Historical Traveler Reviews of B&H Hotels Rome
Excellent Value
from SuppersReady
I appreciate that everyone's experience is different, but I just can't understand most of the negative reviews about this hotel.
We paid £117 for 3 nights B&B at the Waldorf through gtahotels and, to be honest, my expectations for the Waldorf weren't great. However, it was as good a 3 star hotel as I've stayed in. The room, although not the largest you'll ever see, was clean, well finished and looked as though it had been refurbished relatively recently. You get a pretty decent buffet breakfast so you're not hungry for the day's sightseeing. The staff were very helpful and answered all our questions in a pleasant manner.
OK, so it's not central -it's about 5 minutes walk from the Cornelia stop on Metro line A. However, it's still in a good location close to a suburban shopping street which gives much more of a sense of typical Roman life than the tourist centre, so that's not a bad thing in my view. In any case it's only about 15-20 minutes away from the centre which isn't too bad. To get to the Centro Storico directly take the 46 or 916 buses from the via Bocchia (both of which go to Piazza Venezia).
If you're going to Rome, are on a tight budget and don't mind being a little out of the centre then I'd thoroughly recommend the Waldorf.
Great Place
from A TripAdvisor Member
I enjoyed this hotel! The staff were friendly and the room clean! Breakfast was first class!
Granted you have to take the metro into the city centre, but lets face it the sights are only ten to fifteen mimutes away on the metro.........a great deal and a fantastic place to stay. I'll certainly be returning there on my next visit to Roma!
Great base for a wonderful city
from A TripAdvisor Member
We have just returned from three days in the wonderful city of Rome. We stayed at the Waldorf Hotel and although we were initially nervous about booking accomodation via the internet we were pleasantly surprised. The hotel is only 5 mins walk from Line A metro. The hotel is slighly dated but we were very pleased with our room. It was on the ground floor and was spacious enough for two of us. We were pleased with the bathroom and found it clean and large with a great shower. The breakfast was good and we found that we filled up at breakfast and only needed to have a small snack during the day.
I would recommend that if you fly to Rome on one of the budget airlines like Ryanair or Easyjet, thtat you take advantage of buying tickets for the bus into the centre of Rome which are offered on the flight. It costs £9.50 for a return journey and the only other way into the city is by public bus and we found this too confusing, or by taxi and they are expensive. The bus dropped us at the central station and from here you can get the metro all over the city. We bought a 3 day pass which cost 11 euros each. It is unlimited and we found this to be a great way to get about as whereever you want to go in the city it is only a short walk from a metro stop. We would recommend you buy a city map. We found ours invaluable and ours showed all the metro stations. One word of caution, don't try and get the metro late at night. We were told by an advisor at the tourist information that the metros run until about 11pm. This is wrong as we tried to get the metro at 10pm and found the metro closed. A taxi cost us 20 euros to get back to the Waldorf.
Overal Rome if a fantastic city and there is so much to see that 3 days was just not long enough and we are planning a return trip and we would stay at the Waldorf Hotel again. It is a great base and we found it to be great value for money.
I would never stay here again.
from A TripAdvisor Member
Staying at the Hotel Waldorf was the worst experince we have ever had. When we arrived on 4th October 2005, the duty manager informed us that they would have to move us to another hotel. A guest had left taps on and 10 rooms had been flooded. We were assured that the alternative hotel was excellent and was nearby and they would take us there. Alteranive hotel was not accpetable, accomodation was provived in blocks with no lifts, and remided us of a hostel or boarding schools. We contacted the Waldorf and after a long conversation they collected us and eventually accomodated us at the Waldfor. We later found out by talking with other guests, there was no flood and that the hotel was overbooked. During our stay of one week they told at least three other parties they had a flood and would have to move them. Like us they refused to move and were eventually found rooms at the Waldorf. Breakfeast was appalling, coming from Ireland we like our tea and being served hot water with scum floating on the top is unacceptable, we had to ask for boiling water from a kettle to make our tea. Staff were rude and unhelpful and had no concept of what customer service is or how to engage with customers. We had to ask the front desk twice to change our bed linen. Staying at the Waldorf reminded us of an episode from Fawlty Towers and at any moment we expected Basil to appear. I would never stay at this hotel again and would not reccomend it even to people I did not like.
Not Very Service Minded
from A TripAdvisor Member
Found the Waldorf Hotel's front desk people to be extremly non-caring
about their customers. Their attitude seemed to be that it was an
extreme pleasure to be staying in their hotel. I've traveled to Europe
and across America and have never experienced an attitude that was
expressed by the front desk people.
We as other reviewers had problems with the air conditioning in our
room and with no help from front desk, just slept with the window
open. If your not use to big city noise then you better find a way to
get the air to stay on all night. This is a neighborhood residence that
never sleeps from constant sirens to scooters, its just very noisey if
your not use to it.
All was not bad, rooms were clean and provided ample space and
breakfast buffet was decent. Only bad thing which made a lasting
impression was the service, which may okay by European standards
but not by general hospitality standards.
Nice little hideaway
from A TripAdvisor Member
The Waldorf hotel is great value for the money (we paid 38 euros per night for two, B&B) via Hotel.
The lobby has a very modern feel (with internet access) and off it there is a very pleasant lounge.
The rooms, whilst as a previous reviewer observed, are not very big, the space is perfectly adequate for two (if the third bed in our room had been taken it would have been cramped) and whilst the shower/WC is small, again, for two it is absolutely fine. Very clean, with really soft towels (and toilet roll - v important!)
We also had a little balcony. Shame it did not have a couple of chairs and a table on it.
The breakfast is really good as well. Lots of choice and they don't rush you if you get there just before they close at 10 (good for those late nighters!)
We found the room very quiet, whereas in some hotels you can hear the neighbours clearly. As I find it difficult to sleep in hotels this was a real bonus for me.
The only down side was the air con in the room - although it worked well I had to keep turning it on during the night. It took me until the last night to work out the setting for it to come on and off automatically all night (essential in the August heat). Tip: put it on the rain-drop symbol!
Re: location - you have to use the metro to get anywhere but this is very frequent, cheap (we got a 7 day pass for 16 euros) and reliable and when it is closed the hotel is off a very busy bus route. Just get a bus map as we kept waiting for the same 2 buses when others would have done just as well.
So overall, helpful and friendly staff, quiet but with a steady flow of guests of all ages and very clean, comfortable facilities, away from the hussle and bussle of the city centre. We'd definitely go back.
Far out and unattractive, but great service
from A TripAdvisor Member
On arrival at the Hotel Waldorf we were initially dissappointed. The external appearance was very 1960s and it seemed very far out. The room was also very small (the bathroom must have been the minimum size allowable - only one of us could fit in at a time!). It was further out than the description suggested, but luckily it was a few minutes walk from the Metro stop which took us to the Vatican City and on into the centre of Rome. The room was basic and small, but clean. We also couldn't fault the staff, who were always friendly and helpful. Being in a residential area it was also quiet at night (barring the noise of everyone lowering their shutters!). We would have preferred a more central location, but all-in-all it turned out OK.