I did not use these services so I cannot comment.

Courtesy Bus Service into the city.
-----------------------------------------

This is an excellent free service, the hotel has a coach which leaves the hotel four or five times a day at set times which takes you into Rome to pre-determined stops and picks you back up again to bring you back. This was a full size coach when we were there and we had no problems with volume of guests, however we were told that sometimes there are too many people for the bus, so get there early. The coach takes you to drop off points within the city of Rome that are near to and around all the main attractions like the Vatican City and the Coliseum, It's best to plan your day by where you want to get dropped off.
There is also a late evening coach which will take you into Rome about 9pm and pick you back up around 11pm.

Plus Side: No need to hire a car.
Minus Side: If you miss the bus it could be a few hours till the next one and the taxis
in Rome are not cheap. We got a taxi a few miles from the hotel when
coming back one day and we got stuck in traffic and it cost us around 38
Euros!!

Mercedes Service.
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We booked this service for our return trip to the airport. Fantastic Mercedes, Black, very very posh with Black suited driver, who opened the doors for me to get in and couldn't get out at the airport quick enough to let me out. (Husband had to fend for himself though). The cost was about 5 Euros cheaper than the taxi we got from the airport when we arrived, so very good value for money. The feeling of everyone watching you getting out a posh car with a Chauffeur was priceless, great end to my holiday. We didn't have any Euros left to tip him so we gave him some American dollars and he was quite happy with that. Cost about 35 Euros and well worth it. You have to book this service in advance at the reception desk and they will advise you the best time to book it for to catch your flight.

Overview.
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The Hotel is listed as situated in 10 Hectares of woodland but to be honest although it surrounded by greenery it would be better described as outside residential areas in a semi-rural location. This suited us, but may not suit others as you cannot go for a wander at night or walk to any nearby bars or restaurants. There is of course the shuttle bus from the hotel which is free and runs throughout the day at set times, this bus can take you into central Rome at around 9pm and pick you back up for your return around 11pm so you are not stranded at the hotel by any means.

There is no entertainment at the hotel, again this suited us but may not everyone.

I loved this hotel and would have no hesitation in going there again.

When we were there we filled in an Hotel service quality questionnaire and we then received an e-mail from the staff at the Melia upon our return home thanking us for our custom and for our comments on the questionnaire.

When you compare this hotel with the Speedbird Hotel in Aberdeen where we spent our first night of our holiday you can see what a good deal it is. The Speedbird cost us £54.95 for one night at a standard airport hotel and the Four Star Melia with all its facilities cost £65.53 per night, a difference of only £10.58. Amazing!!

I hope that my review has helped. I wanted to write it as it was to give the reader a really good idea of this hotel without prejudicing their decision with things that I myself prefer. Happy Holidays wherever you decide to book.

 

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