MEININGER Roma Termini — Hotel in Rome

I rarely leave negative reviews, but our experience at MEININGER Roma Termini was unacceptable from start to finish.

First off, if you arrive early, be prepared to pay extra just to store your luggage and use lockers something most hostels or hotels offer complimentary. Our group arrived early, completed all the check-in paperwork, and were told to come back later when our room was ready. When we returned, a front desk staff member (a Filipino woman working that day) attempted to redo the entire check-in process and tried to charge us again, despite us already being processed.

After sorting that out, we received our room keys. We had paid for a private 4-person room, but when we got to the assigned room, it turned out to be a 6 person dorm fully occupied by young children. Not only was this a blatant error on the hotel’s part, but it was incredibly awkward and upsetting for the children and extremely embarrassing for us and a safety concern. We went back downstairs to report the mistake, and the same staff member had clearly mixed up the room numbers. At this point, the father of the children came down, angry and rightfully so, as strangers had been allowed into his kids’ room.

We were then given new keys to a room that actually matched our booking. But upon entering, the air conditioning didn’t work. I had to walk down four flights of stairs to report it, and we waited 30 minutes for maintenance to arrive. The technician worked for over an hour and a half with no success. Meanwhile, a fifth person entered our private 4 person room, clearly an overbooking error again.

Frustrated, I went back to the desk and requested to be moved to a room with working AC. The same staff member came up to verify the issue herself and even complained about how hot it was in the room. Finally, she moved us to a 6 person dorm, which is cheaper than what we paid for. At this point we were just exhausted.

Later that night, we raised the pricing issue we had paid for a private 4 person room but ended up in a shared 6 person dorm. The same woman became extremely rude, told us we would not receive any refund or compensation, and even started yelling at us. She contradicted her earlier statement and insisted the AC in the previous room was “working,” which it absolutely wasn’t.

Overall, the customer service was unprofessional, our reservation was mismanaged multiple times, and we ended up paying more for a downgraded experience. This was the worst experience we had at any accommodation during our trip to Europe. I would strongly advise avoiding MEININGER Roma Termini unless major changes are made to their staff training, customer service, and booking...

Overall, it's a good stay. I think it's a good option if you're traveling with friends or family. It's more of a family hotel and not a social environment for travelers, especially solo travelers.

Cons: I believe the main issue is that this is more of a hotel than a hostel, and the rooms are not designed to be shared with strangers. (I was staying in a 4 mixed bedroom) The beds don’t have curtains, which is important because: There’s only one switch that lights up the entire room. If you wake up earlier and just want to grab something from your locker, you either turn on the whole room light or have to walk around using your phone’s light. I think having a separate switch for the locker area would be very useful. Like in a hotel, you need to insert your key card to have light in the room. This can be inconvenient because, for example, I was showering and someone else's card was inserted. When they left, I was left in the dark while still in the shower. Also, someone could accidentally take your card. This is both a pro and a con: the bathroom is fully private with the toilet, sink, and shower all in one space, which slows down the process for everyone sharing the room. For example: if you just want to brush your teeth or use the toilet only. they have two single beds together ?? And it would be really awkward to sleep next to someone (literally) I’m glad it wasn’t my case. You absolutely need a rigid AND thick padlock for the locker. If you bring a different type (like TSA), it won't work with the mechanism to lock your things. There are no social activities, and the atmosphere is VERY family-oriented or for school trips.

Pros: Termini station is an 8-minute walk, and you can take the train or metro anywhere. They provide as many towels as you need, and you can change them daily. The room has hairdryer. The room is cleaned every day. The breakfast is very complete, with plenty of variety, and you can take extra food for the rest of the day. The bed is comfortable, as are the pillows. There are lockers to store your luggage if you arrive early. The staff is friendly and helpful. There is a shared kitchen in case you want to store groceries (but no stove). You have a pharmacy and a supermarket in...

Only good things to say: room was spacious and in good condition, and the supermarket nearby was super useful.

We had many problems with the cleaning or more to say "no-cleaning" system of the room. They asked us during the check in how often we would like for them to "clean" the room as they only do it upon request. We said every two days was fine. We notice they are coming in every day and changing the bath mat and making the beds and sweeping. We come down and ask them not to come in anymore as we only had two more days in that hotel. They come in again the next day. I mean... they specifically told me during the check in "you don't have to use a door message as they know because we only sent them if you request it". They came into our room EVERY DAY except for one when we had request something very different. Don't ask us to choose if you don't have good communication between reception and the chambermaids. It was really annoying.

Breakfast buffet was somehow limited and with very narrow spaces to move around.

The very last day, even though I went down to talk to reception and confirm we had late check out before we went outside to go sightseeing for the last time, the card did not work when we came back as it was past 12 (normal check out time) and there was a cleaning cart and a person waiting for us on the fifth floor to clean our room as if we were delaying them. We had paid to be in the room until 14h and we felt like they were asking us to please leave.

Generally, the women who work there were super nice to us, the tall man who was helping during breakfast as well, and the man who spoke Spanish at the reception desk; however, there was a blonde young man who was extremely cold, dismissive, and rude to us as we asked about how to get some tickets to San Pietro and he barely looked at us from the computer screen and mumbled 2 or 3 words not even using verbs or full sentences. I understand he probably gets the same stupid question asked over and over again by tourist but if you have lost your kindness and patience, please, go work somewhere else. It was not nice of him to dismiss...