Raphael Hotel by Jamie Dunford Wood

Not long ago the unofficial party HQ of a certain Sgr. Craxi, on first impression the Raphael is promising. The location, just a few steps behind the Piazza Navona in the heart of old Rome, is second to none, whilst the ivy clad building and art-stuffed reception area suggests great things: not to mention the prominent display of the latest directory from Small Luxury Hotels of the World, which includes the Ritz in London. Unfortunately this is misleading. Upstairs the building has been chopped about into 70 rooms which, if you stripped away the heavy and expensive Roman fabrics, would qualify for little better than 3 star status. The conversion is shabby, with partition walls marking out corridors with poor joins clearly visible. The blank white corridors themselves, along with the doors, are badly scruffed and scratched, and it says something for the care that is taken with this hotel that they don't bother to keep them smart -preferring to wait, one suspects, for that once-in-five-years renovation. The standard and superior rooms are both tiny, with small bathrooms, the only difference being in the decor - the superior having papered walls and striped Roman bedcovers. The tones are Roman red and yellow. The bathrooms have single sinks, no separate showers and again, are small. Nothing apart from the air conditioning invites you to linger in your room. The deluxe rooms are a decent size, but again the décor is heavy and the bathrooms remain small and basic. On the fifth floor they are split level like mini-duplexes.