After arriving on our Etihad Airways 777-300 business class flight, we needed to check into our hotel. For this specific trip, we decided to stay at the Palm Suites Rome.
We really enjoyed staying here, as it is as very neat vibe in a historical building. Each room has a unique funky decor, but we appreciated the quiet respite after long days exploring Rome.
It’s not as full-service as you would hope for nicer hotels, but I think it serves it’s purpose for two reasons. First, you can also absolutely take advantage of parts of its sister property, the Palazzo Manfredi.1 Second, if you are looking to stay close to some of the major historical sites of Rome, but with a bit more refined room, and are okay with less full-service amenities, I highly recommend staying here.
Booking the Palm Suites Rome
I have top-tier status with Hyatt, so I try to stay at Hyatt properties during my travels. When I booked the Palm Suites Rome, this was during the time that Hyatt had a partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
For this particular stay, the Palm Suites was categorized as a category 7 hotel. Each night cost 30,000 Hyatt points per night. Over our 4 night stay, we paid 120,000 Hyatt points.
Unfortunately, Small Luxury Hotels of the World no longer partners with Hyatt, so you can’t use your Hyatt points to book this anymore. However, Small Luxury Hotels of the World now partners with Hilton. While not currently bookable, I expect for the Palm Suites Rome to be bookable with Hilton Honors points soon.
If I were a betting man, given what I paid in Hyatt points, I would expect this to be bookable for between 100,000 and 120,000 Hilton points per night (with the 5th night free for Hilton elite members).
Update (9/19/2024): The Palm Suites Rome is now bookable on Hilton’s website. I am seeing availability for 95,000 Hilton Honors points per night.
Palm Suites Rome Location
Housed in an 18th century palace, the Palm Suites Rome really is close to all of the major ancient sites around Rome. You walk out the front door at see the Colosseum! You really can’t have a better location if you are there to see all of the historic sites.
The exact address is:
Via del Colosseo, 20, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Note that if you are trying to get around the city via public transit, you are literally a stone’s throw away from the Colosseo metro stop. Public transit in Rome is not very extensive, so we mostly walked.2 However, we did use it to get to the Vatican City one morning. This truly covers all of the major historical sites.
I mentioned earlier in this section that the hotel is housed in an 18th century palace. Obviously, that makes it a historical building, and the renovation to turn it into a hotel had to deal with the historical commission. It also has some quirks because of it. For example, our room had a giant open area in the ceiling leading to an “attic” of sorts. Obviously, this did not connect to any other room, but they still had to keep the opening. It didn’t bother us at all, as we didn’t hear anyone. Just something to highlight (and no easy way to incorporate it into the actual review of the room).
Palm Suites Rome Check-in (Office Closed)
Our flight into Rome landed at about 5:45AM. As we were flying business class, we were off the flight and through immigration quite quickly. We hopped into a taxi and made our way into the city.
About two weeks before our arrival, I received an email from the Palm Suites Rome. Whoever responded informed us that the front desk for the Palm Suites Rome is only staffed between the hours of 7:30AM and 10:00PM. I was kind of shocked at this, but, as you’ll see below, it makes sense. Given that, if we were to arrive outside of those hours, we could bring our luggage to the Palazzo Manfredi, where they would both store our luggage and transport it to the Palm Suites Rome free of charge.
We were to arrive at the hotel around 7:15 or so. Given that we knew our room likely wouldn’t be ready, and we wanted to go sightseeing immediately so we wouldn’t get in bed, we just went to the Palazzo Manfredi to drop off our luggage.
A doorman helped us get our luggage in. I gave the front desk attendant our name, and he told me he would call the Palm Suites to see if they had opened early. They had, so he then called us a cab to get to the Palm Suites. He also printed off a cab ticket to pay for that cab, which the doorman took care of for us by giving it to the taxi driver and explaining it. We did not need to pay anything.
Palm Suites Rome Check-in (Office Open)
When we got to the Palm Suites Rome, you have to enter in through an old gate. This gate is locked for security purposes, but there is a callbox right outside. We hit the button, told them who we were, and the office unlocked the gate. We walked into the courtyard and headed inside.
The “lobby” is really just an office. We formally checked in, and they told us they would call us once our room was ready, as we were arriving before 8AM, and someone was currently in it. They also told us that they would hold our luggage for us and put it in the room once the room was ready.
They then offered us a coffee and a pastry. The first of many in Rome! We enjoyed them in the courtyard above. We then went and explored the whole day.
Around noon local time, I received a Whatsapp text letting me know our room was ready. We headed back to the hotel to head up to the room.
When we arrived, the front desk attendant walked us to our room.
We took the elevator. You can also take the stairs.
Once we arrived at our room, she explained the keys to us (they are literal keys!), as well as how to get breakfast. We then entered our room.
Palm Suites Rome Room
Before I go over the layout of our particular room, two things.
First, given the historic nature of the property, every room has a unique design and a unique layout. No two rooms are alike.
Second, upon arrival, we had a bottle of Italian sparkling wine (yum) and some candied fruit already in the room. It was a nice way to start off our time in Rome.
Our room was on the 2nd floor at the end of the hall and was room 23. The hallways were quite beautiful, with tons of marble and beautiful art.
For this hotel, you have a set of literal keys. As you’ll see above, one key is for the room itself, and one key is for the gate to get into the courtyard.
Upon entering the room, you will notice immediately that they have an incredibly funky vibe. I was a huge fan. They had a fantastic interior designer, if you ask me.
The layout of the room was interesting, but, given the historic nature of the hotel, I see why they chose to do what they did. Typically, when you enter a large hotel room or suite with multiple rooms, you walk into a dining room/living room, with a separate door into a bedroom.
This room was the opposite. You entered into the bedroom, with a separate door going into the living room/dining room over by the bed.
Anyways, the bathroom was immediately to the left. I’ll review that in a bit.
Immediately to the right was a giant piece of art with a weird…I don’t know what it is…under the art. It’s not a place to sit or anything, it was just a piece of artistic furniture. It was a funky piece of furniture, and I loved it!
Next, there was a chair covered in snake-print. Love. There was a table next to it with a phone to call the front desk.
Directly across from the incredible snake-print chair was the “closet.” This closet was open to the room with a very modern style. Hangers were provided, as well as 4 drawers. The drawers were floating, with enough space to store a piece of luggage underneath it.
Going further into the room was a king-size bed with a cane headboard. We slept well. There were outlets on the left side, but I don’t remember if the right side had outlets.
Across from the bed was a tiny TV. All of the channels were in Italian, which was great, as we spent some time “interpreting” for each other. If you look on the bottom left of the TV stand, you see a funky mask vase. Again, great interior design!
Just passed the bed was the window. There wasn’t a great view. However, you don’t go to Rome for the view from the hotel (unless it over looks parts of Ancient Rome or the Vatican, of course).
Immediately to the left of the bed was the entrance to the dining room area. Once you enter, there is a daybed / couch on the left with a large mirror hanging above it.
To the right was a proper dining table and two chairs, with a cool lamp behind it. The table is where the attendant placed breakfast (described below) each morning.
Across from the table was a large wetbar / counter. I really thought this was a nice touch with a great design. There was even a sink built into this piece of furniture, as well as a microwave.
There were all kinds of glassware, table settings, and cutlery. I really enjoyed the designs of the table settings.
There was a Nespresso machine and a kettle. Housekeeping replaced pods daily. Additionally, there was a minifridge that was stocked with all kinds of drinks and snacks. All non-alcoholic drinks were included in the room rate, but alcohol and food could be purchased.
In the corner, hidden by the end of the cabinet, was the safe, as well as a luggage rack and small trash can.
Palm Suites Rome Bathroom
The bathroom was directly to the left upon entering the suite. Given the space restrictions as a historic building, this is a fairly modest bathroom. To the left were a toilet and a bidet.
The singular sink was directly in front of the entrance. Underneath was an exposed area with towels aplenty. (Apologies for not getting a proper picture of that!).
To the right were the shower and a storage area with spare products and small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and soap. These were replaced daily and smelled great. I still have a bunch that I took with me, and I use the lotion sparingly.
Notice that there is no bathtub here. I’m not sure any award rooms have a bathtub, but I would not be surprised if higher categories of rooms did. Take note of that if you are coming as a family with little ones. Great location, but a lack of a bathtub could make things difficult.
Palm Suites Rome Breakfast
Given the historic nature of the building, there isn’t a formal restaurant. However, an extensive continental breakfast is included with all rates.
When you are ready for breakfast, you call down and let them know. Given that all rooms have a formal dining room type of set up, they bring it up to you about 10 minutes after you order.
When you call, they will ask you what kind of coffee you want, and we always ordered cappuccinos and drip coffee. I believe there is something else they ask about (I think what juice you want), but, to be frank, I can’t remember. They also ask how many people will be eating.
They bring it up to your room – there is no formal dining space. Food-wise, it’s an extensive continental breakfast, and you get everything. It includes the following: a basket of pastries, a basket of read, a basket of fruit, yogurt, jams and jellies, Nutella, packaged bread of some sort (a lot of bread!), and corn flakes. Milk is obviously provided for the cereal, and we ordered orange juice, a cappuccino, and a pot of coffee.
In my opinion, the best way to look at this is as a pick-me-up to wake up to while getting ready. Both coffees and yogurt were delicious, and the fruit was fresh. The bread was fine. The pastries seemed to have been taken out of packages and put on a plate. We ordered breakfast every morning, but we always stopped and got a fresh pastry and coffee as our real breakfast out and about in the city. When in Italy, you have to start off standing up a the bar at a cafe!
After you have left, when they came in to service your room, they took the tray. Anything you left on the counter space was left, but anything on the tray was taken. We never finished the fruit in the morning, so we left it on the counter so we could have it at night if we were hungry (and did counteract all of the bread we ate throughout the day).
If you are looking for more formal sit-down dining, you are more than welcome to go eat at the Michelin-starred restaurant at the sister hotel, the Palazzo Manfredi, and you can charge it to your room. We wanted to visit for drinks one night, but, due to a bout of food poisoning, we did not get to explore Rome as much as we wanted to.
Palm Suites Rome Amenities
To be frank, there are no formal amenities. However, two things:
First, there is a courtyard you could hang out in on nice evenings, as well as what appeared to be a rooftop courtyard of sorts (but it was locked).
Second, there is a gym at the Palazzo Manfredi that you always have access to. Its name is the Gladiatorial Gym. I personally think that’s a great name, as the hotel is literally right next to the Colosseum! We wanted to use it, but, as I said earlier, we really didn’t get the chance (mainly due to food posioning). It is available for anyone staying at the Palm Suites Rome – you just walk over and use it.
Service
Service at the Palm Suites Rome was everything I would expect for a property like this. First of all, when checking in at the sister property, when it was time to go over to the Palm Suites Rome, the receptionist called us a cab and paid for it.
Second, whenever we needed something (such as calling the front desk), the phone was promptly answered. Everyone who worked there spoke great English (I know I should not expect that everywhere, but it’s a good-to-know).
Third, they really wanted to make sure that the guest had a great experience. For example, our room was on the second floor. Upon checking in, they first took our bags up for us (we were out and about, as we got their early in the morning, and our room needed to be serviced). Additionally, when we finally returned, we needed to go up the elevator. The receptionist directed us onto the elevator, but, because the elevator was so small, she ran up the stairs to meet us up there. I would have had no problem waiting, but it was a small touch.
Finally, after we had dropped our luggage off, we had some time to kill. We were pretty tired from our flight, and the receptionist offered us any coffee beverage we wanted (I had a cappuccino, of course) and pastries. Staff served us coffee in proper cups, which was a nice touch.
We had no issues with service. They did a great job.
Conclusion
We really enjoyed our stay at the Palm Suites Rome. It was the perfect hotel that was close to the action and felt luxurious without the need for an endless amount of amenities. I highly recommend this hotel for sightseeing in Rome, but still having a luxurious stay!
Does this look like a hotel that you would stay at?
- Side note: The Palazzo Manfredi, as part of SLH, was 40,000 World of Hyatt points. It’s also a part of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It’s now at least 70,000 Hyatt points now! What a shame. ↩︎
- I read in a book once (no idea if it’s true) that expansion of the subway in Rome has been hard because of a.) usual politics, but more importantly, b.) they always run into new ancient runes, forcing them to stop digging! ↩︎
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