Rome Hotel $30 or less ?
 

Is it possible to get air-con decent hotel under USD 30 a night twin in Rome in September?

look into hostels and convents.
decent air-cond hotel - i highly doubt it.

No.

I don't think you would be happy with it, if you did find one.

Probably not. Check out a convent or a hostel...

ssachida, even the convents in Rome are charging 60€ and up! James, September is a popular month in Rome so that will work against you, unfortunately. Perhaps if you check the Lonely Planet website you might have some luck finding an inexpensive place. We were in Rome in early September and had no need for A/C so don't worry too much about that part. You have enough to think about finding a place that charges what you want to pay!

Best if you start thinking in euro which means you're looking for a room with air con for less than 22 euro per night.

Also your definition of 'decent' is...?

Would a bed in a hostel dormitory work for you?

$30 is only 23 euros. I'm not sure you can even get a hostel for that - definitely not for two people. And if you search above I think you'll find the convents charge significantly more than that for 2 people. This simply is not a reasonable amount of money.

Here James, take a look at this hotel. It's fairly close to your rates (though I can't personally vouch for it; I got it from googling "cheap accomodations Rome" to tell you the truth).

https://www.hotelpapagermano.it/english.php

I'm just trying to figure out if we can manage a week or so there, doesn't look possible, we managed Croatia and Greece before 'just' but obviously though other parts of Europe would not be possible pricewise. If we stretched to USD 50 would that make any difference, sorry but we are used to local hotel prices, flights we can get easily for fairly cheap price but with a lot about Rome on TV recently we just though it might be possible.

Now you're up to about 38 Euros per night, which will barely get you two hostel dorm beds (and not at the best hostels either).

Take a look at Hostelworld.com and see if you find anything that comes close. But keep in mind the costs of transit. You could do camping perhaps - there is a campground on the outskirts of Rome.

Hi

Try this site http://ihousing.iagora.com/Room_Avai.../listings.html

There may be an option for homestays with families. Also Universities have semester breaks and in some cities they rent out student accommodation. Maybe contact the Tourist bureau for any info on these options.

Camping (bungalows available) is another option. Try http://www.campingtiber.com.

If you leave your visit to the second half of September (better anyway - crowds have thinned and weather is mild) you can get around the need for air-con. This may open up your options considerably.

Good luck.

Years ago we stayed very inexpensively at a large campground in Rome and took the bus to the Coliseum, St. Peter's. etc. There were lots of families and even older couples staying there as well as lots of young people.

Also consider staying at a small town outside of Rome and going into Rome by bus or train. The lodging prices usually go down a lot outside of big cities.

Did you search for Beehive on this site? A friend of ours stayed in very inexpensive Beehive apartments in Rome and in other cities in Italy last year.

You would probably need to look into staying in a room in someone's house or flat, for that kind of $s. Even so, they will probably NOT have air-conditioning. A room with AC will run you closer to 3 figures in that town..

Wow, thanks so for such amazing info, I almost feel embarrased being so way off track on the prices!!
A few years back maybe hostels but now with kids along my wife casually mentioned that a trip to Rome ( watching too much TV ! ) would be great if we could get a nice hotel for a reasonable price, we normally go about 3 star, I thought this would be the case as we almost broke the bank doing Croatia and Greece, would it drop substantialy say early October or should I just quit the idea?

No, the prices are not going to drop much by October. Do you need a quad room for a family?

Thanks Will, yes, I should have mentioned, was thinking $30 per room and 2 rooms, then $50, so I guess we could stretch to USD 100 tops per night if we could get a room ok for 2 adults and 2 kids.

Look through the Rome hostels at http://www.bugeurope.com and hostels and other accommodation at http://www.hostelworld.com .

It's barely possible you could get a 4-bed room for that price, although A/C is very doubtful.

Is either of your children under 3? If so, you could manage the following place for 95 Euros per night:
http://www.casalasalle.com/uk/prenotazioni.php

US$100 is about 77 Euros.

JamesA - consider cutting the stay back to 4+ days and upping the budget to $135/$150 (€100 to €115) or there abouts.

But I am very curious, you say you are used to $30 and 3 star -- where on Earth are the "local hotel prices" that low for that quality??

The HI hostel in Rome would fall under that budget, and you probably could get a family room:
http://www.ostellionline.org/ostello.php?idostello=228

I want to echo Janis' question.... where do you live? I have three children and have just begun to look into hotels in Italy... it is hard enough to find quad rooms... much less at that price!

Janis, I wasn't necessarily thinking 3 star in Italy for $30 but something maybe 2 star but nice, or going to $50 per room or $100 ( 75 euro )for 4 of us, am used to SE Asia prices.

Typically an apartment for a week works out much cheaper than 2 hotel rooms. I found a couple of cheaper apartments for about 85E per night last oct. I used www.romeaparthotels.com. The apartment we rented was just called "apartment 3". It's a nice apartment in a great location but is up 4 floors of steep stairs.

Hi

For an apartment try http://www.ahomeinrome.com. Near the Vatican for 650E pw for 4 people.

James - what is the rest of your budget? You are asking about lodging for a certain price, but have you thought about what else you plan to spend. Like on food. I've found in trying to travel inexpensively, that food is one way to cut down. I won't stay in "questionable" hotels so I usually up my hotel budget a bit (my family of four stayed in an airconditioned hotel in Rome in a quad room but it was € 150 so much higher than your budget). But we made up for it by eating pizza for just about every meal. We also walked rather than taking public transportation (certainly not taxis) and that's another savings. Just something to think about.

Thanks so much for all the help, I followed a lot og those links findly offered and found lowest would be about Eruo 140 for September but found a place for Euro 95 in August ( prices were cheaper until early September and then went up ), but was very basic very budget accommodation, I don't mind paying good money for good accommodation but even the glossy photos couldn't hide that it was very very 'simple' accommodation, but converting that to local currency it is still very expensive indeed ( well, for us here anyway ), I agree with Isabel on food and travel, almost too scared to ask about eating costs, I think we will have to stick within our region , I won't think a 4 star Sofitel is expensive for $48!

JamesA - I'm right there with you as I recently moved from the Asia board to start planning our trip to Europe. Italy is a different world from Thailand in more ways than one! We are going to stay in convents in at least a couple of places. There are some with very good locations and decent price.

If your willing to go about 110 euro for 4, check out Residence San Pantaleo. This is a simple, clean, b&b hotel in one of the best locations in Rome.

James, as you are finding it is simply not fair to compare costs of SE Asia to a hugely popular major urban center in Europe.

I can't even get a hotel room with A/C in Mexico for 30USD (with fan only, yes).

$30 hotel in Rome is unreal.
sorry.

I don't think I could bring myself to stay in a 30 dollar a night hotel.

The last time I found a decent hotel in europe for $30 per night was 1984 - and it was in a small town - not a major city.

Go to www.itwg.com. Click on Rome and go from there to search. You just may find something in your price range, although I highly doubt it. If you do, it'll be a rather seedy affair, close to the Termini train station. You should be concerned about safety as well. There may be an air conditioner available, but it will be at the McDonald's restaurant, not in your hotel. The price you're seeking would be considered extremely low even in the off-season at a hostel or convent. To expect that rate, with air, in September- is nearly impossible. I am one who never closes the door on any option but this looks like a death wish. If you don't have enough money for the minimum accommodation, I'd recommend that you work a little bit longer and put some aside. Remember that you get what you pay for.

^^^

Have you thought about doing a home exchange?

I'm curious why this four month old post was suddenly brought back up. But meanwhile I think it's interesting that a month after this original post, JamesA posted a bit of search advice to others about how to search for a budget hotel in Rome. It would be nice if he'd come back here and tell us what if anything he found for his trip next month -- if it's still on.

IS THIS A JOKE?

hi patrick- Someone was asking about central, clean, cheap hotels in Rome yesterday and I remembered this "classic"... sorry didn't mean to annoy.

Oy Suzie! Don't apologize. He's always annoyed...