The apartment is in a very good location. The Prati area of Rome is a lovely place to stay and there is a very good supermarket to the right of the apartment entrance. The flat itself is very spacious.
However we were so disappointed with the scaffolding that is covering the the whole front of the building, which meant that very little natural light came into the dinning room, the two sitting rooms and the hallway. There were also workmen present by the windows whilst we were eating lunch and resting from the heat of the day.
We were also disappointed that the lift broke twice during our ten day stay, particularly on our departure day. Thankfully none of our family members were affected, but in the early hours of the morning, my mother and I had to carry all of our luggage down the steps, from the 4th floor, which was an exhausting and difficult task.
There was not a welcome booklet for guests to answer questions concerning the flat. Our host did say we could contact him and we did, but certain questions would have been helped with some instructions. For example a photo or description of where the bins were out on the street and instructions on how to leave the flat when we depart.
There was no kettle provided. We were in Italy so I understand the cultural differences, but lots of shops in the Prati area of Rome were selling kettles. We were provided two pans to boil water in, but when we did so, the water tasted of food that had been cooked in them. We then had a metal jug which we could boil water in, but it was not safe as it got too hot.
We planned to cook most nights using the kitchen in the flat. However we discovered that the cooking utensils were lacking. We struggled to cook for more than three people (we had five staying in total, in an apartment than can house six guests max) as we had limited cooking utensils. Potential missing items in the kitchens are as follows;
cooking trays (unable to use the oven because of this)
mixing bowls
chopping boards (we had one bread board and expensive plates)
x1 chopping knife (had to use the eight steak knives)
x1 tea towel (we had to use the small towels to dry up)
Ironing board (an iron was provided but no ironing board)
Washing line pegs (we were told we could hang up our washing on the balcony drying lines, but no pegs were provided)
Broken bottle opener (the knife was dangerous exposed, so I had to tape a plaster over the blade, we had to buy another one to replace it)
Washing up-liquid
Dishwasher cubes
Bin Liners
The window in the smaller bathroom would not shut. It was blocked by a curtain and rail which prevented family members shutting the window.
A lot of the bedroom furniture was locked and so could not be used by guests, for example a chest of drawers. There was a wardrobe that was full of bed linen with a difficult door to open and close. This meant that clothes could not be hung up in there. What was present were three basic IKEA frames that you could hang items on but had poor shelving for other clothes.
The main lights in the bedroom were connected to an old fashioned fan. It was quite a complicated process to turn them on, particularly with no instructions. We could not turn on one of the bedroom lights as the ‘hanging cables’ were tangled.
Finally, these were the two main issues with our stay. The quality of the flat, furnishing and utilities were not good enough for what the host was charging. And secondly we thought it was deceitful that we were not warned of the extensive external repair works going on outside, with scaffolding that prevented most daylight in three main living rooms.