Al Porticciolo

Boutique hotel, clean rooms, nice views, excellent service, heard the restaurant was really good but they were booked solid. Easy access to shops and restaurants. Area felt safe with lots of families and pets walking along the sea walls

I was really surprised how my room was equipped inside. Everything was new, modern and was extremely liked by me. Hotel staff is trained on 5 star hotel level staff. It is very difficult to find the hotel on google street view. It does not look attractive from outside. As for inside, it is something like a spaceship. I am pretty sure my room was designed by someone with high level designer skills. The only disappointment during my staying was "fully booked" restaurant. I knew it is managed by hotel owner and offers Michelin like "haute cuisine". I could also leave a positive review on it, but the owner told me it is "fully booked" and it seems to me it was not true, at least I saw available places on terrace. Anyway, he missed opportunity to read positive review on his restaurant as for the hotel! :) Also it should be noted there is no shuttle bus managed by hotel. You need to take taxi for 15 Euro (fixed rate) to get airport. At least it was no available shuttle bus at 6:45/7:00 on Saturday morning.

Before any other details, know this: The hotel does NOT have its own airport shuttle and the schedule of pickup times at Fiumicino Airport is absolutely meaningless!!!!! If you call the hotel from the airport and ask why there is no shuttle at the designated time and place, you will be told to take a taxi (for 150% the cost of the shuttle--that may or may not actually exist). If you ask any more questions about the shuttle and why it is not where it is supposed to be, you will be made to feel like an idiot. When you ask about the shuttle at the desk in the hotel, they treat you like an imbecile. This was truly a "Bizarro" hotel experience--it's either love or hate. If you speak to certain members of the staff at the desk they will look at you with a blank smile and then LITERALLY walk away without saying anything. The middle-aged woman who worked the desk in the afternoon/evening could alternate between pleasant and rude in a matter of minutes. What a difference a few hours makes! In the morning, there was a young lady working the desk who could not have been more friendly, attentive and pleasant. She made a nice cappuccino, delivered on a silver tray and explained all the juices and croissants included with the breakfast. She even confirmed my SCHEDULED shuttle trip to the airport without my inquiring (I was still gun-shy about asking about the shuttle from the night before). As for the rooms: The hallway and stairway looked a little beat up. The room was small but nicely appointed. Quite a bit of noise during the night--especially due to a windy rainstorm. Somewhere in the hotel, there had to be a loose shutter outside one of the windows because it was banging for hours. It was either a shutter or another guest who missed the shuttle and needed a washcloth slamming his door every 28 seconds. Not sure because I eventually fell asleep. The bed was super comfortable and the room was clean, but the toilet seat was broken, as was the shower door. Another thing you must know about Italy. There are no washcloths! Anywhere!! Unless you bring your own washcloths, you will be washing with a large face towel, which is akin to brushing your teeth with a broom. If you look up the Italian word for "washcloth" in Google Translate, it's defined as "Stai scherzando, vero?" (You're kidding, right?)* Since I only paid $54 for the room, this is a classic case of "You get what you pay for." I did, however, have to shell out 9 Euro more for the taxi than the (phantom) 6 Euro shuttle, so, technically, you could add about $11 to the room cost for perspective. Still, $54 is cheaper than the Motel 6 in the "hood" where I live in Phoenix--and there were no crack addicts in this hotel, to the best of my knowledge...unless that was a crack addict banging his door over the shuttle and washcloth. Americans must always lower their standards for accommodations when staying in Italy. That is a given. *This is a joke