Athena Hotel Rome

Although reservation was made over six months in advance, the assigned room was tiny at 6 X 9 feet with windows opening into an elevator shaft. Just big enough for an Army style cot, small refrig and a tiny TV. Bathroom was about 6 X 3. Desk person handed me a bottle of wine at check in and mumbled something about small room. The floor was dirty. I would not stay in this hotel again or recommend it.

Usually stay at "All Inclusives." We knew this would be on the outskirts of Rome and by the University. We knew the rooms would not be the kinds we are used to staying in. We are "Smokers" and knew we would need a balcony. We got our room with balcony overlooking the main Via. Never had a problem,even though the bathroom is small and of course TV is only in Italian. The STAFF is OUTSTANDING!!(Very Helpful!)Metro/Termini/Rome is very close. We saved enough on room that we splurged on taking TAXI'S everywhere.(Example: 70 Euros round trip to Trevi Fountain)People and Students in the area are very friendly and helpful. If you want to spend ALOT of money just to stay in Rome,there are many places. If you want to have an ample room at the end of a LONG DAY(with very hot water and great pressure)and have $$$ to do more shopping and sight seeing;stay at "THE ATHENA." We thought we would have our doubts when we first saw it;those never happened on our 4 night stay.

The staff are incredibly kind and helpful and the hotel is great value. Highly recommended for the budget-minded traveler who also wants comfort and a nice experience.

Ok so I picked this hotel after about 2 hours of looking online for something not to cheap and dingy, close to the city centre in Rome and not too expensive. On arrival to termini station we got a cab to the hotel, €8 so not too bad, however the hotel is only 6/7 minutes walk from the bologna blue line metro stop (handy to get downtown/Vatican/coliseum) The taxi driver stopped as he turned around the corner of this one way street, got out of the cab and pointed at the building in front of us,'athena' he says, no more looking like a hotel than a cat looks like a dog! Anyway up we go to the door and it turns out the hotel doubles as an apartment block, we got in up to reception which is on the first floor and got a big hello from the guy behind the desk. He gave us all the info regarding breakfast times, our keys and directions to where we would get a late night feed(it was 10.30 at this stage) The room was big, a double and a single bed, perfectly made, towels and ac, TV and fridge and a decent en suite, spotlessly clean also. I cannot fault this place, if you are heading to Rome for a 3 day action packed tourist weekend to see all the sights, this place is perfect, I mean it! If you are going for a romantic 2 day getaway you may want to pick somewhere else, it's no 4/5 star in that market. The staff are friendly and very knowledgeable, they will give all the usual stuff, but then spend a few minutes explaining where and how to get to where you want to go, very helpful indeed Overall - 3 day tourist break ***** Location - **** Staff - *****