It should be noted that Belle Suite is part of the third floor of a downtown building containing several hotels and businesses/offices. (The top rated Residence Cellini is on the same floor, but we have no way to evaluate that hotel.) Because of the Trip Advisor reviews and ratings, we booked a suite here for four days in February, 2006, through Venere which was what came up on our computer screen unexpectedly through, I believe, the Trip Advisor website, but I cannot be certain.

In any case, when we arrived they had no record of our reservation! So, the kind lady behind the desk (who spoke excellent English) arranged for us instead to stay in a single room on part of the second floor, which is called Hotel Adler, just a floor below Belle Suite. Note that the reception area for both is now on the second floor; the third floor reception desk is now the free high speed internet access for both Hotel Adler and Belle Suite as well. Both the staff and we were pleased that there was a room available on such short notice, so no great harm done. However, surprise! Both these hotels are now operated under single management!

So, we got a single room instead of a suite and paid 1/3 less! This was okay, but we never saw Belle Suite rooms and so cannot comment on them. However, we also discovered that the breakfast room for both Hotel Adler and Belle Suite were now the same second floor room. We will leave a review of Hotel Adler at that place on the Trip Advisor website. However, we should comment that the breakfast was really not very good. The food was not very fresh and we were not offered second servings of hot drinks. (we didn't ask, either) The juice was not very tasty and there was no cheese, or cold cuts, or eggs, etc. Just some croissants, granola, rolls and jam, milk, and such.

Let me acknowledge that the staff went out of their way to assist us in many ways. For this reason I rate the hotel neutral instead of okay with some problems. I lost my wallet due to a pickpocket on the Metro (even though we are experienced in travel; WARNING--all it takes is a momentary lapse of caution) and the hotel allowed us to make several long calls back to the US to cancel credit cards, and charged us nothing! The reception attendant also called and reserved for us a time to see the Galleria Borghesi, like a great concierge would.

Others have commented how poorly marked is the hotel building, and how central it is to Rome, but next time we stay at Villa San Pio for charm sake. Hint: Visit Ostia Antica which is a 1/2 hour train ride from the station next to the Pyramid Metro station. There is a great statuary museum and a sense of stillness and history quite different from the Forum or Colosseum. It requires a lot of walking, but is well marked in English and one of the highlights of greater Rome.