Secondary bathroom
Hotel: Singer Palace
Location: Rome, Italy just a few blocks from the Trevi Fountain
We are back from our trip and it was a BLAST but let me just say I am soooooooooo glad to be home.
I am trying to break things down so that they are as organized as possible. So, I'll start with our first hotel, then move on to food/tours/etc, and then cruise, and then our last hotel so there will be 4 blog posts in total over the next few weeks. Breaking it down like this honestly makes the most sense for SEO purposes so I have the hotels broken down separately but it also makes sense organization-wise, so hope this all works for you all as I know many have messaged saying they are planning trips for the upcoming year.
My travel guides tend to get really long so I will try and make this as brief and clear-cut as possible! I couldn't find many reviews online for the Singer Palace. I found out when we got there they opened in late 2018 and so they didn't have much time before they had to close their doors due to the pandemic in early 2020, so I am thinking this must be the reason.
We stayed at the Singer Palace Hotel in Rome for the first three nights. In planning this trip, my husband and I sat down one night and just googled around until we came up with a list of hotels that looked nice to us. Then, to narrow it down, we looked through which hotels had availability for our dates and that's kind of how we landed on the Singer Palace Hotel.
It is a boutique hotel with just 30 rooms. It is called 'Singer' after the sewing machines. The building used to be Singer's European headquarters! It's located off of a popular main street in Rome called Via Del Corso. It's just blocks away from the Trevi Fountain and we found it to be very walkable to all of the touristy things like the Pantheon, Colusseum, etc. Because it's off on a side street, it feels less congested and more private, which is nice. It was a bit of a longer walk to the Spanish steps, but very doable! There was a pharmacy and a small restaurant (that was open late) directly across the street so we could get anything we needed within a few steps. Our second hotel, which will be in a future post was also wonderful, but in terms of location, I preferred the Singer's location as it felt more walkable and always felt extremely safe.
We stayed in a suite on the 1st floor (which is really like 2nd floor because they call their base floor 0) which was just beautiful and so spacious. The design and decor were tastefully modern with luxurious touches. We had a king bed. This is worth noting because a lot of the hotels all over Europe sometimes only offer a queen or even just a double/full bed. We only looked at places that offered a king bed as that is what we are used to at home. My husband is tall, so a full/double would just never even work for us. The bed was incredibly comfortable with soft, high-end linens.
The room had TWO bathrooms. This surprised me the most and was the best thing about our room. Everything exceeded our expectations but the two spacious bathrooms were such a game changer. My husband was able to shower in one bathroom and I was able to do my hair and makeup in another. This is also worth noting because hotels in major European cities are known to be on the smaller side and this room was absolutely huge... even for a suite, it was so spacious. The one bathroom was covered in beautiful marble and contained all of the amenities we could need including a fantastic hair dryer. I loved it so much I actually took a photo of the hair dryer to remember it. The full-size bath products were a new-to-me brand called Ortigia which is a fragrance brand out of Sicily. They smelled incredible.
The air conditioning worked well. A lot of these really old hotels have air conditioning but it never works really well. This was normal/great working air conditioning! It was so necessary considering it was literally 95 degrees outside.
Regarding safety/security, there was front desk staff, bellmen, doormen, etc, all right at the front of the hotel (24/7) with no other access points for entry. We used a physical key to get in and out of our room as their key card system was down at the time. There was a large in-room safe where we placed all of our valuables and important documents. We felt totally safe the entire time.
The service was unlike anything I've ever experienced in a hotel before. We arrived at the hotel around 8:45am and our room was ready. They immediately took our bags from our car service, so we never even had to handle them. We were exhausted and I guess they know that of their guests when they arrive so check-in was not even 5 minutes. They offered us bottled water on a silver platter and then whisked us upstairs to have breakfast on their rooftop terrace. Easily the best first impression of a hotel I have ever had.
Breakfast is included with the room rate and it is not to be missed. You can eat outside on the terrace or they have a chic indoor space. We chose outside every morning because it was so stunningly beautiful and we lucked out with the weather. It is not a buffet but rather a pretty extensive menu with traditional European-style breakfasts or things like eggs, bacon, waffles, etc. You can choose as much as you want- think of it as all-inclusive. Each morning we had a wonderful cappuccino. I am not an orange juice person but I had some and it was the best I had ever tried. The service was very Americanized which is a positive for me. They would come and fill up your water, and make sure you were OK, it was all very service-oriented and they were attentive. Some of the restaurants we would go to would visit our table once or twice, not even enough to refill our water, they just kind of leave you alone. My husband and I both agreed that we think breakfast in Heaven is like breakfast at the Singer. It was that picturesque and delicious. We would sit out there and say 'I can't believe this place is real.'
Also, you can have breakfast served in-room. We did that on our last morning as it was supposed to rain that morning (and never did) and we wanted time to pack up. We also were going to miss breakfast one morning because our vatican tour was so early so they had packed breakfast boxes to-go. It seemed like they were always one step ahead of us in terms of anticipating our needs. They also had a Nespresso in the room.
The rooftop is also home to their cocktail bar, Jim's. We watched the sunset from there one evening and it was spectacular. They have an extensive cocktail list and they were all delicious. We sat outside but there was a small indoor portion as well. The drinks are pricier than at many bars in the area ($20ish per drink) but well worth it for the views and atmosphere. They also have live music! There was a pianist/singer when we were there!
They have a concierge service. I was able to email them for restaurant recommendations and they were so responsive and helpful. They made us last-minute dinner reservations one evening- like literally 2 hours before and did not recommend any overly 'touristy' spots but rather high-quality, delicious restaurants.
When we checked into our room, they had a bottle of prosecco for us, a fruit tray, and even a cute little makeup bag with an Avene spray and a little fan inside. These touches were common. As we were leaving, they gave us a parting gift of an Ortigia tray with the soap from their hotel. So thoughtful and unexpected.
Each night when they would turn down service, we would have our waters replaced at our bedside. A sparkling and still water and they cleaned our room multiple times per day.
We had room service one night for dinner and the food was fabulous. I got gnocchi and it was one of the best pasta dishes of our trip.
Everything there felt personalized and like they truly cared about every single guest that walked through their doors. I think this is because it's only 30 rooms, they can really focus on each individual. We were also there on a weekday so I am assuming they might not have been at capacity as we didn't see many other guests around. I don't think many people know about this hotel. Our driver did not know about it and he knew a lot! As we were leaving Saturday morning, we then saw quite a few guests trickling in. I guess I am letting out the secret!!
All-in-all I would highly recommend the Singer Palace It was luxurious, service-oriented, personalized, clean, beautiful, in a great location... I could go on and on. I truly can't think of a single criticism of this hotel. You will not be disappointed!!
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