Satisfactory - but not 4*

We stayed at the Hermitage with our baby daughter and were quite surprised to discover that the hotel had no high chair. We also had difficulty in obtaining boiled water to make her bottles - the reception staff were very unhelpful with this matter, however we found the porters to be friendly and polite. Be warned it is a good half hour on the bus into town - and allow yourself plenty of time to get back to the hotel in the evening as we found that the buses back to the hotel were very infrequent. On a positive note the hotel was clean, quiet and the breakfasts were fine. However I am fairly certain that we wouldn't stay here again.

Rude staff, some facilities lacking

Me and my girlfriend stayed at the Grand Hotel Hermitage in Rome (Sep 2003) and found that the majority of staff were rude, unfriendly and unhelpful throughout our stay. One of the last examples of this was when we checked out we were asked "do you need a taxi, or what?".

As far as the facilities were concerned, some of them fell below my expectations too. Our "double" bed was in fact two single beds and mattresses pushed together, the reception on the tv was atrocious and the breakfast was adequate but not four star quality in my opininion.

We had the impression the staff could not wait to get us out of there, as they stopped refilling the table with food a good 20-25 mins before breakfast was supposed to end. I would have forgiven these shortcomings if it were not for the unnecessary discourteousness of the staff.

The hotel is a fair distance from the centre. This can be both a good and bad thing. The good thing is that it is in a quiet peaceful area, the bad being that it can be quite tiring if you do a days touring of the city, come back to the hotel to freshen up and then go out again for a meal.

You need to take a bus or taxi to get to from the main centre.

Conveniently, there is a public bus very near the hotel that runs to the Termini station and takes about 20-25 mins and costs around 0.75 euros for a 75 minute ticket. Taxis from the Termini back to the hotel cost around 11-12 euros. A taxi from the hotel to the Fiumicino airport costs around 50 euros.

The interior of the hotel is quite attractive and nicely decorated and the room we had was quite nice too.

However, I must say I expected a lot more from a four star hotel and the rudeness of the staff has left a bitter memory of my stay there.

The Grand Hike more like!

The impression of the hotel when booking is rather grand, but the facilites are very basic. The service from the staff (that you see) at the desk is very bad and the position of the hotel is too far away from any attraction.To find any worth from my stay is to say that the roof terrace was enjoyable for an hour. The only other good point is that it introduced me to an area of the city I would never have visited. This gave me the opportunity to visit some nice restaurants, so next time I'll find a hotel in the region, but a little closer to the city centre.

Grand Hotel Hermitage Isn't Grand

Our four day stay at the Grand Hotel Hermitage was anything but Grand in June, 2003. While rated as a 4-star hotel it isn't by any standards of other 4-star hotels in Europe. The elevators did not work regular and luggage had to be carted up narrow stairs. The air conditioning was not working in our room nor indeed the majority of the rooms and promises that the service men were coming the next day never materilized. After conversations with other hotel guest on the advertised bar and roof garden, which consisted of no service and appeared not to have been used for some length of time, they were having the same problems plus rudeness from the hotel front desk staff. No compensation was offered. Then the stench from an apparent sewer problem began to fill the rooms. No this stay was not 'Grand" and we would not advise anyone to stay at this particular "Leonardi" hotel.

3 rooms at the Hermitage

The hotel is located out of the town although there is frequent bus service available nearby. Our room was on the top floor(newly built so we were told). On the first night a smell eminating from the bathroom became evident, which later became unbearable necessitating a move to an adjacent room. This too developed the same smell and the air conditioning broke down, because the cleaners had opened a window to try to dissipate the smell, overloading the unt. After a further complaint we were moved to a room on the ground floor, which was fine.

The staff were helpful and did there best to resolve the problems. I can't help thinking that they did know of the problems in the rooms, since they did not query my complaint(s) or inspect the rooms themselves.

Breakfast was average.

I would not stay in the hotel again

Don't stay at this hotel!

We stayed at the Grand Hermitage in Rome in June of 2003. With the exception of one, the front desk staff were the rudest I have ever encountered. They were cold, distant, rude and seemed to be annoyed and irritated when asked a question. As an example, I gave the room key to the front desk because we were going out to sightsee. I forgot something in my room and asked for the key. He sighed, rolled his eyes and just looked at me. I honestly thought he wasn't going to give it to me.

They have a bar, but it's never open. They have one bellman who also does a lot of other tasks so he isn't available to carry luggage and do bellman duty. They advertise that they have a garage, but there's no room in it.

The only plus was that the room was air conditioned, had a remote control to adjust the temperature and they let you run it all night. I talked to some others who said some of the hotels wouldn't allow you to run your air conditioner after 11 p.m. It was very hot when we were there.

In Rome beware the Hermitage

There are many fine hotels in Rome, but the Gran Hotel Hermitage is not among them. The location on maps makes it clear that it is at some distance from the historic center, and the neighborhood (Paraioli) is quiet and pleasant. There is a bus (360) that starts there and goes to Termini, very convenient. So that's the good news.The hotel is part of the Leonardi group--we have enjoyed stays at others of their group--and it proclaims itself 4 stars. Oh my. Rome was enduring a heat wave, but most of the room airconditioners did not work at all, or blew warm air into the room! Requests for repairs or adjustments were received and ignored. A strong odor of sewer gas continued to arise from our shower drain. Our television functioned poorly. The rooftop garden advertised on their web site with tables & drinks, suggesting some sort of service, was bereft of tables, had a couple of plastic benches and a place where once there appeared to have been a bar.On four separate occasions, one OR BOTH of the lifts failed, and on two of those occasions, people were stranded in their small confines without any clear indication of how long it would take. Since the lifts were stuck, luggage had to be carried up stairs. Perhaps all this could be laughed off as a sort of stereotypical touristic bad dream; but we know from experience that this is NOT typical of Italian hotels, particularly those with four stars. It seemed the management was letting things go and one wonders if the place will be gutted and renovated and offered up at even higher prices. Friends don't let friends stay at the Hermitage.Oh, by the way, on one or two of the website hotel services, the map placed the hotel in a distant suburb east of Rome. Regardless of location, just say no.

Very Pleased with the Grand Hermitage

We stayed at the Grand Hermitage as part of a package from Expedia. In spite of its somewhat unassuming exterior, we were quite pleased with what we found on the interior. The concierges were most helpful, the breakfast buffet was magnifico, and our room was quite pretty. From the tiled bedroom floor, to the tiled bathroom floor/shower, we were quite pleased with the value for the money. We even got a driver from the hotel for a daytrip and intend to seek him out when we return to Rome. We were very happy with our trip to Rome and the facilities of the Grand Hermitage.