Hotel Art, Rome, Italy

Hotel Art is one of those design hotels that invokes a strong emotion: you either love it or you hate it. Distinctly modern, it is housed in a converted religious school. A river of silver clouds and fairy lights draws you in to the hotel. How the fashionistas manage their stiletto heels on the white pebble path is anyone’s guess, just remember not to bring yours.

One of the highpoints of Hotel Art is its location on Via Margutta, the art quarter brimming with galleries and antique shops. You can still spot the odd artist’s studio too though not many can afford this sought-after area now considering its proximity to Via Babuino (which runs parallel) and the Spanish Steps.

The facilities

Reception at the design hotel is reminiscent of ‘Mork and Mindy’ with it’s white egg pods and black-clad staff. The lobby serves breakfast during the day and drinks in the evening – the buffet and bar are located in the altar for a twisted touch. A red and black resin floor outlines the floorplan of the Pantheon to remind guests that despite the modernity, Hotel Art is still in the Eternal City. A modern take on a witch’s cauldron languishes in the corner, bubbling smoke. The internal courtyard’s moulded plastic chairs prove tempting for an evening drink under the silver cloud trees. The basement houses a small fitness room together with a sauna and Turkish bath.

The rooms

The corridor on each of the four floors of this design hotel has only one colour bombarding you from the moment you step out of the lift: walls, floor, ceiling, floor level lighting, doors: all in either blue/green/orange/yellow. You almost need sunglasses. The rooms themselves come as a welcome surprise after the monochromatic assault. Neutral shades and natural materials predominate, though the floor’s chromatic theme is picked up in the bathroom tiles and the curved wall hugging the bath that extends into the bedroom.

With small rooms (but it’s Rome remember) and reports of shoddy service, a desire to sleep somewhere innovative and stylish will be a bonus if you plan to stay here. But for those who appreciate the audacity, Hotel Art has much to offer.

This former chapel cum seminary has now been converted into a super trendy design hotel, self styled as ‘superior 4 star’. A pebble and steel candy floss entrance way leads the way in. ‘Superior’ evidently refers to the veneer of space age design and the occasional twin sink arrangement, because square-meterage and separate showers, a mark of the superior elsewhere, are lacking. Reception consists of two starship enterprise pods with the requisite black clad staff. Only the deluxes and the superiors are of a decent size, though not particularly spacious. Elegant dark woo-block floors and leather headboards thankfully keep the hard-edge space theme locked out in the corridors, each of which glows in a different colour - you don’t get out at the 4th floor, but the blue floor, with room numbers illuminated beneath your feet like a runway.

There’s a small Turkish bath and spa in the basement. The original altar of the chapel is carefully preserved behind glass - behind the bar, a sacreligious touch.

The Hotel Art is a member of the SLH - Small Luxury Hotels of the World - final proof that this marketing chain has little consistency about membership beyond the narrowest definition of small and luxury. However, the position of the Hotel Art cannot be faulted, in a quiet and attractive side street close to the Spanish Steps, and it may be exciting to stay here at least once.