Ars Hotel - Rome, Italy     

The hotel itself is in a residential area and about a 25 minute tram ride to the city centre. The tram can be caught from around the corner for just one euro. When we booked the hotel it stated that there was a 24 hour restaurant. I'm not too sure if it is still advertised as that but this is certainly not correct! on arriving at the hotel at 9pm we thought we would get a snack so ordered a burger which was a microwaved burger and not very nice at all! We also had breakfast included in the price which we ordered once but did not ask for again for the next couple of mornings. Breakfast consisted of an odd tasting croissant, "toast" which was served in a packet and some yogurt which was the only thing I ate. Apart from the food though the hotel and the room itself was nice, very modern and clean and the staff were friendly and helpful. I would recomment you take advantage of the free shuttle service into town (this needs to be booked in advance). My advice if you are staying for a few nights would be to pay a bit extra if possible and to get somewhere a little bit closer to town. Also, if the hotel offer a transfer from the airport to the hotel for 60 euros, DONT take it! Get a taxi from the station and they will charge you around 40 euro's and it will take half the time to get there, i think he drove us the long way round so that we could get our monies worth! Also, don't take anything from the minibar, they charge about 4 euros per can of drink!

Me and a friend stayed at the hotel on a short break to Rome. The hotel was nice, clean and the staff very help. Even before departing for Rome I contacted the hotel via their website and asked how I could reach them by public transport. I was sent a fairly prompt response back which I was very impressed with. My main concern was that due to the fact I was arriving on a Sunday, their day of rest, i wasn't sure if reaching them woud be easy. I had no problems. I took the Leonardo express train from FCO to Rome Termini Station (A one way ticket costs 11euros) and then took the no. 90 bus (1 euro) to Piazza Sempione. The hotel does offer an airport transfer shuttle service which costs 60euros (luggage cost are included). My only criticism of the hotel is it's location. It is a fair distance out and not close to any train stations. Bus nos. 90 (to termini station), and 60 (takes you to piazza venezia. useful place to get off to see the roman forum and colleseum) are the useful ones to catch. The bus no. 40 will take you from termini station to the vatican. Bus services, especially the no. 90 finish at about 12am, so after that time, taxis would be your only alternative. Another thing to be weary of is that often the bus stop signs are not all that well lit/clear therefore making it hard to see if your getting off at the right place. The hotel does mention on it's website that they offer a free shuttle service to termini station, but for some reason, it wasn't running during the 3 days i was there. Still not sure why. The best thing I found was to buy a one day travelcard which costs around 4 euros and you can buy it at any news kiosk. If you are intending on doing a few museums over several days then a Roma Pass may work out cheaper (20euros) Overall, I would not discount staying here again however, if you are going to Rome for the first time I would probably recommend you stay a little more closer to the centre. At least popping back to the hotel to recharge and escape from the heat would be far easier.