Augusta Lucilla Palace — Hotel in Rome

The good: The hotel is clean, well maintained, and the staff is friendly, helpful, and multilingual so you can get by with English. The wifi worked well, even for watching Youtube videos. The room is the typical European size, which is smaller than most US hotels. The windows actually open, which was great as it helped to cool down the room quickly during our December stay--we like to sleep cold. The bathroom - private, no shared showers as in some European hotels - is actually a little bigger than others we've had in Italian hotels. The shower is a corner unit and about the same size as rounded corner showers you see in Home Depot. The room has multiple European style outlets (pick up a converter on Amazon before coming to Europe) and the bathroom has one as well. The counter in the bathroom is decent size and there is a hairdryer. The bed is queen size and the mattress is fairly firm, which worked great for us. We took the train from the airport to Termini ($14 each) and then it was about a 5-7 minute walk to the hotel. There are several landmarks in the area that make it easy to find the hotel after you've gone exploring. Walking back to Termini gets you to the metro (subway--look for red squares with white M) and you can take the A to stops by the Spanish Steps, Vatican, etc, or the B to head towards the Colosseum--just look for the red metro ticket machines. Because the hotel is so close to Termini you can easily go sightseeing, come back to your room, and then go back out to some restaurant you decided you had to try by one of the landmarks. Do be aware that the city tax is on top of your reservation cost. Right now it is 7.5 Euros per person per night (5 star hotels are a little more on the tax) and many hotels expect that to be paid in cash.||The bad: Reviews rightly point out that the neighborhood immediately adjacent to the train station isn't the most attractive, with a lot of graffiti and some homelessness. The hotel is at the edge of the dodgy looking area, a couple of blocks from the station. All of that said, we never felt unsafe. The neighborhoods north, west, and south of the hotel were nicer looking than the couple of blocks between the train station and hotel. ||Conclusion: There is a lot to like about the Augusta Lucilla hotel and the only negatives (a) aren't the hotel's fault and (b) weren't an actual problem. If you are looking for a reasonably priced hotel in a location that will allow you easy access to Termini - which allows you easy access to the subway system in Rome and easy access to FCO airport and easy access to trains going to other cities like Venice, Florence, Naples, etc - then this hotel is definitely worth...

A very nice hotel with friendly staff. Upon entering the lobby one is greeted by the concierge who takes the luggage and tags them if necessary when checking in early. We went sightseeing while the room was being cleaned and returned later in the evening. The room we received was very small, but just enough for two people. It was equipped with a TV, a fridge, a safe and a hairdryer. The highlight was the massage mattress. It can be adjusted at the head and foot so one can lie up at the push of a button. I find the massage function a bit unsatisfying. I find one gets shaken in the bed rather than receiving a relaxing massage. But I guess everyone has different tastes. Unfortunately the shower head broke after the first usage. Since it was late and we were tired we reported the damage the next morning. We were informed, that the shower head would be fixed while we were out sight seeing. And as promised everything was taken care of. The breakfast which was served was standard buffet style. Every morning there was scrambled or boiled eggs, bacon and sausages. You could also choose from a variety of breads and cakes. There were also cereals and joghurts on the menue and fresh fruit. The juice machine served pineapple, orange and grapefruit. Unfortunately the orange was blood orange. One only found out after the juice was in the glass. The coffee was horrible. First, the machine only gave out small quantities. One had to press the button 2-3 times in order to fill the cup. The coffee was foamy and tasted horrible. I asked the waitress to get a fresh cup from the automatic coffee maker. It was free of charge. The hotel is located near the Termini train station so one is always mobile when staying here. There are bus stops for busses travelling to the airport's. A hop on hop off bus stop is within walking distance which is perfect for the typical tourist. Within walking distance one can find several restaurants, pharmacies and...

DO NOT STAY HERE!!! What was supposed to be a nice summer stay in Rome ended up being the WORST, MOST DISGUSTING hotel night! There are plenty of much better hotels in the area and in Rome in general: DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND TIME HERE!! The hotel manager, "Mr. Garbo", who doesn't know how to keep his words, has a disgraceful behavior, he has zero clue about customer service, and his words to me were only LIES, LIES, LIES! The Air Conditioning system on the entire floor did not work for the entire night and even after I left it was still broken, while it was about 35C degrees (95F) in the city, it was an unbearable feeling, like staying inside a sauna, where I couldn't and didn't even sleep. I had to take cold showers 3 times from the exhausting heat and from sweating so much. Opening the windows didn't even help because it was very hot outside as well. They didn't even offer to change rooms, or bring a fan, or something to show they were trying to help. All they said was "We have to wait for maintenance in the morning." The next afternoon, they offered a meal for another day to try to partially make it up. When I met manager Garbo in person, he suggested I should not have accepted the meal if I wanted the refund (then why offer it then?), but he still shook hands with me in agreement, and he promised me and agreed that he would give me a full refund for that horrible sleepless night I had paid for. Upon returning home, days went by and nothing. I messaged the hotel several times to follow up on it, and of course no answer, nobody replied. Even Booking.com tried to get them to process it, and they completely refused to do it with no explanation and denying what they had agreed upon. This hotel should be removed from Booking.com immediately. I will NEVER stay here and I already told friends and relatives who are going to visit Rome in the next couple of months to STAY AWAY FROM THIS...