er-GRIEF-e Palace Hotel
Written: May 26 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Hotel food, pool
Cons: Rooms, service, location, conference facilities, prices
The Bottom Line: Rome is a beautiful exciting city that has much to offer. Make sure you enjoy it by finding a hotel in the downtown area.
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| phillyjgs's Full Review: Ergife Palace Hotel Rome |
A group of coworkers and I recently had the misfortune of staying at the Ergife Palace Hotel in Rome Italy for a business conference. I would like to preface this review by stating that nothing is exaggerated.
Before pulling into the hotel parking lot itself you should a see a huge sign proclaiming the entrance to the Ergife Palace Hotel with a four star rating. This four star rating is more likely to be out of 10 than 5, however.
Upon pulling up to the Ergife hotel main entrance we were immediately shocked at the condition of the hotel. It's exterior was reminiscent of an inexpensive hotel made for high school spring breakers whose major concern is spending money on liquor, not rooms. The exterior was very dingy, dirty and run-down which is definitely not visible on the web based pictures and hotel information which was forwarded and available to us.
An empty guard station bordering an open gate that led to the main entrance had obviously been empty for some time as it was in disrepair and falling apart.
Upon entering the hotel, you might change your mind a bit upon seeing the lobby. The lobby itself is in good condition with a moderately well designed hotel bar and lounge area. Interestingly, there was a gigantic amount of detail paid to the condition of the lobby glass windows, stair-rails and overall lobby as there was always multiple staff members cleaning these parts.
Check-In was relatively painless and the first desk-clerk we had was extremely nice and helpful in accomodating our large group with adjacent rooms. As we proceeded through the lobby and got to the elevators, it was difficult to not take notice to the poor condition of the elevators themselves. Additionally the elevators were unreliable, sometimes skipping floors altogether and sometimes going up when it was supposed to go down.
Stepping out of the elevator, we were presented with a darkly lit, damp hallway that stretched on for what seemed forever (the Ergife reportedly has 1000 rooms). The room doors were extremely close together which was our first concern (size of the rooms) and of note was the misshapen and mix and match door frame styles all over the different rooms (as if nobody cared about the appearance).
The rooms were extremely tiny and each of the beds were the size of a salvation army cot (although sturdier). The television received about 4-5 channels and there was no cable access (CNN, Fox News or MSNBC). the remote to the television did not work. Our "balcony" consisted of a door that opened up to a vertical concrete slab which wa approximately 8 inches from the door. Hence our "balcony" was about 8 inches by 24 inches.
Each room did have an individual bathroom complete with toilet, bathtub, shower, sink and hairdryer. Interestingly you had to sit under the sink in order to use the toilet which was extremely uncomfortable and would be very difficult for an elderly customer or someone with a physical handicap or simply just moderately overweight.
There was no hotel messaging system so people could not leave you a message. The service was dependent on the individual. Our original desk clerk was very helpful however, there were several clerks who chose to be rude and purposely ignorant. Example: When I asked about where to purchase bus/subway tickets, the clerk responded "I dont know" shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. When I waited for a further explanation he told me "I don't use the subway or bus". There was no attempt to help me or ask someone else for me.
The conference facilities had a passive-aggressive theme. Overall the rooms were nicely decorated, the sound system adequate and as far as I could tell, no problems with setup for typical powerpoint presentations. Unfortunately, it was always between 85 - 90 degrees in half of the conference rooms. No matter how many people complained they would not adjust the air conditioning (and many people complained). Unfortunately the air conditioning is only turned on from 4 pm to 12 pm and there is no deviation. Keep this in mind if coming in the summer. You will be able to adjust your room climate only during these hours and if your thermostat is not broken (some of our groups had rooms where the air conditioning did not work at all even during working hours).
There was no internet access at all in the hotel. There was no business center, no computer available for hotel customers to use, no ethernet capability and certainly no wireless capability. If you wanted to access the internet, the closest place was an internet cafe about a half hour walk or 8 euro cab ride away. There is no fitness center or gym either.
There was an olympic size swimming pool, however, which was beautiful. And for only a 10 Euro towel deposit you could use it.
The hotel did offer a 3 euro per ride service to the vatican and a 10 euro to the airport shuttle only (no airport pickup service was available).
The hotel's food was very good with an large variety and great quality consistently.
Several of our group checked out the day after and checked in to hotel in downtown rome for the same price (140 - 150 euro) with much nicer rooms, service and obviously much better location. The hotel is moderatly close to the vatican but far from downtown rome. There is a metro stop about a 15 minute walk from the hotel which was nice, however, and the metro only costs .77 Euro for a single ride or 3.10 Euro for a day pass. The metro itself is fairly limited, however, and you will rely on cabs for some regions and if you want to leave the downtown area and don't want to rent a car or scooter.
Check out was a nightmare as the desk staff has many people working but each are assigned to only one job and there is no job sharing among the staff.
Please keep in mind that downtown rome is a 12 Euro cab ride (if your driver is honest) away from downtown rome. It is not close.
Recommended:
No
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phillyjgs
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Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
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Physician and Creative Improviser
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