Black Rooms Colosseo

Fantastic location! The rooms were small, clean and tidy. It had everything we required for a 2 night stay. Mini bar fridge was handy too. There was a small kitchette outside the 4 rooms in a common area (this was a private common area, only accessible by the 4 rooms on that level - separate to the rest of the level by locked door). The elevator was very small, but quick and rarely had to wait when called. During busy parts of the day/night road traffic was audible, but not too much of an issue (possibly because of jet-lag 😂) Would happily stay here for a short stay again.

Black Rooms won a trip advisor award in 2019. I could see this being the case in 2019, but the rooms haven’t received any repairs since then. It was pretty clear that our room was used and abused for the last 6 years and nothing has been maintained in that time. Floors are in bad shape, the ikea furniture is all loose and wobbly, and the bathrooms fixtures were missing crucial covers. The A/C worked okay, but it was missing fins for directing air and it leaked water directly onto my wife’s belongings on the ikea side table below. I had to sleep most nights with a damp cloth in order to cool down, but it was 32C outside. The other reviews are correct, the walls are paper thin and so are the doors. Our drunk neighbours in the next room over would stumble in at 1am, ring the buzzer for the unit incessantly because they forgot the code to the building door, and then if they found their way to their room, they’d spend a few minutes struggling to open their door all while yelling. With all that said, the rooms were significantly cleaner than the condition of the room would have suggested. The bathroom was very clean and well taken care of from a hygiene standpoint point. Some of the towels were washed with vinegar and reeked if they were wet. The hotel lies on a busy road. Road noise was fine, but its proximity to the colosseum seemed to attract lots of unsavoury characters they didn’t seem to be present in other areas when we walked around the city. The area around the colosseum especially was full of scam artists and pickpockets. We were targeted most nights when walking back to the hotel. We felt the least safe in the area immediately around the hotel and towards Roma Termini. Elevator was big enough for two people with backpacks and was a novel experience. Check in was stressful and unclear. We didn’t have international cell service at the time of check in and the details were sent through WhatsApp. There’s no sign for the hotel so finding it was very challenging. We had to explain to a few other visitors how to get in and check in. If the guy at the small shop two doors down didn’t tell us where the hotel door was we would have wandered around for even longer. The room was decently big. The bed was alright, a little stiff and the wires could be felt in some places. The pillow was the most annoying part, paper thin and only one per person. The views shown in the booking.com pictures were certainly not present in our room. We had a view of the central courtyard to the interior, and the exterior window open directly into the side of another building. This room had the unfortunate effect of impacting my view and opinion of Rome quite negatively. After the first day, I couldn’t wait to leave. After a couple more days of seeing the sights in better parts of town I wasn’t quite as keen to leave. You do have to walk 30 plus minutes to get to better restaurants and shopping. At the end of the day, no matter where you stay, it has a cost associated with it. I don’t personally believe that the cost of the nights at this “hotel” was reflective of the value received. It maybe once was, but it is not anymore. I would be much more inclined to stay further north of the colosseum in Monti, near the Vatican, or southwest of the Pantheon.

Although the location is amazing, we do have some comments to pass on. We had no air conditioning the first night and tried numerous times to contact the office but no response until the following day. The second day we had no hot water but also noticed the shower door was unbalanced and was falling off. It was pure heavy glass and could have hurt someone. Upon checkout we asked for consideration for the inconvenience off it all. He said sorry, can't do that, and referred us to the owner. Thank you.