Raganelli Hotel

This hotel is a small, comfortable hotel in Rome that is not too out of the way from some of the sites. It has its pros and cons, outlined below.
Pros:
* Newer hotel than the ones I just spent a couple nights in outside Milan and Florence
* The bathroom is gargantuan in comparison to the above mentioned hotels. This one has both a shower and bathtub, which some other hotels I’ve been to in Europe (Turkey, Ireland, Germany, etc.) have not. I can’t overstate how huge this tub seemed; it’s bigger than almost any other tub I’ve seen in a US hotel, the exceptions being very high end hotels (Aria Las Vegas, etc.). It felt incredibly luxurious.
* The room I was in wasn’t huge but it was perfectly comfortable for myself and my friend. We didn’t feel crowded at all, each having a full sized bed to relax on, watch TV, etc. Our room also happened to have a small balcony, which we took a few minutes to enjoy in the morning before heading out. (Please note that not all rooms have the balcony.)
* Right next a bus line. We took the bus to from right in front of the hotel all the way to the Vatican – we didn’t even have to change buses. The bus we took let us off at some kind of transit station, and had we been able to find the easy way up to the Vatican it would have only been a ten minute walk or so (we took a cab, which wasn’t very far either).
* Nice continental breakfast. The room is nice and bright, plenty of seating, and a good selection of cheese, meats, bread, pastries, juices, coffee, etc.
* They have a bar area. It’s not a place where there’s a bartender and all, but the front desk is happy to set you up with your drink.
* There are a couple restaurants just a block or two away that were pretty good, so it was nice to have a place very near to walk to in the evening for dinner and drinks.
* They have a really nice roof deck. I was in Italy at the tail end of September/​beginning of October, so the weather was nice enough to go upstairs for a little bit. The deck is large and has plenty of seating. I took my drink up there to enjoy and take in Rome at night. If you’re there when the weather is nice, be sure to take a few minutes upstairs.
Cons
* Tiny parking lot, not nearly enough to cover even half the rooms they have. I know that some people don’t drive, but we didn’t know that parking would be so difficult. We were told there wasn’t any parking available and whatever alternative parking they might occasionally have access to was unavailable, so we happened to get lucky that there was one spot in front that didn’t block either driveway… I’m not sure what we would have done otherwise. Other cars were just parking in and blocking other cars, so it’s a good thing it was evening.
* On the day we checked out, the elevator stopped working just as we finished up breakfast. We were on the fourth floor… and had to drag our stuff all the way down to the lobby. It confirmed that I made a good choice of using only one carry-​on size bag for our trip.
Something did happen during my stay that really turned me off, though. I paid for wifi in my room for the length of our stay so that I could contact my mom, do some trip research, etc. The only place in our room (remember, it was not very large) where I could access the network was in the bathroom or right by the door. In my bed, which was closest to the bathroom/​door – and by that I mean it was only a few feet away from both – I was unsuccessful. I went downstairs to ask about it, and the staff member I spoke with didn’t seem all that concerned. He simply told me that I was probably too far away from the access point to have a reliable connection. This is one of the reasons that I gave this place three stars. It’s true that I would have been annoyed at a modern hotel not being outfitted properly to allow all rooms appropriate access. Having said that, however, I was completely put off by the fact that it didn’t seem to bother the employee at all – he just responded as if it was one of those things, too bad. I had to ask for a refund, which he had to clear with another staff member. I would have expected that when I explained the problem – and that I couldn’t use the wifi *that I paid for* from my room – I would have been offered a refund since I paid for something that I clearly couldn’t use. The blasé attitude here just REALLY left a bad taste in my mouth, and I felt like they would have happily cheated me out of my money if I had not asked for a refund since it was through no fault of my own that the wifi was useless to me.
Based on that experience, I would hesitantly recommend this hotel to someone. If there was a place that was less expensive and/​or nearer to some of the things we wanted to see (Colosseum, Vatican City, catacombs, etc.) I’d have no qualms about staying somewhere else. To be clear, the rate for this hotel was probably pretty good; we got it on Expedia. Just be aware of the potential wifi issue and be prepared.

We got a room at this hotel for a great rate, and it met all expectations. The staff was helpful and friendly, and the rooms were nice and clean. However, although the whole hotel was supposedly non-​smoking, the room did smell like it had been smoked in. Also, our shower was slightly broken and our air conditioner box was leaking. That being said, the staff compensated by giving us free breakfast every morning, and they were as helpful as possible. Breakfast was good and included fruit, a coffee machine, juice, baked goods, cheese and a variety of meats. The only problem was that breakfast ended at 10, and once 9am came around the lady stopped replenishing the food– so if you want a good breakfast get there before 9! Location was way away from the city center, but we had no problem bussing and using the metro system. We saved lots of money not getting a hotel in the center of Rome, and we don’t regret it at all! Restaurants and convenient stores are also less expensive the further away you are from the city center. Overall a good experience!