MMM Friendly Accommodation Help - Rome

[2Birds1Stone]

Not sure if this is the right section for this question but here it goes anyway.

DW and I will be visiting Italy next month and we need to stay in Rome for 4-5 nights. The prices we've found on AirBnB/Booking/etc are eye watering. Almost everything that is remotely affordable is miles and miles outside the proper city center.

Do any Mustachians have leads/hacks on housing in Rome at the end of April? Maybe the collective wisdom or network here can help us out.

We don't mind a private room in someone's flat/house or a private room in the hostel, as we'll be out and about all day anyway.

Maybe someone has recommendations or knows of a place?

Feel free to PM me if it's not something you wish to be shared publicly.

Cheers,

2B1S

[chrisgermany]

Would you mind "monastery stays"? We have spent a great time at casamissionariepallottine.it
some years ago.
Friendly, clean, close to vatican and public transport.
Enjoy your trip!

[FIREeh?]

Have you checked hostels? Increasingly they have private rooms available, sometimes even with an ensuite bathroom. But if what you value is staying downtown, maybe you'd be open to dormitory style bunks and shared bathroom, which certainly help keep costs low.

[dandarc]

+1 to hostel - seems to be quite a few reasonably priced options (to me anyway) at hostelworld.com

[2Birds1Stone]

Would you mind "monastery stays"? We have spent a great time at casamissionariepallottine.it
some years ago.
Friendly, clean, close to vatican and public transport.
Enjoy your trip!

Thanks, Chris!

This is a wonderful idea, I emailed the monastery and heard back. Unfortunately they are sold out of rooms during our dates. We didn't realize that this was a holiday weekend (essentially Italy's version of 4th of July). So it's a busy/expensive period to be in Rome, possibly the most expensive week during the spring!

Luckily we found a decent AirBnB (room w/ shared bathroom).

@FIREeh?  & @dandarc, thank you both! I looked into hostels through booking.com and anything remotely affordable (<$100/night) had pretty bad reviews. I looked on hostelworld and the cheapest one seemed to be ~$450+ $7/day per person city tax.

Luckily we found a seemingly suitable AirBnB (just private room with shared bathroom), that we have reserved.

Thanks for all the ideas so far.

Our mistake was not realizing that this was a holiday week(end) and even May 1st is "workers day" so another busy period when many people take holiday.

[dandarc]

Hostel world had places within a mile of city center with private rooms under $150 per night for 2 people - I don't have your specific dates of course, so that was just a spot check.

Last time we were in Rome was 2015, for 3 nights. Had 2 rooms at hotel Aelius (7 minute walk from the train station) for 516.50 euros total (including the city tax) - so just under 90 euros per room / night and we had 3 people total. We booked in February, so that's another month earlier than you are for April (April 7th arrival date in Rome - maybe earlier in April is cheaper / more available than later?). Was a plenty nice place for us. So I guess having paid ~$90 / night almost 9 years ago means ~$150 / night seems pretty reasonable to me today.

[2Birds1Stone]

Hostel world had places within a mile of city center with private rooms under $150 per night for 2 people - I don't have your specific dates of course, so that was just a spot check.

Ah, yes. We have different budgets :) $750 for 5 nights in a hostel is kinda bonkers to me!

I guess we're a little spoiled here in SE Asia where I'm about to stay in a luxury 4 star hotel on a beach for 10 nights for $214 with breakfast included.

[dandarc]

Hostel world had places within a mile of city center with private rooms under $150 per night for 2 people - I don't have your specific dates of course, so that was just a spot check.

Ah, yes. We have different budgets :) $750 for 5 nights in a hostel is kinda bonkers to me!

I guess we're a little spoiled here in SE Asia where I'm about to stay in a luxury 4 star hotel on a beach for 10 nights for $214 with breakfast included.

So that scene from Men in Black "take her to Cambodia; buy her lobster; spend more than $1" tracks . . .

We also had my MIL with us on that trip from 2015, so while I certainly was trying to be somewhat budget-aware on the trip, had kind of a floor in mind as well. The hotel by the train station in Florence on that trip was an amazing deal, but probably still over your budget.

[chrisgermany]

Just to complete my post above:
https://www.monasterystays.com/
lists 100s of simple room options all over Italy.
Have a great trip!

[GilesMM]

April is pretty quiet in Rome (compared to summer) so I would expect plenty of availability.  I have always just strolled around near the main train station and found cheap places with toilet down the hall.  Most are not on the internet.  Same goes for more European capitol cities.  Be prepared to pay cash.

[lhamo]

Do you HAVE to be in Rome those specific dates?

Trains are cheap in Europe.  Maybe look at some areas within a reasonable train ride from ITaly and spend a few days away when costs are high.  Then come back after all the Italians are back home.

[2Birds1Stone]

Do you HAVE to be in Rome those specific dates?

Yes, we're meeting very close friends from the USA that week.

[dandarc]

Just to complete my post above:
https://www.monasterystays.com/
lists 100s of simple room options all over Italy.
Have a great trip!

Adding this to the list - likely going back to Italy with MIL next year (got some big family stuff needs to clear before we discuss a trip, but that's looking reasonably certain to be worked out at this point).

[hdatontodo]

I stayed here in the 90's. https://www.hotelfawltytowers.com/

Also, many people walked around the station with picture books of their rooms to rent.

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[2Birds1Stone]

I stayed here in the 90's. https://www.hotelfawltytowers.com/

Also, many people walked around the station with picture books of their rooms to rent.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using Tapatalk

The reviews that I did find for this place make it out to be the seediest band of crooks in Rome......luckily it seems to no longer be available on most booking sites lol.

Thank you @chrisgermany, I'm saving that reference for future trips......but holy shit (pun intended) these nuns in the tourist hot spots are charging more than many really nice private apartments and BnB's in the same areas (Cinque Terre for reference).

[couponvan]

This is over your budget, but Hyatt has 15,000 and 20,000 points per night rooms if you have any Chase points to transfer. We opened the business card and regular card in two player mode awhile back to rack up lots of Hyatt points. Now we are down to bare bones again.

Priceline and Hotwire might also be options if you aren’t too picky.

[314159]

In my experience, if you can find a place that doesn't show a price on aggregators like Google Hotels or Booking.com, because its booking system is primitive, it's likely that it'll be underpriced. I once found a pension/hotel in Barcelona that cost way less than it should have for our dates, because a big conference was in town driving up prices for the "real" hotels with proper revenue management.

Now, where to find places that don't show up (or rather, don't display a price) on the aggregators? That one in Barcelona I found on Wikivoyage, so my advice is go to Wikivoyage and look at the places they suggest. For Rome it says "Individual listings can be found in Rome's district articles", e.g. Modern Center so give the links they provide there a try. Links might have died which probably indicates the place is no longer operating, but you can also try googling for their in case they changed their website.

If the booking link on hotel website leads to Booking.com or something then there's no point in even inputting your dates because you already tried Booking.com! But if it leads to a calendar that looks like it was coded up in 2004 you might be onto something.