If you're looking for budget in Rome, The Beehive promotes itself as the "most stylish and contemporary of Rome's budget hotels and hostels". Not only is it relatively cheap (from €70 for a double private room--or just €20 for a bunk bed in a hostel room), it's also kinda cool.
Opened by an American couple in 1999, The Beehive is proud to use organic olive oil and recycled toilet paper, it has a yoga space and is strongly against culturally-cringy pub crawls and charging for internet access. In fact, the owners sum it all up kinda nicely themselves (just try and read through the necessary self-promotional overtones):
We pride ourselves on being a stylish, contemporary and ecologically minded budget hotel with impeccably kept facilities, knowledgeable, accommodating staff and an artistic sense of modern design at an affordable price.
The Beehive also has a handy location near one of Rome's main train stations, plus a resident cat, Igmar. What else does a budget hotel need?
If you plan on heading to Rome this summer, why not really do as the Romans do? Or did at one point in time.
The Rome Cavalieri Hilton is offering guests the opportunity to learn old-school gladiator moves. Yup, if you envied Russell Crowe in the movie Gladiator, then you can learn all the tricks of his trade.
The hotel has paired up with the Gruppo Storico Romano--a group devoted to the ancient gladiator culture--to create the Cavalieri Gladiator Training program. The one-day only lesson begins in the hotel's 15-acre private park with you and the other seven participants chanting the ritual gladiator chant: "Ave Cesare! Morituri te salutant" which translates to "Hail Caesar! Those who are about to die salute you." Radical!
For the record, we could care less about the TomKat wedding. It just seems like another big ole publicity stunt for the couple, timed to coincide with the DVD release of Mission Impossible III.
Ok, so that DVD came out like three weeks ago but still. Isn't weird that the couple first started dating right before "War of the Worlds" then had a baby right before "Mission Impossible III"? And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to rumours about the crazy couple.
But nonetheless, we must focus on what's going on in Italia, thanks to the celebrity-studded wedding guest list.
For the last week, the couple has been staying at the Hassler Villa Medici hotel in Rome where paparazzi and tourists have swarmed the place in hopes of catching glimpses of the couple and baby Suri (which the paparazzi succeeded in doing.)
The actual wedding will take place at the 15th- century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy, probably this Saturday. Already celebs like J.Lo, Will Smith, and John Travolta are in town for the nuptials. There are a few hotels and inns to stay at in the town but chances are they are already booked up. Even the paparazzi can't get a break with the town's mayor "charging reporters 1,000 euros ($1,279) for positions in the town's historic archives, which face the castle, and 300 euros to park a satellite truck."
There's been some buzz going around lately that travel writers haven't really been giving us the full truth about the destinations they've been visiting. Mostly because the hotel or it's PR department is paying for their trip.
So we've pulled out our dusty referee whistle and looked closley at the reviews for Hotel Arcangelo. Recently, MSNBC Travel writer John Frenaye at this hotel in Rome with his family and found it great:
The room was fabulous, the daily breakfast was more than adequate and the service was sublime.
Hmm, but our research says that the rooms are dirty, the staff can be rude, and well, see for yourself on the breakfast:
The breakfast is basic continental and just about adequate, with tasteless coffee, no choice of cereals. The ham had ants running about on it on some mornings.
This was just one of several breakfast complaints and there were far more criticisms against the cleanliness of the room.
What can we say? We side with the majority. Although there is a chance that Frenaye did just happen to hit the Arcangelo on a good day. Either way do your research pre-booking.
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
For first-timers visiting Rome, the Albergo del Sole Al Pantheon is a great hotel to hit up. Look at this view from Room 18, you cannot beat the location.
This is the view from my hotel room in Rome - the Pantheon and the Piazza that surrounds it. I ate breakfast across the piazza every morning and would watch the people going by every night while I enjoyed some gelato.
Of course, there is a downside to all of this as rooms with this view tend to suffer from the outside noise. The hotel also has an eccentric layout (it was built in 1450) with lots of three- or four-step staircases and crazy room decor. But if you start to miss America, simply visit the McDonald's downstairs.
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by juliana
There's been some buzz going around lately that travel writers haven't really been giving us the full truth about the destinations they've been visiting. Mostly because the hotel or it's PR department is paying for their trip.
