Grand Hotel Gianicolo

Prós: The pool, all staff EXCEPT reception, food quality, breakfast The hotel is very nice - lovely grounds and beautiful pool. The pool staff, housekeeping, and bellhops were excellent. They all made a special effort to be kind and friendly, especially to our young son. The food was delicious (room service and by the pool), and the breakfast outstanding. Lots to choose from and freshly prepared. Also no matter what time we went to breakfast everything was fully stocked.

Contras: Room size, Reception staff, location, food price, wi-fi There were three of us and our room was TINY. So small, in fact, that we didn't have space to open more than one suitcase at a time. They should have been ashamed of themselves for putting us the room they did. The wi-fi was ATROCIOUS. It didn't work by the pool at all, and barely worked in the rooms - constantly dropping off. And they would give us a daily user-id and password which was a hassle. The hotel didn't offer any sort of information book, so when we got to our room we had no idea how things worked - the pool, breakfast, wi-fi, tv, etc. We had to ask questions constantly, and the reception staff was not forthcoming with information (we got an eye roll once). The hotel is a bit too far away from main Rome attractions to make it possible to walk both to and from things, which added a lot to our stay since we ended up taking a taxi at least one direction (at 20 euro a pop). That said, it's in a lovely residential area that was quiet and very close to the Trestavere district, which was nice. Lastly, while the food at the bar was delicious, it is VERY pricey with not many options.