The Inn At The Spanish Steps — Hotel in Rome

Firstly, I would like to say that I have never felt that I needed to write a letter of complaint or an online review of a hotel in my 74 years of life. Fifteen years ago , I stayed at this hotel with my wife, son, and my son’s fiancé. We had a fabulous stay and because of our experience I recommended your hotel to our traveling companions when we returned to Italy in September 2021. The experience at your hotel on this trip (September 11-12) was worse than atrocious.

We arrived on Saturday and were told our rooms were ready and we were fortunate to have been upgraded to the penthouse rooms with a “well appointed” common space outside our rooms and an upper level room and patio. We registered and asked the staff to suggest a nearby place to dine. We went to the rooms to find them hot with no air conditioning running. We left to see Rome when we returned to our rooms to shower before dinner, we were surprised to find no hot water. After a quick and unpleasant cold shower, I tried to call the front desk as did one of my traveling companions who had just completed his cold shower, only to find that the phones did not work. I walked 2.5 blocks to the main hotel front desk to let them know there was a problem. They apologized for the phone issue and said someone would come check the hot water. When a staff member came to check on the hot water, I was told that the water heater had been turned down to 24C and that the hot water should be usable within the hour. He said there was an internet problem as the cause of the phone issue. We left for dinner at the “recommended”restaurant. It proved to be the unanimous choice by our group as the worst food we had in our 12 days in Italy. We returned to find the phones still not working. The next morning we awoke to hot water but no phones. The hair drier did not work for my wife so I walked 3 blocks again to request help. A staff member showed up in a little over 20 minutes later! Before the staff arrived, I discovered the problem with the hair drier and got it working. We had been unable to use the “well appointed” common space outside our rooms as it was oppressively hot and humid and the air was laced with the perfume of mold/fungus intertwined with whiffs of raw sewage. We considered having drinks in the upper floor sitting area, but realized we would have to go down the elevator and walk 2.5 blocks to the main office to order drinks. We left to go out for drinks and see Rome but not before stopping by the front desk to ask for dinner recommendations for the evening. When we returned in the late afternoon the phones were still not working. We dressed and walked to the front desk to get dinner recommendations and they gave us a card to the same restaurant as the night before. I noticed a stack of those same restaurant cards on the manager’s desk. We went out on our own and found a wonderful dinner spot at less distance from the hotel than the restaurant on the card.

In summary: It would be generous to say the phones worked 10% of the time we were there. The heat, humidity and smell precluded the use of the “well appointed” space outside our rooms. The lack of phones precluded the use of the upper floor space for drinks without hiking to the main hotel office to order them. Delivery of hot rooms (air conditioners off) without the hot water system turned on, and and unpleasant odor in the "well appointed"common space to arriving guests demonstrated a complete lack of management oversight and was totally unacceptable.

I expect a “luxury hotel” to provide a level of service far above this experience. All we got were excuses and apologies not...

Let me start by stating that this is a Botique hotel, so pictures and descriptions are bound to be different than what is portrayed in pictures.

So my husband and I stayed here in March of 2023 at the start of the tourist season. Getting to this hotel by car is difficult due to foot traffic and it being so close to a main tourist attraction. The hotel entrance is also very unremarkable and difficult to find, so don't be surprised if you have to treck through cobble streets on foot with your luggage to find the hotel. Taxis will also avoid dropping you off directly at the entrance.

Second, we stayed at the apartments which can be found in 1 of 7 annexed buildings from the property. Our building was approximately 1 block away from the main building but there were 3 flights of steps with no elevator available. So keep that in mind. The apartments were also not near as nice as portrayed in the pictures. It included a small sitting area, kitchenette, small bathroom, and small bedroom. My husband and I have stayed in plenty of accommodations across Europe btw including: Paris, London, Dublin, Florence, and Edinburgh. All of which werent near as bad as this location. I would say this was the smallest despite our upgrading to a bigger and significantly more expensive room. We also didn't recieve water, washcloths, or the general room we were expecting. The AC also didn't work initially upon entering the room, at which point we were told by the staff that it was illegal to run the AC at this time of the year in Italy. This is true for public buildings, but not for hotels. This and the towel situation were quickly resolved by staff within a day. Our AC was fixed and we were given washcloths.

The staff were very kind despite our disappointments in the room and they truly went out of their way to make us more comfortable. My only other complaint would be the breakfast, which was included for us, and was very underwhelming. It was located where the rooftop bar is, the food was always cold, undercooked, and bland. Granted, breakfast isn't a big staple in Italy so we let it slide while we were here, but I certainly wouldn't pay for it if it was an option.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this property unless you are looking for a quick stay at the city center for one or two nights. It was overpriced for the accommodations and sub par overall in experience. Although the staff were very kind.

Pros: washing machine in apartments. Proximity to some attractions.

Cons: AC is a hit or miss, cost of rooms, high foot traffic area with poor taxi responsiveness when coming to hotel, small spaces that are different than described and portrayed on website, breakfast is lacking by most standards, annexed buildings with lots of stairs, and small rooms with mediocre cleanliness and washcloths only...

I write this review with great disappointment and anger. I live in Australia and have Italian background. I have dreamt of holidaying in Italy since I was a child and after researching online hoped to stay in this hotel as it seemed to be the perfect fit for my family of 4 in terms of location and accommodating teens in the same room.

I paid $3681.36 AUD to stay in this hotel for 3 nights. It was a big chunk of my savings for my dream Italian holiday.

When the borders shut due to COVID and I physically could not enter Italy due to border restrictions I requested a refund which they refused to give me. They promised a travel credit instead.

I tried to get a Visa chargeback but they contested it on the basis they would give me a “credit” (promised by Stephen). I was reassured in writing in multiple emails as COVID restrictions tightened further that a credit would be held for me to use when I was able.

Once the pandemic settled, I decided to make use of my credit and attempted to book using the credit I was promised. They have decided to stop answering my emails and have ghosted me. As I am in Australia they simply don’t care and have stolen my money from me.

I have emailed multiple times trying to secure a booking, with bank statement evidence of the amount paid to them and they have simply ignored me.

I am so disgusted that they would take my hard earned money and keep it for themselves and not allow me to book using my credit that THEY promised.

I am investigating legal options and I will post this all over the Internet but I warn everyone who is considering booking this hotel, especially from overseas DO NOT do it. They will take your money and cannot be trusted.

A disgusting poor excuse for a hotel and I will ensure my story is made public.

Please DO NOT support this hotel by staying here. They WILL steal your hard earned savings and take advantage of the fact that you do not live in the country. They should be so ashamed of their behaviour and are a poor excuse...