Relais Orso — Hotel in Rome

JUST STAY AWAY! When we got to the hotel, we found it cute. The room was a little different from what we were expecting from the photos, but not a big deal. Next night the nightmare started. These hotel walls’ are paper thin. We heard everything that was going on in the room next to ours until 2am. We were on a familiar trip and had to listen to people moving furniture and engaging in intimate activities for hours straight, this is surely not a family friendly accommodation. When we contacted reception they told me that they came to check for themselves and that the people in the room next to ours were “asleep and snoring” - even if it was true, if you can clearly hear someone’s allegedly snore, in an hotel, without even opening a door, something’s wrong. Next day, we got to our room at 6pm to rest before dinner and the noises continued, we contacted reception again, they acknowledged the problem and gave us another room to spend the night, since the other guest, that after all they confirmed was indeed in the room next to ours, would apparently check out in the next day. Then, in our last night on the hotel, we’ve already got back to our original room when we started to hear a couple screaming, fighting, breaking stuff and slamming doors - it started about 23pm. Contacted reception again and, for my unpleasant surprise, was told that “all the rooms are empty” - lie, we’ve seen other guests around the hotel, as obvious - and was invited to go and check for myself. I always tried to be polite and comprehensive, but at this point I’ve had enough. Suddenly, after my angry response, the member of the staff that was speaking with me changed his narrative and ended up saying that he just spoke to the guests that were making noise and asked them to keep it down - I mean, at first there was nobody in the rooms, now you’ve already spoken to them? Another nonsense. I was offered to change room, but as you can imagine, we would not be packing again, at 23.30 pm, after just coming back to our original room and having our flight back home in the next morning. In the other hand, the daily cleaning of the rooms is very superficial. We’ve used a glass in the first day and it was not washed until our check out. The same happened to a dirty towel we left on the bidet. Otherwise, if I could give Vanessa from reception five stars, I would. Genuinely nice, kind and comprehensive. When we checked out she told me to contact them by email so they could compensate us for all the problems. In the end, we got a 10% refund of the total we paid for our staying - approximately 45€. This didn’t make up for all the discomfort we went through in that place....

Great location but for the price you pay, you can get better service and better quality room in another hotel in a similar location.

Detailed review:

Even though nicely decorated, you can tell it’s an old building and not as newly done up. It was slightly run-down. We expected more for the price we pay and as a 4-star hotel.

The walls are very thin — we could hear people above us when they’re talking, and people outside the room (at the stairs and lift). There was a party of sorts in the lobby/restaurant area on the ground floor one night and the music was so loud, we could hear through the windows. The party lasted till 1AM (if it had ended at 11PM or even midnight, I would’ve been more understanding but after midnight is a bit inconsiderate, especially if the hotel staff knows that the walls of the hotel are thin and windows are not sound-proof).

Despite what the listing says, it’s not 100% wheelchair accessible. Some rooms are not fully accessible by the lift so you would have to use the stairs as well. Take note for elderly, those with big/heavy suitcases and are not physically able to carry themselves. The hotel staff didn’t offer to help us with our bags (seeing it was a family of 4 with elderly parents and physically small children) so we had to carry our big suitcases up and down the stairs on our own.

Pictures for the Junior Suite were misleading. There are 3 types of Junior Suite rooms and only ONE has the bathtub. (Take note for those wanting the bathtub room.) We had the impression that all rooms had the bathtub as it was listed in the pictures, but when we inquired with the hotel staff, they told us we were given the other two rooms without the bathtub. When we expressed that we felt a little upset not knowing this prior, there was no apology at all and just a lot of defensive response. We weren’t asking for compensation at all, we would’ve liked the basic courtesy of an...

I booked this hotel and realised within 20 minutes I had booked the wrong dates. The hotel are unwilling to cancel the booking so very disappointing service despite the fact they will have plenty of time to relist the property for someone else. Would not recommend

Update

When I arrived at the hotel I was informed that the hotel was “fully booked”. The hotel clearly didn’t cancel my booking but assumed I wouldn’t show up - I paid almost £1,000 so I had to change my plans so I wouldn’t waste my money - and had sold my room.

The fact they said the hotel was “fully booked” was a lie. As they had a “premium room” available which they eventually booked me in for the first night then moved me to a cheaper room. This was was disruptive.

The rooms are small. The walls are thin - in the “premium” room I could hear the room next door having sex In the cheaper room I could hear every noise by the neighbours as well as the noise from the hallway. The hairdrier didn’t work properly, made an awful burning smell that stuck to my clothes and hair. Toilet doesn’t flash properly - takes a few goes No complimentary water after I was moved room Toiliteries were different from the “premium” compared to the “cheap” room (no toothbrush/toothpaste/razor provided in cheaper room) No breakfast is included despite the price.

The staff tried to blame me for the hotel double booking my room (despite not cancelling my booking and taking my money). They went to great lengths to explain and juarify their position but talked over me and said my original review didn’t reflect the service but reflected the booking policy - the service was that I paid almost £1000 for a hotel for them to double book my room and showing zero flexibility in their policy when they clearly could relist the room.

I have stayed in much nicer hotels and Airbnbs in Rome and wouldn’t recommend this...