Any comments regarding Hotel Oceania in Rome? We are looking for a reasonable hotel that is well located. HOtel Britannia was also suggested but comments seem mixed. Any informatin will be helpful. Thank you.

Sorry meant HOtel Oceania...

Stayed there this past June on my honeymoon for 3 nights, loved it. Wrote a review on www.tripadvisor.com and on this website.
We will be staying there again in May when we pass through Rome.
I will try to find my review and post it to this thread...
-Jill

This was my review:

"3 nights in Rome - Hotel Oceania, Room 11, E138 per night for a double with a private bathroom, breakfast, small refrigerator, TV which we never turned on, and air-conditioning. This hotel was right off Via Firenze near the police station (close to the Quirinal Palace), consequently we felt very safe wandering around our neighborhood late into the night because there were policemen at little "kiosks" along the streets and also guarding the entrance to most of the buildings around us. It was about a 10 minute brisk walk to the Pantheon.
Our room was spacious for Italian standards and very quiet. The hotel owners were extremely friendly and mapped out routes and shortcuts for us every morning on a map they provided to us. They speak excellent English and there is even a flat-panel plasma TV in the lounge if you want to watch TV in Rome for some reason...?? Breakfast was very nice and served by a maid in the breakfast room from 8am to 10am, though we fudged on the times a bit and it was never a problem. We were most touched to find a bottle of excellent champagne, a note of congratulations, and 2 champagne flutes in out room when we first checked in. They must have checked our original email inquiry which stated we would be on our honeymoon. We will definitely stay here again!!"


We paid cash, which may have been why we got the room rate that we did. We received the same rate for this coming May. The AC was great in this hotel. The only other thing I remember that I did not mention was that shampoo was provided and that the hotel staff were absolutely WONDERFUL about mapping out the best ways to get where you wanted to go for all their guests.

We stayed at Oceania las tMay & I totally agree that it was a very nice place to stay. I think we may have paid even less than what the previous post paid. They also have free internet service. We walked everywhere. However, we liked the restaurants on Via Condotti better. Have fun!

Hello TexasAggie-

What a surprise to get a response from an Aggie... I am not sure if I can trust a post from an Aggie.....Go Horns!!!!! Totally just kidding!!!!!

Many thanks for the reply concerning Hotel Oceania. I found the hotel in the Steves book but could not find information about it in any other travel books- thus I became nervous. This will be our first trip to Rome and we want to make sure that our hotel is clean, close to major attractions and safe. We are used to staying at upscale hotels but the prices in Rome are high so we are looking for economical rates which are hard to find. Hotel Oceania is economical (certainly not by US standards...no Four Seasons Hotel priceline deals to find in Rome). Thanks again for the information. I feel much better knowing that a Texan stayed at the hotel and liked it. Any other information will be helppful...we are traveling with two teenagers... yikes.

LOL, my husband is a Longhorn!! Things get a little tense in our home the day after Thanksgiving every year ;-)

While not luxurious in the sense of a Four Seasons, the rooms at Oceania were certainly nicer than what one would find at a "basic" hotel here in the US (Holiday Inn for example). I'd compare the furnishings more to an Embassy Suites.

This is a "brain dump" of everything else I remember about the hotel.

There was a hair drier in our room which is not always the case in Europe. It wasn't as powerful as the 1800 watt drier that I use at home, but it got the job done. The towels are not large and are thin, but this is just the case in most European hotels - no fluffy large towels.

There is a small elevator in the hotel, very useful if you have luggage.

The walk from the train station to the hotel is very doable, but would be more comfortable by taxi if you have a lot of luggage.

I don't remember any restaurants near the hotel that looked enticing. We normally ate closer to the attractions and then took a cab home (or walked if we had overeaten and felt we needed the additional exercise!).

Breakfast consisted of cakes, breads, pies, and cereals. There may have been fruit. I don't recall there being any sort of meat or cheese...

I apologize for replying to a thread about a hotel I did not stay at. But I did stay at a hotel on Via Nazionale close to Via Firenze (where the Oceania is). I did not find the location very walkable from the train station with luggage. I suppose you could take the metro one stop from Termini to the Republica stop, and it would only be a few blocks from there.

Again, I can't comment on the hotel itself, but this was not my favorite area to stay in Rome. Not a bad or dangerous area, just not as enjoyable as other neighborhoods I've stayed in. It's do-able, though.

Forgot to add: would recommend taking a taxi to hotel over walking or metro. The most I paid for a taxi ride there for three people was 7 euro or so.

Jolie-

Thanks for the reply. Sounds like you have been to Rome on several occasions. Is there a hotel you prefer? We are traveling with two teenagers and are budget minded. Need to stay around the 190-200 eur range for a double. Any ideas of a hotel that might be in a better location?

I really liked this hotel, and its location: http://www.hoteljulia.it

I haven't checked out the adjacent apartments, but they get good reviews: http://www.domusjulia.it

TexasAggie-

I really appreciate all the info. By the way, I don't mind the aggie part... my husband is a horn and I graduated (many many many years ago) from LSU... Isn't it funny how years after we graduate, we still define ourselves by where we went to college. Thanks again for the facts about Oceania. It's good to talk with someone who actually stayed there. It's our first trip to Rome, so I am a bit nervous.

Thanks again!

Ann

Sorry- 190-200 for a quad, not double.

AnnieGoo -

I guess my favorite Rome hotel was the Santa Maria, in the Trastevere area. It wasn't a luxury hotel or anything, and the double rooms were (at the time) around 160 euro. They claimed to have been a former convent or something, turned into a hotel (don't know if that's true).

But it was the neighborhood that I really liked, it just had a better "feel" to it - and there were wonderful restaurants all over that neighborhood, practically around every corner.

It could just be my personal preference for this neighborhood. But like I said, I stayed near the Termini area too, and there's nothing wrong with it . . . I just enjoyed this other area so much more.

Jolie-

Yes- I am familiar with the Santa Maria. It looks absolutely charming and wonderful. Just what we are looking for and frankly the type of hotel we like but it is booked during that time and it is much more expensive.. triples start at 345... so I am still searching. Thanks so much for your help!

It was in the building. You walk in the entrance and go straight instead of up the staircase in front of you, and there is the small elevator. I fit in it with my large backpack, but it was a tight fit.

You are starting to scare me. Can you please limit your posts to comments on the subject matter and not me personally?

Who the heck CARES if the word "Hotel" is used incorrectly...please fued elsewhere.

I have no aliases..I've been posting on this board since 2000 with the same name.

Lionel, will you PLEASE just go away and stop harassing me JUST because I posted a favorable review on a hotel I happen to like and a negative review about one you happen to like?? Geez - it is a DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. Get over it. It's a free country and I can have my own opinion. So can you. And guess what? They can be DIFFERENT.

Stop posting rants slandering my name and making accusations about me owning this hotel all over this board. I have a great job as an accountant in Colorado and lovely as Italy is, I'd never ever want to live there (or leave the professional business arena go into the hotel business).

We all know you live in Italy by now, your use of the English language makes that quite apparent. If you say it is 8KM I'm not going to argue or childishly dig up a map to debate any further with you. All I remember is that my husband and I walked there in what seemed like about 10 minutes. Maybe it was 15 minutes, forgive me for not having a stop watch on my honeymoon. All I ever did was post an hoest review about a hotel I liked (same as I did for the other hotels we stayed at).

So, is this the place you all are talking about?

http://www.hoteloceania.it/

If so, what is the arguement about? Even on the website, they call themselves a Hotel.

Lionel, take your argument up with the owners of the "hotel" and leave this board alone.