Ron

Recently stayed at a 5 Star Hotel in Rome and found that the Air Conditioning was turned off from midnight to 7 AM. The front desk claimed it was a city law relating to pollution. Does anyone know it that is the case?

Don

To save money!

Paul

By popular referendum, the Italians voted against building nuclear power plants in their country. One of the consequences of this decision is that electricity in Italy is very expensive. Thus, to save money (as the prior poster noted) they turn off the AC. Other consequences include brown-outs in the countryside during peak periods. Just one small price to pay!!

Lorenzo

I am going to Rome in August and have paid an extra 25,000 lire for air conditioning. Did you pay an extra to have air? If not, that may be the reason why. If you did and they turned it off, I wonder if that means that mine will be shut off too? That would be a rip-off. I am going to call the hotel to find out....Thanks for the posting.

ellie

10 years ago, during July, we spent a few nights at the Hotel Quirnale - very pricey for us at the time, but we figured the extra cost for ac was worth it. When I called the front desk screaming like a lunatic upon waking up in a furnace in the middle of the night, I was told that sleeping with air conditioning was bad for the lungs....the street noise with the windows open made sleeping impossible - we were one cranky family during that visit!

Brian in Atlanta

Jeez. I've marked "Rome in Summer" off of my list.

guy

Wait a minute!!! Is this true of ALL hotels in Rome. I'm at the Excelsior--anyone know about it???

Ed

I was in the Excelsior a few years ago in August and slept through the night like a babe. I presume the A/C was on, but can't tell you for sure. Our windows were closed. <BR> <BR>Ed

Leslee

I was at the Excelsior last year in May - no problem with a/c then. Also, we had the most wonderful room - I strongly recommend that you ask for it if possible. I don't remember the number but I think it's the only one like it. It is at the end of the hallway and has a HUGE, beautiful terrace that extends out way beyond the others. Also has an automatic rollaway awning. Beautiful room and was same rate as room next door - our friends ended up in that room. Have fun!!!

greg

I decided to bring up this old thread since I am looking into travelling to Italy May-June, which seems to be about the allowed startup time of A/C.

I don't want to book a hotel (paying extra) thinking having an a/c means I can actually use it.

I did do search over the net looking for how this regulation works -- no luck.

Who regulates this and more importantly how does it work?

cruiseluv

I think it is up to the hotel. It is not a law that the hotel &quot;must&quot; turn the a/c off. When I've been in Italy in the summer my hotels didn't do it. Or if they did it I slept through it. But I remember reading about a hotel that would regularly do it( and then lie about it). I think it was Albergo Santa Chiara.

WillTravel

A quick search indicates that there are numerous regulations re air conditioning in Italy. In addition, electricity is relatively scarce and expensive, so if everyone used A/C as much as they wanted, blackouts are certain to occur.

I'm just guessing here, but I suspect that if you had a room with its own air conditioner, for which you pay several Euros a night to use, that might be more trustworthy than a hotel with central A/C installed, because the latter would be at the hotel's discretion.

Eloise

There are laws in Rome that only allow for heating for 8 hours per day in winter.

It does not surprise me then that, as WillTravel points out, there are laws governing air conditioning in summer.

ira

Hi G,

You have to check with each hotel to find out if the AC is a unit in your room, which you can control, or a central unit controlled by the hotel.

Where are you visiting?

Underhill

I just read that A/C in hotels is allowed only from June through September. Hope for a cool May.

platzman

As an off-season traveller, I have the opposite problem. I have noticed that hotels will turn up the heat during the middle of the day, and off it goes at bedtime.

Eloise

That fits in with what I was told by a property owner in Rome when I was there in October: from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. and from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m., if I recall correctly.