Today I am sharing a guide to the St. Regis hotel in Rome, Italy. The location is right near Roma Termini in the Castro Pretorio area... a totally different neighborhood than the Singer Palace Hotel. In terms of location, I preferred the Singer Palace Hotel as it was easier to walk to the touristy locations like the Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Pantheon, etc. The St. Regis was closer to the Spanish Steps, the beautiful Via Veneto, and the Galleria Borghese.
St. Regis is obviously part of a chain of hotels owned under the Marriott umbrella. There are 60ish St. Regis hotels around the world and the brand is known for 5-star luxury. I am pretty sure this might have been my first time ever staying at a St. Regis hotel!
I was glad we had chosen to stay in a smaller boutique hotel and then a larger more mainstream hotel because we were able to compare the two but also have two similar but different experiences.
Both our Butler (more on that below) and our driver gave us some intel on the St. Regis Rome. It was originally built in the late 1800s and was called Le Grand Hotel. It has 138 rooms and 23 suites. It underwent a huge restoration/renovation just before the pandemic.
As soon as you walk into the hotel, the lobby makes quite the first impression. It's so beautiful and bright and airy but with so many intricate and historical design elements.
We stayed in an Imperial King Larger Guest Room on floor 2 which was huge and so beautiful. We must have been upgraded because we originally had booked a regular king room so that was a great surprise!! Our room had a great view overlooking the Fountain of the Naiads. The room was classic and traditional with modern touches. There was even a fireplace in the room!
You can get breakfast included with the room rate and I recommend that because the breakfast was wonderful. The drinks were served by the staff but the food was buffet style and they had absolutely everything from traditional American items like bacon, eggs, sausage, etc. to smoked salmon, mozzarella, salami, etc. I love the made-to-order omelets and the pastries were a thing of beauty. I am pretty sure they had the best smoked salmon I have ever had in my entire life.
St. Regis is known for their butler service that they offer as an amenity for guests of the hotel. I had no idea about this until I started researching. I am not sure if you have to know to ask for the butler service but it kind of seemed that way. I emailed the concierge prior to arriving letting them know that we would like to take advantage of the butler service. With the service, it's complimentary to have your coffee and/or tea delivered at any time of day, they will unpack and press your items, etc. We had both coffee and tea delivered to the room which was presented so lovely. I discovered a new favorite tea brand, Damman Freres. Their darjeeling tea was incredible! We also used the pressing service for just a few items. Something about someone unpacking for me seems a bit odd but a neat offering if you like that kind of thing! You also get complimentary water bottles in your room which is a nice touch and could call down to get more if needed.
They also surprised us by delivering a bottle of prosecco to our room which I thought was a really lovely touch! Isn't that alligator bucket so cool?!
They also had some gorgeous pieces of furniture in the hallways. I kept taking photos because I just loved the little vignetts they had!
We stayed there for 2 nights over a weekend but didn't find it crowded at all or hard to get a table at breakfast.
We arrived around 9:30am and our room was not ready right away but it became available within the hour which was no big deal for us - we ended up just relaxing in the beautiful lobby and enjoyed breakfast.
The bed was a CLOUD. I think it was the most comfortable hotel bed I've ever slept on. They had Acqua di Parma products in the bathroom. I had heard of the brand before but never smelled anything by the brand and now I am in love. It was their Mediterranean Capri scent and it was seriously one of the best things I have ever smelled- citrusy and fresh!
The St. Regis has a garden cocktail bar called Lumen Garden and you can have meals in the lobby area at their restaurant called 'Lumen'. We didn't take advantage of either as we had other dinner reservations already planned. It was unfortunately a bit rainy so we also weren't able to enjoy a cocktail at Lumen Garden as we would have liked but it looked really beautiful! St. Regis is also known for the afternoon tea which we should have done as we would have had time but didn't think to do so.
Each night at 7:30pm, they do a champagne sabering and give guests a complimentary glass of wine! It's apparently a tradition at the hotel!
What I loved about this hotel is that there were always taxis right outside of the hotel so we didn't have to even step foot off of the St. Regis block and a taxi was available! It made things really seamless when grabbing a taxi to dinner!
All in all, we loved the St. Regis Hotel so much! It was grand and luxurious. We could have stayed inside of the hotel all day everyday and been happy (we didn't). Some have asked if I could choose between the Singer and the St. Regis and I really don't know that I have a clear answer- they were both so different but also both offered wonderful service and amenities so it's just really hard to say!
