Hotel Domus Mea

On the face of it, it was a decent hotel with helpful receptionists, a good location and clean towels (these were all true), but it was a terrible experience. The absolute majority of the time, there was no water at all or only cold water but a thin trickle, traces of mould and a little bit of silverfish. Just keep in mind that if you plan to shower and brush your teeth at least once per trip, this place is not for you.

WARNING: running water service is unreliable in the mornings and evenings. If you like taking showers, brushing your teeth, or washing your hands, you will definitively not like it here. Also, the hotel is house in a couple of floors of an otherwise run down apartment building, with noisy neighbors, odors, an outdated and potentially hazardous elevator, etc.

First of all we booked a “suite”. That means that we expect a set of rooms, while there was only the bedroom (not too spacious) and the terrace. We arrived at 11am and the receptionist told us that the room was not ready and would not be ready before 2pm, but (regarding that the hotel has 4 rooms) I asked the receptionist to call us when the room was prepared. He agreed and called me to make sure my phone number was correct. - We are still waiting for that call-.
However, this was just the beginning of the problem. When we got there at night ready to use the jacuzzi (it was a very special couple moment that I planned very carefully), it was not working. Apparently there was not enough hot water to fill it. There was a letter from the hotel manager saying that they did not take responsibility on this since it is a Rome government policy to control water shortage: BUT I PAYED FOR A SUITE WITH JACUZZI, SO IF THE HOTEL IS NOR RESPONSIBLE FOR THE JACUZZI NOT WORKING OT SHOULD NOT TAKE MONEY FROM IT.
We even tried to use it just with 5 fingers of water (no more was coming out of the sink) but it got cold instantly and the jacuzzi machine did not warm it up.
The following morning, we were getting ready to leave at 11 am and some hotel staff started knocking on our door 15 mins before check out time. We expected a lot more politeness and respect from a 3 stars hotel. We felt cheated and kicked out.

As with pretty much every hotel in Italy: caveat emptor. They’re pretty much allowed to put however many stars they want on the door, and say whatever they want to get you to book.

This is not actually a real hotel, as the name would imply, it is a guest house, with no lobby or common areas. It’s an apartment building with a couple of floors of rooms. Once we figured out that this was the right address (our taxi missed it twice because we were looking for an actual hotel), we pressed the Intercom outside to get buzzed into a nondescript apartment building and went up a short flight of stairs to an old tiny elevator, went to the 5th floor where there’s a “front desk.” Checked in there and went to the room.

The room itself was nice looking enough, but the moment I got onto the bed it was clear this was not “memory foam beds” as the description proudly boasted. This was my major selling point after spending 5 nights in a variety of other uncomfortable beds. I was hoping to splurge and get a good night’s sleep. These are very poor quality, cheap beds. The AC makes a loud buzzing sound every couple of minutes, which is jarring. The curtains are not blackout and the room was fully bright by 8 am.

On the positive side: it’s pretty quiet at night. But once morning hits, expect lots of noise. Shower is barely a dribble (and sometimes just stops altogether and nothing comes out — pic included of shower “on” — and no phone in room to call front desk. Water, when it’s flowing, is lukewarm at be at. The blow dryer looks to be from the 1970’s, and is attached to the wall. Pic included.

For 440 Euros for one night, this was probably the worst deal I found in all of Italy.

Overall, disappointing.

The hotel stay itself is not bad but more of a hostel type room than luxury. The reservation was made blind for us. It's not the greatest overall area. The hot water is on a schedule and does stop after 11pm. It's a very small shower. The service was nice, and James was very informative and personable. Maybe good for students, but we will not be staying again.