CitizenM Rome review: looks like a Moxy/Motto/ALoft (with zero humanity)
CitizenM is a Dutch-born hotel sign with 36 properties scattered around the world, and this [...]
Marriott
CitizenM is a hotel sign born in the Netherlands., with 36 facilities scattered around the world, and this one in Rome is the only one (at the moment) in Italy.
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However, when Marriott announced at the beginning of the year that it was taking over facilities, concepts, and brands, I thought: "What do they do with it if they already have Moxy and Aloft?".
The trend of essential but designer hotels
That I'm a fan of Moxy I think is self-evident., they have more than 140 facilities for the world and I I think I've already reviewed almost 20 of them And they are my go-to sign in my travels.
CitizenM was born with the same philosophy: playful environment, social zone where people work, eat, play, dance, and essential (read: small) rooms. Considering then that Aloft by Sheraton. Is also in the Marriott portfolio, the purchase in my opinion was motivated by the desire to prevent it from ending up at the competition, rather than from a real need to cover a different niche.
Location
I was convinced that I was going to sleep on Tiber Island. and instead I ended up a victim like in New York City, when you book your hotel in Times Square and you're 10 blocks from the square of lights. Here you are on the Lungotevere, the hotel faces toward the island, it is not inside the island.
Check-in
If the morning is any indication, it was not a good day. In the Moxy you check in at the bar counter, in the Alofts at a traditional front desk, here it's self check-in, but done in the worst way.
The tablet table, a similar solution to the Radisson Red, Is the only way to get the key to the room. It also reminded me of the system used at the Villa Fontaine Hotel in Haneda, Japan., but the point is that if you do something like this, the technology has to be simple and foolproof.
Documents today have all biometric data and can be read by the machines, instead here you have to photograph them. They don't read the data from the documents, but you have to type it in. You put the municipality of birth and it tells you the province, too bad you then have to type in the province as well. Humanity is nonexistent or almost nonexistent, the integration with Bonvoy unclear. The choice is between 500 bonus points or 10$ to be used in the facility, but that cannot be used to discount the 16.5€ breakfast cost.
Eventually, however, my luggage key/tag reached its destination.
Needless to say, at check-out everything is repeated, salvo then not see the invoice in the tax drawer and having to contact the hotel to have it reissued.
The room
I would say calling it small is reductive, I think I have never stayed in such a small room in a chain hotel.
The bed/container also incorporates the television, partly because otherwise it would be difficult to find a wall to hang it on.
My room was on the "loser" side, that is, the side that does not look at the Tiber but at the buildings on the opposite side.
Not only that, it is also one of the few on the floor to have an unnecessary hallway/closet and double window.
A desk with a chair concludes the amenities. No water bottle, no welcome letter (admittedly in the Moxy rarely happens, but sometimes there is).
The bathroom is spacious, proportionally more than the room.
From an ipad it is possible to manage all the home automation in the room, but fortunately there are also physical switches in this way even less digital guests can move around easily, only the TV is managed exclusively from the tablet.
Small "playful" design elements here also remind me of the Moxy DNA.
The structure
On the 5th floor there is a rooftop with an automated bar, too bad. if you don't drink alcohol you don't drink anything.
Sure, the terrace is nice and large enough to accommodate a large group of guests, the automatic bar great idea, but it seems like a nice idea on paper, much less so live.
The carpet is really nice and immediately reminds you that you are in Rome, but there are so many ideas around that I feel are copied from other concepts around the world.
The ground floor environment is very similar to a Moxy as a concept, but more elegant. Here's the difference: a CitizenM is a step above a Moxy. One is refined and shabby chic, the other industrial and minimal.
The central bar, very beautiful and impressive, the area all around convenient for working, chatting with friends and partying. I happened to be right on the day of the holiday: appetizer/small hours with DJ from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m., complete with a warning in the elevator, but I must say it was half-dead when I returned around 10 p.m. Of course I was on the 5th and the music could be heard, I can't imagine those on the 1st.
Breakfast
As arci known, in the Moxy I never eat breakfast., because they are almost always half a disappointment and not worth the price. Here, being my first time, I decided to invest almost 20$ and even here I had the déjà-vu effect: the same setting as the Moxy breakfasts.
Products that look sophisticated on the surface, for example in cheeses, but then the flavors really flat. At this price, I recommend that everyone go out and have breakfast at a little cafe.
In conclusion
He looks like a Moxy who wants to be cool, however, but can't do it, in any case I will give a second chance away from Italy and see if the judgment will be confirmed or not. Let's say if the room costs about 100€ it's a good choice, if it goes up then it makes sense to look elsewhere (as with the Moxy).
Pro
- Location
Against
- No non-essential human contact
- Price