Residenza A The Boutique Art Hotel — Hotel in Rome

I was so excited for this place. It was the last third of our first trip to Europe and I really thought we had found a nice, decently priced place in the Eternal City, a place that was already the most expensive on our three stop trip. I didn’t have the highest expectations for the accommodations themselves, Rome is expensive and this place is not, i expected clean and comfortable. Upon arrival the area it’s in is impressive. There were nice hotels all around and a decently close metro stop. The first warning sign is the door. It’s part of a larger building that was missing one of its entry doors, it was literally laying on the floor. The carpets in the building lobby haven’t seen a cleaning in a very long time and signage telling you where to go to check in is nonexistent (again it’s part of a much larger building). When we find it a very kind woman checked us in and gave us keys. When we got to our room it became obvious there were some problems. There was obvious water damage on the walls, and the phone for the room as well as the advertised iMac in the room from their website wasn’t present. Obviously we were concerned so we went back to the desk. In the five minutes since we saw her the front desk was now empty. No sign and when we tried to call the only number they offer the phone next to us started to ring so... no luck there. Upon getting back to the room we discovered the lamp shades were wet and stained, several lights in the room did not work, and there was black mold in the corners of the shower. I was convinced I’d misread something. The iMac they advertise didn’t exist, something we were really counting on, the room was something we considered possibly dangerous to our health, and none of the other features (marble in the bathrooms...?) they advertised existed at all. After waiting and realizing the front desk agent wasn’t coming back and messaging the hotel on Expedia and getting no response, we got an AirB&B, which doubled our hotel budget for Rome and prepared to leave. We didn’t feel comfortable staying in a place with water damage and mold. It was then we met another gentlemen who worked there who again was very kind. We showed him the issues and he agreed it was unacceptable. Told us he wouldn’t sleep in it himself and that he would make sure management reached out to us in the morning to refund our money since we had legitimate reason not to stay. The gentlemen also told us the management is recently new and removed a lot of the amenities like the iMac and quote ‘that website shouldn’t still be up’ well it was and we booked based on the information on it so....|Almost three days later and we leave for home tomorrow. I’ve spoken to Expedia twice because the only information I’ve gotten is 2 emails from Expedia saying the hotel denies my request for a refund. Expedia has tried to call them for me... they don’t answer the phone. |I don’t know what to do and am very upset since they won’t communicate with me or write this wrong all I can say is beware. This is not the same property they advertise anymore. No matter what research you do, you can’t help if the hotel is actively lying online about their amenities and the status of...

The good:||- location ok, not too far for walking to city center||- people at reception where nice. If anyone was actually present, that is. ||||The bad: ||1. This is NOT a hotel. And it is NOT 4-stars. What is it? It's a space, a big flat, in an old appartment building restructured to accomodate a couple of rooms. Total number of rooms ca. 10 or 12. It's something like a B&B except that I didn't get breakfast. ||||2. no reception: there are people working at checkin. From morning to afternoon. There is no-one during night, not even in the evening. During the weekend, the receptionist left at around 3 in the afternoon. ||||3. I was charged an extra 20 Euro (!) in caseh for arriving after 20:00 in the evening. I never had that in my life. And it wasn't disclosed at booking, only after I made this non-refundable booking. I didn't get the key until I had payed and the receptionist left immediately afterward. ||||4. Do NOT forget your key in the room. There is no one who will open the doors for you. If you leave your key, you're locked out and alone.||||5. there is no breakfast room, no gym, no restaurant, no luggage storage room. There is nothing of the amenities you'd expect from a hotel. Because this isn't a hotel.||||6. In case of fire, there is no emergency exit. There is no evacuation floor and room plan. I didn't see a fire extinguisher, I didn't see a sprinkler system. There were not even smoke detectors in my room. Is this even legal? ||||7. Wifi wasn't working. And since there's nobody there to help you, there's nobody to get it up and running again. ||||8. The building is weird in itself. Old and needs refurbishment. A very dirty carpet in the hall. ||--||||This is so far from anything I expected when booking a "4 star hotel" that I'm utterly stunned and disappointed. I cannot recommend the place. ||||I do not understand where the all the positive reviews come from. This is so far from any hotel standard that I'm suspicious. What drives me mad is the lack of any...

Boutique hotels, this was my first time using such facilities to stay for five nights.||- Location:||Prime location in Rome, walking distance to the American Embassy and right above a Rolex dealer! Although it is not right in the heart of the old town or across the street from a train station, Rome is a walking city anyway. You have to get used to it. Fifteen minutes to the Spanish Steps and seven minutes to the subway, I call it fine considering you do not deal with narrow alleys in downtown and 24/7 tourist passersby. ||- Staff:||- The facility runs by one person from early morning up to 10:30 PM. Morning time one housekeeper take care of the only seven room this "Boutique Hotel" has.||- Obviously, due to the limitations, there are no two equal rooms amongst the seven rooms here. Some rooms are looking towards the courtyard that not suggested since all the AC units are there and you are on the second floor of the building. Those overlooking Via Veneto get some traffic noise that won't hurt with the window closed. If the neon lighting behind the window hurts you, it can be conveniently switched off from the outer frame of the window. The bathroom is a good size in our XL room (Room named alphabetically) and well equipped. Water pressure in the shower was adequate, lighting is fine,...