Hotel Aberdeen, Rome

Hotel Aberdeen (Via Firenze 48, 00184 Rome, ITALY; phone +39 06 4823920, fax 21092, www.travel.it/roma/aberdeen) is a 10-minute walk from Rome’s Termini train station; you can avoid crossing several busy, wide streets by taking the metro to the Repubblica stop.

The hotel is on a relatively quiet street just off of the busy Via Nazionale with its convenient bus stops. The lobby is up a flight of stairs from the main entrance of a large, elegant structure that was once a palace.

The Aberdeen has an upscale look and feel to it, is nonsmoking and was spotlessly clean. The English-speaking front desk staff was unfailing friendly and well organized during our 5-night stay in February ’08. We paid an off-season rate of €90 ($138) per night (including taxes and breakfast) for our double room. The usual room rate was listed as €150 ($230).

When booking via e-mail we requested a quiet room, and upon arrival that request was honored; we were provided a room facing a rear courtyard, away from the street. The interior walls were a bit thin, but we didn’t experience much noise from the adjacent rooms.

Our room was decently sized, comfortable and well lighted. It included a bathroom en suite plus AC, TV (only CNN and MTV in English), telephone, free safe and a reasonably priced mini-bar. The bathroom featured a hair dryer and a large, steam-heated towel rack that was great for drying laundry.

Breakfast was served from 7 to 10. A selection of yogurts, cereals, fresh rolls (often not delivered until 7:30), fresh (but too sweet) croissants, fruit, jams, ham and cheese were offered.

In a separate room were two computers with free, high-speed Internet access. However, one of the computers ran Windows 98, greatly limiting its capabilities.

We were quite pleased with our overall experience with Hotel Aberdeen, which provided a welcome escape from Rome’s hustle and bustle. It was certainly an excellent value at the rate we paid; two other nearby hotels, ranked lower on TripAdvisor.com, were charging the same rate.

STEPHEN O. ADDISON, Jr.

Charlotte, NC