Hotel King

A settled score, second-deepest in the district

The five properties in this district carry between 691 and 5,895 reviews. This one carries 3,079 — second only to Hotel 55 Fiftyfive, and well ahead of Hotel Splendide Royal’s 691.

That is still enough to read the number with confidence. 8.2 from 3,079 stays and 8.9 from 691 are not comparable quantities. The first has been pushed at from every direction by people with different expectations, seasons and room assignments, and it settled at 8.2 — the joint-lowest score of the 28 Rome stays on this site. The second is a strong but less-tested reading. If you are deciding between properties in this district, the sample size is a fact worth as much as the score.

	Distance	Among the five in its district
Pantheon	1.0km	second closest
Colosseum	1.6km	closest
Roma Termini	1.2km	second closest
St Peter’s Basilica	2.8km	third
Fiumicino Airport	23.6km	—

Via Sistina runs from Piazza Barberini down to the top of the Spanish Steps, which puts it on the useful side of this district — closer to everything than the Via Veneto end, and above the crush at the bottom of the steps.

Rooms — 60 of them, and 3,079 opinions about them

Doubles, twins and triples. The triple is worth asking about early; Rome is short of them and 60 rooms is not many.

With thousands of reviews behind it, this is one of the better-tested properties in its district, and the room picture is genuinely mixed: two guests call them small, two call them roomy. With that sample size, the split is real rather than noise — it depends which room you get.

Views are the thing to ask about specifically. Five of twelve reviews raise a view or the terrace, which in a 60-room building means it is not every room. Say at booking that the outlook matters and ask what is available upstairs. A bathtub comes up twice.

Facilities — a bar, a restaurant and a terrace worth using

Short list for a three-star, and the terrace is what guests return to. Via Sistina runs down from Piazza Barberini to the top of the Spanish Steps, so the building sits above the crush at the bottom of the steps rather than in it.

The lift comes up twice, which in a central Roman building is the standing constraint. Breakfast is raised twice.

The check-out time is not stated in the property data we hold — confirm it when booking. Given that the rest of this district checks out between 11:00 and 12:00, it is worth a question rather than an assumption.

Where the 8.2 comes from

Reading the sample, it is not a mystery. Staff are praised in eight of twelve reviews and views or the terrace in five. The recurring complaint is room size, raised three times, with the lift mentioned twice.

That is the same shape as its neighbour Hotel 55 Fiftyfive at the identical 8.2 — a well-placed older central building where the rooms are the compromise. The two of them are also the joint-lowest score of the 28 Rome stays compared here, tied with Hotel Pace Helvezia across town in Centro Storico. The difference from Hotel 55 Fiftyfive is that here you are reading it off 3,079 opinions rather than 5,895 — still a large sample, just not the largest one in this district anymore.

The view is the specific thing to ask about. Five separate guests raise it, which in a building of 60 rooms means it is not every room. Say at booking that the outlook matters and ask what is available on the upper floors.

We have not stayed here. These are patterns across the guest reviews on the booking page, read on the date below, and we pass on only points several people make.

Before you book

• 60 rooms, three stars. Doubles, twins and triples are listed — triples are worth asking about since Rome is short of rooms for three
• Check-in 15:00. The check-out time is not stated in the property data we hold — confirm it when booking
• Facilities are a bar and a restaurant
• City tax is collected by the hotel at check-out, not by the booking site, and the three-star band is well under the €10 charged at five stars (how the bands work)
• This district has the widest internal spread in Rome, from 560m to 2.4km to the Pantheon. Check the number rather than the district name

How it reads next to the thinner-sampled properties around it: Spanish Steps and Veneto hotels.