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After our disappointing stay in the Radisson Blu Dubai Deira Creek, I realized that I had never written a full review of my only other stay at a Radisson hotel – the Radisson Blu Rome.  The hotel is technically called Radisson Blu Es. Hotel Rome Italy, and Carolyn and I stayed there for 2 nights as part of our Europe trip last September

Radisson Blu Rome location

Probably the best thing that the Radisson Blu Rome has going for it is its location.  We arrived into Rome late in the evening on our flight from Nice, France.  We had taken a helicopter (!) from Monaco to Nice and then a short flight on low-cost carrier Vueling into Rome’s international airport.  To get from Rome Airport to the city center, we took a Terravision bus, which dropped us right at Rome’s Termini Rail station.

We got to the Radisson Blu Rome at around 9pm.  The Terravision bus drops you off on the OTHER side of the Termini station, but we were able to walk through the station and then down the street to the hotel.  We did have to ask someone for directions, but we also were able to use Osmand to navigate us there even though we didn’t have a wifi signal.

radisson-blu-rome-location-map

That’s…. pretty close

We were given a room on the 6th floor, but what we didn’t realize was that it was facing the train station.  You can see how close it is, and it woke us up early in the morning.  It wasn’t so much the train noise, but the loud repetitive loudspeaker announcements.  I wish I could remember the exact thing it broadcast (LOUDLY… OVER… AND…. OVER…), but it was a few months ago, and it was in Italian so I didn’t understand it anyways.

The Colosseum is only about a mile away from the Radisson Blu Rome hotel

The Colosseum is only about a mile away from the Radisson Blu Rome hotel

The upside of the Radisson Blue Rome hotel location is, again, how close it is to Termini station – that is where the 2 lines of Rome’s subway come together, so you can easily get just about anywhere you want.  It is also within walking distance to many of Rome’s attractions – we walked down to the Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Hill, which are about a mile away.

(SEE ALSO: My pro-tip for visiting Ancient Rome sites)

Radisson blu es. Hotel Rome cost

This was one of the hotels we booked with our stash of Club Carlson points after they eliminated the Bonus Night feature of their co-branded credit card.  The Radisson Blu Rome hotel runs for 50,000 points / night, though in our case, it was 50,000 points for 2 nights.

While we were in point burning mode, we decided to upgrade to the “Premium Award” which is available for 50% more, so we ended up spending 75,000 Club Carlson points for the 2 nights stay

rome-radisson-blu-rome-hotel-city-tax

You can see that I have highlighted the city tax portion.  After being charged a city tax in Nice, I was ready to fight this if I had to, but when we checked out, I was not charged this “mandatory” city tax, reinforcing my belief that it is a capricious, arbitrary fee.  (SEE ALSO: Hotel city tax: legitimate expense or extortion attempt?)

Radisson Blu Rome hotel room

The room at the Radisson Blu Rome was not like most hotels out there.  It was decorated in a modern style, which really isn’t my thing.  When I asked Carolyn what she thought about the Radisson Blu es. hotel room, she just remarked that it wasn’t comfortable.

It was a “premium” room so in theory larger than the other rooms at the hotel, though at 25 square meters it was not large by any stretch of the imagination (though I understand that’s fairly typical in Europe).  One think I thought was weird was that there was only a glass wall separating the bathroom (including shower and toilet) from the main room.

radisson-blu-roma-hotel-bathroom

That is even without mentioning the fact that the desk chair broke within 5 minutes of my sitting in it 🙂

radisson-blu-roma-hotel-broken-chair

Radisson Blu Roma hotel amenities

The Radisson Blu Roma hotel has a rooftop pool which I was actually pretty excited about – I thought it would be fun to swim on a rooftop, but the pool wasn’t anything special and in fact was downright FREEZING!  Even the hot tub was tepid at best.

The breakfast at the Radisson Blu Roma is generally not included even for Club Carlson Gold members (I doubt even top-tier elites get it, based on my experience at Radisson), but as I mentioned, I paid the extra 25,000 points for a premium award that did include breakfast.  And while the buffet had your typical items, along with a few premium items (and make to order eggs / omelets), there WAS definitely something awesome about eating breakfast on an open-air balcony with a view of Rome…

radisson-blu-rome-breakfast

We got an extra night in Rome due to a schedule change, but rather than pony up another 50,000 (or 75,000! ) points, we moved on to the Comfort Hotel Roma Airport Fiumicino, where we got a 2 STORY suite for a fraction of the cost.  While I did enjoy parts of my stay at the Radisson Blu Rome hotel, I don’t think I’d want to pony up that many points to stay here, especially without the 2nd night free award

The Radisson Blu Rome was another disappointing Radisson - here are our reasons

Have you ever stayed at the Radisson Blu Roma?  How was your stay?  Are you as unimpressed as I am with Radisson hotels around the world?


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