ranmalie

Appreciate any recent reviews on Hotel Fontanella Borghese. We are planning a trip to Rome, Florence and Venice in September and would appreciate any positive feed back on hotels in these cities. We are looking for hotels in the $ 200 - $ 250 range, maximum $ 300/ night. Cleanliness, access to elevator, and comfortable beds are important as well as location . Guess I am being optimistic in looking for all these for the price I am willing to pay?

Zerlina

Your priorities are perfectly within reach of your budget. In several dacades of travel to and in Italy, I haven't come across a hotel that was not clean. All three-star and up hotels have elevators. Whether a bed is comfortable is a subjective thing; I found almost all of mine comfortable, and none of them was so worn that I slid into a groove in the middle. All my hotels have been in central locations, within walking distance of many points of interest and with good transport connections to others.

Go to www.venere.com and enter your dates, price range (in USD or Euro) and preferred location. It will show you what is available. Guest ratings (by people who have actually stayed there) are more reliable than star ratings. Four-star hotels, for example, often get the fourth star because they have on-site restaurants, but they cater to tour groups and the food is often terrible.

ekscrunchy

That hotel is in a great location. I visited a few years back but did not stay there. I have it on my list for the future.

primeranoche

I wish I could say the same as Zerlina when it comes to Rome. I have sadly found hotels that weren't clean. Always check user recent user reviews with Tripadvisor and venere.com.

I can also personally recommend Pensione Barrett in your price range for a great location and amenities.

tuscanlifeedit

We have stayed in the Hotel Fontanella Borghese's sister hotel, The Due Torri. It was just fine for the price, and I would think that the FB would be, too, as they have the same owner.

I prefer the Hotel Portoghesi, very near, to either of the two hotels mentioned above. Just putting in a ramdom date in September, I found their standard double was 200 euro. We've stopped staying there simply because we now go to Europe much more often than we used to, and take apartments for less money. But I would still choose the Portoghesi if it was in my budget.

I looked at a couple of B&Bs in area, that had good prices, before deciding on an apartment. Here's one that was discussed on Fodor's:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rologio-bb.cfm

Jean

We've stayed at the Fontanella Borghese three times and would stay there again. Clean and comfortable. Rooms are average size; bathrooms are small. The hotel entrance is not at the street. You enter a large door common for the building and then cross an interior courtyard. I like this separation. Coming back to the hotel after a day of sightseeing, there is a feeling of leaving the crowds behind. You take an elevator to the lobby level which I think is on the 3rd floor.

The FB is offering a 4th night free after 3 paid nights for most dates in 2010 which might put it within your budget and lower than the Portoghesi.

Location is very subjective, but I prefer the FB's location at the end of the via Condotti, a short walk to the Spanish Steps and the metro station there. Just a couple of blocks from the hotel is the small Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina which is a lovely area in the evening.

If you book at the FB, be aware that the street at the back of the hotel is used by evening walking tours and there is a restaurant nearby. If you want as quiet a room as possible, ask for one not overlooking via Torretta.

http://www.fontanellaborghese.com/home_ing.html

ranmalie

Thank you all for the responses. I never knew of Venere.com, but use tripadvisor a lot!! I will check the Portoghesi as well. Anybody stayed at Relais le Clarisse at Trastvetere?

Jean, it is good to hear you had a positive experience at FB. They gave me a rate of 180 Euros for September for a DBL. Can you please verify something else for me? In the FB website they indicate due to the strategic location of the hotel, cars cannot come up to the hotel. What does that mean? I would not want to carry luggage if we cannot bring a taxi right up to the hotel!

Thanks again!

Jean

You could email your question to the hotel, but I'm fairly certain they are referring to the fact that taxis can't enter the interior courtyard and that you'd be dropped in front of the building. I'm not great with distances, but I'd guess the walk across the interior court to the elevator is about 30 yards.

Depending on how much luggage you have, you'll probably have to make two trips up in the elevator. (Very small elevators are fairly common in Italy.) Alternatively, one person could go up and request assistance while the second person stays below with the luggage.

I very highly recommend that you use luggage with wheels. Even if you plan to use land and water taxis everywhere, airports would be very difficult to navigate with traditional, old-school luggage.

Jean

Go to maps.google.com and type in "Hotel Fontanella Borghese Rome Italy." Then zoom in, and you'll see that the building is a square circle. Google puts the red location pin at the front of the building, but the hotel occupies the back portion of the building (bottom of the screen). If you click on "street view," you can see the front door of the building where a taxi would drop you. (Presumably the street construction in the Google photo has now been completed, but you could ask the hotel that question too.)

violetduck

We stayed at FB several years ago, good location, clean and
average furnishings. I can't remember about the breakfast but
know the staff was extremely nice and helpful and made the
extra nice effort to always call us by name when we appeared. They were very helpful with suggestions, maps, etc. We would
stay there again. I believe the Spanish Embassy was directly
across from it and they always had security in front. The street door one enters to go to the hotel entry (which is an elevator) is into a small courtyard and no vehicles could enter. Have a good trip!!!!!