Rome right now? She’s not easing you in. Nope, she’s throwing you straight into the deep end, Aperol in hand, and crowds already three-deep. With Easter around the corner, the city is firmly in peak mode and Rome already feels like she is on steriods. Between shifting travel patterns - yes, the ripple effects of the Middle East conflict - and surge in demand from what my tour operator friends are still calling the White Lotus effect, Rome is full. And she’s getting expensive.
And expensive, in Rome, increasingly means one thing: five-star everything. Over the past five years, the Eternal City has quietly and no so quietly been upgrading her hotel offerings, and it doesn't seem to stop. Gone are the days of under $500 five stars. New openings are arriving with clockwork precision, all marble, mood lighting, and entry level €1000-a-night confidence. I recently popped into the much-anticipated Corinthia. I love the location and Carlo Cracco, but I walked out thinking of a phrase my friends at Fathom coined: basic bitch luxury. Polished, yes. Memorable? Less so. As the pipeline of luxury keeps growing, the affordability is disappearing.
So, let’s recalibrate. As more and more of you have reached out to ask for reasonably priced and reliable stays that keep you in the thick of it, I’ve built a personal shortlist of four-star hotels and b&bs that, quite simply, I like for what and where they are, and with prices that don’t require a minor inheritance. Cents to the dollar no more, these are the stays that still make sense. Here are the hotels I’d book, recommend, and return to. Let’s get into it.
