I've been sitting on this review for quite some time because I never had the energy to really…read moreexpress the weird experience I had here. While traveling to Rome with a friend, we decided that we should spend a few days of our trip outside of the city. Websites online boast that Frascati is a sleepy country side with a ton of hidden gems including the typical piazzas as well as the Castelli Romani and vineyards. Frascati is more like the Staten Island of Rome - a pain in the ass suburb to get to. Anyway, I didn't know this so we settled on staying at Villa Mercede for 3 nights. The website shows a glorious pool and a pristine dining area that turns into a lounge at night. Two single ladies couldn't really go wrong here, right? Think again. This hotel is DUMB far from the Frascati train station. They say it's a 10 minute walk but fail to tell you that the ENTIRE walk is uphill and impossible with luggage. Uber also doesn't work there so if you ever need to get back to the hotel past 9pm, good luck and God bless. It was miserable and the hotel shuttle service stops way too early to make this a tourist spot. We checked in at around 1pm and the man at the front desk, last name was Di Giulio or something, was rude as could possibly be. He must not have realized I spoke Italian so when he asked me for my passport and I bent down into my luggage to get it, he mumbled some choice curse words in Italian to his colleague. As if me bending to get the document was somehow offensive to him. We were off to a great start. The Castelli Romani are close but they do 0 advertising of this except for a few pamphlets at the front desk. Basically, once you get here, you're stranded unless you have a car. Wish someone would have warned me. Wish the hotel also told us more about stuff to do. We tried to walk up to our room on the other side of the hotel but get this... we had to walk UP stairs, down a hallway, then take an elevator downstairs to our floor. Combine that with jet lag and a long ass day of traveling and I PROMISE you that you will get lost. The food at the dining area was good but it never did turn into a lounge at night so I was pretty bored while stranded here. Restaurants were also dumb far and closed super early. Thankfully there is a gelateria and café attached so we subsisted on gelato alone for quite a few meals. Please don't get me started on the pool which could have been the only saving grace here in terms of fun. It was taken over by gnats so even though the weather was sunny, we couldn't go in. During our 3 night stay, they cleaned the pool 0 times. The pool area was deserted in terms of other people at the hotel. I'll admit the rooms were gorgeous... comfortable, roomy, trendy, and spotless. But for the price and the fact that you are basically stuck there, they better be! The area is not as advertised on their website. We never made it to Castelli Romani since my friend ended up with a cold, but if we had chosen to go there, I can't imagine the shuttle service being efficient. We only took the shuttle once at 5:30am to catch a train to Rome, to catch a bus to Pompeii, and arranging the shuttle was annoying b/c there is only 1 person driving the shuttle and they had to call his personal cell to see if that time was okay with him. How accommodating, right? Gonna be a no from me. Won't be giving them my business again.

Friendly staff when we arrived. Very clean rooms. We loved the restuarant downstairs for both…read moredinner and breakfast. The bar and lounge area was nice. Great shuttle service to the train station. This is a great hotel and we are very pleased.