Grand Hotel Olympic - Aurum Hotels — Hotel in Rome

To start with the (very few) positives, reception were helpful and the location of the hotel is great.

Other than this however, there are a number of negatives around this hotel. We went into this hotel with low expectations due to the reviews on various sites, and this has taught us to trust them greatly.

We had an experience of 2 rooms within the hotel, the first had an issue so we were moved which happened to be a slightly bigger room. The first room was a dismal, visible black mould under the window sill, around skirting boards and in the bathroom. The second room luckily was slightly better than this and appeared to be cleaner, however after a few nights stay here my partner and I both got extremely ill from being exposed to black mould so would assume this room was also covered. In addition to this, a pillow (attached picture) had black mould growing on it, and this nor the bedding was changed for the entire duration of our stay (nearly a week). The towels were changed, however this was with old, yellowed towels which looked dirtier than the older ones we used. The shower was tiny, could barely move around in them to be able to get to any soap stored in the cubicle and there were no shelves provided to make this any easier. There was a fridge provided however looked so dirty we didn’t even touch it.

The breakfast itself was ok, variety of croissants in the morning however if you leave it too late (9.30am) there wasn't much left as people were wrapping up food to take out with them. The coffee was also undrinkable and we had to go out every morning to buy this. The room the breakfast was served in was dated and the chairs were dirty and stained. In addition, the lifts and hallways smelt of sewage constantly.

This is not what I'd expect from a 4 star hotel, and not sure how they can even call themselves this. The hotel with its location has so much potential, but it has been left to a point beyond satisfactory for a 4 star hotel, being dirty, run down and in need of dire renovation.

We would not return to this hotel nor recommend...

Ok budget hotel, but definitely not an upscale four star as advertised. Expect a 3 star

Pros: -Location is excellent, near the Vatican and a castle -economical hotel -beds were comfortable -breakfast is acceptable, not as bad as other guests make it out to be from the reviews. Don’t expect smoked salmon and premium coffee but it’s got a decent assortment of food, canned fruits, eggs, a coffee machine to get you and your family up and ready for the day -within a ten minute walk to a subway station -I appreciate that the hotel staff spoke more than one language, not all four star hotels in Italy offer this. it made the stay more inviting

Cons: -hotel has a nice decor but paint spotting from renovations is omnipresent throughout the hotel and rooms -shower will take around 15 minutes to heat up with hot water -room was not on par with four star cleanliness, dusty, particularly under beds, and shower drain was clogged with hair which caused the shower to pool at your feet after a couple minutes -heat shuts off automatically around 2am and doesn’t turn on again until around 5-6am, you can’t use the thermostat during this period as it’s offline. When I asked the receptionist for a blanket as it was cold in the room I received a blanket but with it a very loud sigh and an eye roll, as if service for the guests is a burden rather than a goal for the hotel. A normal four star hotel would apologize, ask to see if more blankets were needed, provide advance notice that the heating goes offline and offer more blankets proactively etc -parking is expensive: 30 euros per night -the first night we stayed there was a strong sewage smell in the bathroom and elevator. No other issues the rest of the nights, not sure if it’s related to renovations ongoing in the basement. -no coffee machine or hot water kettle in room, but there is a minibar

Verdict: it’s worth staying for the price point but don’t expect a four star hotel service and you won’t be disappointed. Hotel is likely more comfortable...

Not amazing, but for the price it's ok. The location is pretty decent and there are several bus options, but after dark the buses become much more scarce/hard to find. This hotel isn't amazing by any stretch. The best part about this hotel (really should be called motel) is the breakfast. There is a nice breakfast with plenty of options here each day. This is really the only selling point of the hotel though.

The beds are VERY uncomfortable. I've literally slept on better floors. We had 2 beds in our room and both were equally horrible. The staff were friendly, but didn't tell us there would be a mandatory tax upon leaving that you can only pay with cash. Maybe it's customary for people to carry cash in Rome, but in America only old and poor people still carry cash on them, so I didn't have any way to pay. I'd gladly accept an additional charge to use my card, but it simply wasn't an option and I didn't have a debit card, so there was literally no way for me to pay this unreasonable check-out tax in the way they wanted. Sadly I had to skip out on the bill because they left no other reasonable options to pay them.

There was also noticeable black mold in the hallway (picture included), so obviously there are known mold issues in this establishment.

I would not recommend this place nor would I ever stay here again based off of the above information. I gave them a 2-star only because the staff was friendly, they let us leave items until check-in in a questionably safe place (everything was still there when we returned) and because the breakfast was decent. There is NO way this is a 3-star hotel. Either the standards in Rome are significantly lower than everywhere else in the world, or there is no real check and balance to see if a hotel stays as decent as they were after their last rating. Either way, not a good...