Aleph Rome Hotel, Curio Collection By Hilton

I was really disappointed with this hotel. I’ll start with the negatives and then give the positives. The entry way is small and frequented by smokers, almost ensuring you will be greeted by smoke every time you arrive. They occasionally leave the doors open which lets the lobby fill with the smell of cigarettes. I also don’t know why but there was this unbearable nail polish smell in the lobby and occasionally the elevator.

When we went to our room the first time the key didn’t work so I had to go back down to get it to work. There was no room upgrade as a gold member. The upgrade isn’t guaranteed though so this is just a neutral point. The view from the room was a courtyard and the walls of the building. The room and bathroom were small, no bigger than 3 star hotels we had stayed at earlier in the stay. The AC didn’t work so the room often got quite stuffy.

The door also makes a very loud buzzing sound whenever someone opens it and the lights will sometimes turn on automatically. This can be quite annoying if there are two guests and one enters while the other is trying to sleep. I often go running in the morning while my girlfriend is still sleeping. One time when I entered the lights suddenly all turned on, cutting her short sleep.

We got to experience the rooftop pool. It is pretty small and the water quite cold. The view from the rooftop isn’t quite what you would expect. There is also a poolside menu. We were looking forward to getting some drinks but there was no one to order from during our 60 minutes at the pool.

The front desk workers are all extremely polite. They try to help when they can. We also got to use the spa for free as Gold members. This was a great perk and we both really enjoyed it. The TV in our room had Google Chromecast which let us watch streaming services that we weren’t able to watch at our other hotel stays.

As others have said in their reviews, the breakfast buffet is quite nice. This was another great perk for booking as a Gold member. The location is pretty good. We could access the Spanish steps, trevi fountain and colosseum all fairly easily. The first two on foot, and third by subway. If coming by taxi, keep in mind there isn’t really a place for taxis to stop in front of the hotel, which perhaps could be a bit of a surprise for a five star hotel. When we got picked up on our final day, we had to hurry our bags into the taxi with other cars honking behind. Not an ideal, but still fitting final impression as we left the hotel.

In the end, I would think there could be better hotels to be found in Rome. If you book this hotel not expecting a five star experience it can help manage expectations. There were still several positives and with a better lobby smell, better room view, working AC, and attentive poolside bar staff I could definitely see others having a pretty good stay here.