This is the ‘feat’ that my wife, our twenty-month-old baby, and I accomplished by staying from May 6 to 11, 2024 at Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection. In fact, it’s the reopening of the hotel formerly known as Sheraton Roma, following major renovations.
When I booked my plane tickets in September 2023, the Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection didn’t appear in my search on the Marriott Bonvoy website. It started showing up in February, so I started watching it almost daily in the hope of booking it at a good price. A few weeks later, I booked a 5-night stay for 240,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Subsequently, I updated my booking three times to 217,000 points. This points price seemed reasonable for a market like Rome, where hotels are expensive, both in terms of money and points. I was also pleased with its apparent location close to a metro station.
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Arriving from Florence at the Roma Termini train station, we took the B (blue) line of Rome’s subway to the EUR Magliana station. In terms of location, Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection, has the misfortune of being situated near the northern end of the EUR district (acronym for Esposizione Universale di Roma) in the heart of highway infrastructure. To use an analogy, it’s like building a hotel right in the middle of the Turcot interchange.
To get to the hotel on foot from this station, don’t rely on the Google Map application. It suggests taking the highway shoulder road whose sidewalk is impassable due to overgrown vegetation. Plus, this sidewalk changes side in the middle of the ramp, forcing you across a two-lane highway in a blind curve. Considering the speed of traffic at this point, we didn’t attempt the crossing and turned back. The preferred route, which takes about twenty minutes through the pedestrian tunnel at the metro station exit, is as follows:
Employ great caution as broken glass bottles litter the sidewalks around the soccer and rugby stadiums, and there is no pedestrian crossing to get to the other side of Viale del Pattinaggio, which is a highway exit ramp.
Some bus routes pass close to the hotel, but again, it’s sometimes necessary to cross highway exit ramps to get to a stop.
Once we’d crossed the last highway junction, we could admire the imposing building that is the Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection. Although its brutalist architectural style betrays its true age, it’s been freshly painted white and looks great. We walked through the hotel’s imposing landing, which is certainly not designed to accommodate pedestrians, to reach the main door.
As we entered the hotel, we saw a bouquet of balloons featuring the number “1”. Soft but rhythmic music and a subtle perfume enchanted us, quickly making us forget everything that was going on outside. It’s rather chic, the furniture is new, and a window overlooking the lobby gives a glimpse of the fresh pasta drying in the hotel restaurant’s kitchen. The four rooms featured on the hotel’s website are magnificent. The decor, which is very well done, recalls the Art Deco period, which is making a comeback in the hotel industry. Materials are better chosen than at Renaissance Porto Lapa, but less noble than at HoneyRose Montréal, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel (see my previous Reviews).
At the check-in counter, we were greeted by an imposing number of employees, many of whom were still in training. The check-in formalities were rather lengthy, including the photocopying of our passports, but I was thanked from the outset for my loyalty to the chain (Titanium member) and offered the usual choice of welcome gifts. I chose the 10 euro bar/restaurant credit per person to compensate for the absence of a hotel lounge, and lunches for two adults for the duration of my stay. A suite upgrade was then confirmed. A young baggage handler helped us carry our (too many) belongings to our room. Interestingly, the music played in the lobby is also played on all floors, and ice machines are available on all floors – a rarity in Europe.
The room we were assigned was the POP suite, a comfortable, good-sized junior suite with a king-size bed, a sofa bed, and a crib. It featured a bathroom with stand-up shower, a bath in the bedroom, a dining area with microwave and small refrigerator, and a lounge with desk space. Once again, everything was brand new. The bedroom and lounge walls are clad in imitation wood and the bathroom walls in imitation marble, a change from the traditional wall-to-wall plasterboard cladding.
The bedroom is state-of-the-art in terms of home automation. On the bedside tables on either side of the bed were touch-screens for controlling lights, air conditioning, fans, curtains, humidity levels, televisions… and so on. The problem was that one of these screens wasn’t working, and the other was only half-working. That’s the kind of risk you have to deal with when staying in a new hotel, I’ll come back to that later.
The Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection hotel features a restaurant and two bars. The restaurant, called Vertici, serves typical Italian cuisine, including fresh pasta prepared on the spot the same day. On our last evening at the hotel, we indulged in a huge dish of pasta alla carbonara; a delight!
In one section of the restaurant is the titular American Bar, featuring a fine selection of beers, including microbrews, as well as local wines and cocktails as interesting as they are ingenious. During the aperitif, drinks are served with three tapas-style dishes. As everything was quite copious, we were full enough to skip supper, even if it meant nibbling in the room a little later in the evening.
As the hotel is isolated from any form of civilization, prices are, unfortunately, high.
The Spectio Pool Bar was still being renovated at the time of our stay.
Lunch is served in a large room adjoining the Vertici restaurant, and is available to high-status members of the Marriott Bonvoy chain and one guest. We were not asked to pay extra for a child under two.
Breakfast consists of a hot buffet served on a long marble counter. The same meat and egg dishes are served every day, which becomes redundant during a five-night stay. Vegetable side dishes rotate from day to day. We really enjoyed the potatoes served one morning, much less the sautéed mushrooms or grilled tomatoes served on other mornings. At the end of the main counter, a second counter offers a good selection of toast, pastries, spreads and cheeses. Two other small counters offer a selection of hot and cold drinks.
The food was decent, but nothing more. We would have appreciated a short à la carte menu for more variety.
The hotel boasts an impressive swimming pool topped by a waterfall. Although it was functional at the time of our stay, we didn’t try it out. Since we were only at the hotel in the evening, preferring to visit Rome’s attractions during the day, the coolness of the early spring evening dampened our spirits.
At the start of the summer season, it must be nice to lounge on the terrace under the huge parasols while enjoying the pool and what the hotel’s two bars have to offer.
The hotel’s training room is a good size and well-equipped to please everyone. Personal belongings can be left in a changing room. Towels and bottled water are provided.
The EUR district was to host Rome’s Universal Exhibition in 1942. It was to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Benito Mussolini’s accession to power and to promote the Fascist political system. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, the exhibition was cancelled, but some of the planned buildings were completed, and are now used for a variety of functions, including hosting congresses. For example, the imposing Palazzo della Civilizzazione Italiana has been converted into office space and serves as the headquarters of the Fendi brand. In short, EUR is an imposing pentagonal district served by three metro stations, where all the major hotel chains coexist.
Strictly speaking, there is absolutely nothing around the Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection hotel. Apart from the hotel’s restaurant and bars, the only food outlet nearby is a McDonald’s restaurant. It’s about a 15-minute walk away and has the advantage of being open 24 hours a day, but once night falls, the walk is far from inviting. The few grocery stores in the EUR district are at least a 20-minute walk away and close around 6 p.m., so you’ll need to stock up accordingly before arriving at the hotel. Young children might enjoy the Lun EUR Park and its rather cute rides. The entrance is located right next to the McDonald’s restaurant. Business travellers may appreciate the hotel’s proximity to various convention centres and corporate headquarters.
Staying in a hotel that has just opened comes with a certain set of inconveniences; notably:
We were good sports about it, didn’t complain too much and didn’t ask for any compensation for the inconvenience. On the other hand, by the end of our stay, we were rather weary of the word “sorry” … It’s a safe bet that everything has since returned to normal.
Young families looking for a hotel close to Léonard-de-Vinci airport to avoid the hustle and bustle of the city on the eve of a flight and enjoy its majestic swimming pool will find what they’re looking for, as will travelers needing to get to the EUR district for business. A cab ride to the airport takes about 20 minutes and costs just under CAD 60. From a stop just outside the hotel, you can take a bus to the Villa Bonelli station and board a regional train to the airport. Considering our luggage volume, energy level, and the small difference in cost between the two options, we opted for the cab when leaving the hotel.
That said, Cardo Roma, Autograph Collection, is magnificent and constitutes a true haven of peace. Its suites are spacious, comfortable, and ideal for young families. However, its isolation in the middle of a tangle of highways greatly complicates the discovery of Rome’s tourist attractions. It takes about forty minutes to get to the Colosseum and more than an hour to get to the Vatican Museums by public transport. The hotel would greatly benefit from offering, at a minimum, a shuttle service to the EUR Magliana metro station to reduce travel times.
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