Daphne B&B in Rome?
 

Hi, I am making plans for a trip to Italy this fall. Has anyone stayed at the Daphne B&B in Rome. It is located near the Spanish steps. Any info appreciated.Thanks
Karrie

Pretty mixed feedback on this recent thread (which I found by typing "daphne b&B" nto the text box):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...p;tid=34409588

You might also check on tripadvisor.com

I found some more comments about Daphne on Let's Go at http://www.letsgo.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3986

The place sounds pretty shady, it often scams customers. I haven't seen a favorable comment about the place on any forum.

If you want a lovely B&B near the Spanish Steps stay at Fellini B&B www.fellinibnb.com Their rooftop terrace is to die for!

Don't stay at Daphne B&B in Rome unless you want to be annoyed to death by the owners. Elisa is extremely fake. Her husband Alessandro is creepy towards the female guests when his wife isn't around. He tried to get my friend to go to dinner with him - alone, without his wife!

There are a millions place to stay in Rome. Why have your trip ruined by the owners screaming like banchees at their helpless cleaning staff.

Hi karrie,

For a change of pace, I would like to post POSITIVE feedback regarding a stay at Daphne B&B in Rome. I stayed there for 4 nights in June of 2002 during my month-long backpacking trip throughout all of Europe. I must confess that of all the hotels, bed and breakfasts and pensions we stayed at (which were many) Daphne B&B was at the top of the list. Since our party consisted of 3 women and Elisa did not have enough beds for us in one room, she gave us a discounted price and moved the pull out couch out of the sitting area into our bedroom just to accommodate us. She was consistently helpful and reminded us of Rome's dos and don'ts. For instance, the morning we were getting ready to go to the Vatican she reminded us that knees and shoulders must be covered to enter St. Peter's. When we gave her guidelines about types of places we wanted to go to experience, nightlife, for instance, she was knowledgeable enough to provide us with several suggestions in different areas of town. She recommended restaurants, boutiques and even the best place for gelato. She notified us of an unusual church with the bones of old monks decorating the wall that was across the street from her place. This intriguing, but small site was something we would have missed if Elisa had not had enough familiarity to share not only her thoughts on the usual, big tourist sites, but the lesser ones that enhanced our stay. She knew we were living out of backpacks and on minimal clothes, so she offered to take out clothes to a Laundromat and wait there so we would not have to forfeit sight-seeing time in Rome. One of my companions also experienced a birthday while staying at Daphne and she gave her a bottle of Italian wine as a gift. Our stay there was quite pleasant and as a result, I have recommended it to several friends who have traveled to Rome. Since our next destination after Rome was another Italian city and we were without accommodations, Elisa offered to call ahead for us and (in Italian) make our reservation. This was most helpful because many of our problems while traveling centered around language barriers. All in all, the location is ideal, with the Spanish Step walking distance away and a metro stop also minutes from the door. It was refreshing to stay at Daphne because she is a Florida native and language misunderstandings were not an issue. I have read a lot of mixed feedback regarding this B&B, but I hope, after reading my glowing praise, you will consider booking a room there.

I have not stayed at this place but I am deeply concerned that someone is raving about a bed & breakfast that used a pullout couch for a bed. Hotels and b&b's are authorized to have a certain amount of beds in each room based on the size of the room. In essense, Daphne was violating a fire code by moving another bed into the room.

While you took her "discount" and willingness to accommodate you as a gesture of goodwill, it was really just a way to take your money and make sure you didn't move on to another accommodation.

The things people fall for in Italy never cease to amaze me. It is a beautiful country, but wide-eyed travelers beware.

I would like to respond to gerard0404?s ?deep concern.? Daphne B&B was a refreshing place to stay while visiting Rome. Throughout our trip, we opted to not pre-book accommodations in any city because we felt it was risky to book ahead of time when we were not 100% certain where we would be from night to night. We had a general itinerary, but did not want to be confined before even arriving in a particular city. When traveling to Europe, one must remember that many small places do not have the advertising exposure that large American hotel chains have. Many times, it took us walking around, in the blazing sun, carrying our 30 lb. backpacks and inquiring where we saw signs indicating available rooms. In 30 days, we were quite lucky and never had any major problems. As I stated before, of the 10+ places we stayed, Daphne B&B is on the top of the list. As with the other cities we traveled to, we had not pre-booked a room before arriving in Rome. We knew we wanted to stay by the Spanish Steps, as it is a hub of activity. So, we got on the metro to the vicinity we wanted to be in, and started looking at b&b?s , hotels, hostels and pensiones that we came across on foot. I did have some recommendations from travel guide books, but we found Daphne without any prior knowledge. Even though we were on an extremely tight budget, we felt like cleanliness, location and all-around pleasant accommodations were very important. I do not appreciate gerard0404?s derogatory comment, ?the things people fall for in Italy never cease to amaze me? and also calling myself and my companions ?wide-eyed travelers.? On my trip, I became a very savvy traveler and learned the art of bargaining and NOT falling for what seems to be a deal. We made an excellent decision to stay at Daphne based on each of our budgeted financial resources and the pleasant attitude with which she greeted us. Obviously, she wanted our business, but another pensione just two blocks over also wanted our business. The bedroom there consisted of two twin beds and a roll-away for a slightly higher price. Because of Elisa?s enthusiasm, willingness to accommodate us and just generally better/newer rooms, we made the wise decision to stay at her place. We did not feel duped or blinded by a deal. In other cities, we stayed at a few lower budget hotels, comparable to Daphne?s price, that had stained sheets, no air-conditioning and little room to move about, but we dealt with those inconveniences because they were in great locations and were within our budget. When Elisa came down on her price because of the pull-out couch addition, we happily accepted, as her small bed and breakfast had many other important attributes. She did have a larger room that perhaps may have ?complied with fire codes? but it was already rented, and to be honest, probably would have been out of our price range. Had we felt that the room she was offering us was hazardous to our safety, we are bright enough women to have rejected her offer and find alternative accommodations in which we felt safer. We got the best of both worlds: for the SMALL inconvenience of close-quarters (and we had previously stayed in smaller places), we got high-quality lodging for a great price. We shrewdly struck a deal with Elisa that not only got us a first-class place to stay within our post-college budget, but it also got her the business that her newly opened bed & breakfast was craving. We were not ?wide-eyed? or gullible tourists, we were smart travelers.

Please excuse the ?s in the above message. They are supposed to be quotation marks and apostrophes but, I suppose, were lost in the conversion.

I stayed at Daphne last month for 4 nights. My initial impression was positive. After 2 nights we came back to find the owner telling us she moved us to another room. We weren't exactly thrilled at having our things moved by someone else, plus, the room they moved us to was significantly smaller and right next to the bathroom that all the rooms shared. Then she told us we didn't need new room keys because the keys were the same for the 2 rooms. NICE SECURITY!

We didn't like the idea of the person in another room having access to my room. Plus, how did she know we wouldn't go in the room?!

If you want security Daphne is not the place to stay.

I recently stayed at Daphne and my problem is with the bathrooms! We stayed at their location with shared bath but were told they were remodeling their kitchen so we had to walk 3 blocks to their other location for breakfast - we were no told this when we made reservations. Their other location has only private bathrooms. We wanted to use a bathroom after breakfast, before we went out for the day. Public restrooms in Rome are not easily available. We were told there were no bathrooms available and that we had to go back to the location we had our room at.

This was a pain because we had to walk back 3 blocks and climb 3 flights of of stairs and then wait for the public bathroom. Plus, the other location is right by the metro and bus stops. We landed up skipping their breakfast. Ugh!

Daphne has been "remodeling" that kitchen for almost a year. I don't think it takes that long to redo a kitchen - even in Italy. Leads me to think they just don't have a kitchen - why lie?