The 16 Best Things to Do in Rome (and Top Things to Avoid)
The 16 Best Things to Do in Rome (and Top Things to Avoid)
https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/italy/rome/experiences/news/photos/best-things-to-do-in-rome
PART III
From which Colosseum tickets you should book to the top tips for avoiding tourist traps, here’s an insider’s guide to the Eternal City.
I know it’s cliché, but I fell in love with Rome on my first visit. Wandering around in awe of the Baroque fountains and sculptures, weathered buildings in saturated hues of ochre, and impeccably dressed Romans, I just knew I had to live here. That was more than 15 years ago and, after many visits and a two-year stint living here, I made the move permanently in 2019 and still love the Eternal City despite its flaws.
Locals often compare Rome to a lasagna because it was built in layers over the course of more than 2,000 years. That’s what makes this city so fascinating; the deeper you dig, the more you’ll discover. As a travel writer based in Rome, it’s my job to stay up to date on the hottest new hotels, best restaurants, coolest bars, and cultural attractions, but it’s also a personal passion. Here are my insider tips for your next trip to Rome.
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Must-Try Restaurants: Seu Pizza
WHERE: Trastevere
Award-winning pizzaiolo Pier Daniele Seu is considered a visionary and is part of the wave of pizza makers revolutionizing the humble staple. His namesake pizzeria draws pizza fiends from every corner of Rome and far beyond. Here, in a space decorated with pop art, he serves ethereal Neapolitan-style pizzas topped with classic or creative toppings and presented as works of art, not to mention delicious fritti (fried starters). If you’re having trouble choosing, opt for one of the tasting menus so you can sample a variety of dishes.
PHOTO: JOE SHLABOTNIK
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Must-Try Restaurants: Fatamorgana
This beloved female-owned gelateria has a handful of locations around Rome. Stop by for a cup or cone of artisanal gelato or sorbet made using all-natural ingredients. In addition to classic flavors, you’ll find creatives ones like basil with walnuts and honey, matcha, or carrot cake. The gelato is naturally gluten-free and there are always good vegan options too.
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Best Budget Hotel: Room Mate Mia
WHERE: Celio
Just a 10-minute walk from the Colosseum, Room Mate Mia has stylish rooms, a small gym, and a rooftop restaurant and bar with plush sofas and tables where you can watch the sunset over the ancient amphitheater. When the Spanish brand Room Mate took over the property, they revamped the public spaces and upgraded the rooms, which now have big, comfy beds with velvet headboards, desks, chairs, and minibars.
PHOTO: ©JÉRÔME_GALLAND
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Best Boutique Hotel: Casa Monti
WHERE: Monti
Located in Rome’s most creative enclave, Casa Monti pays homage to the artists and makers who call the neighborhood home with a bold, maximalist design that layers lots of colors and Roman motifs. Rooms and suites featured whimsically patterned headboards, wallpaper, and curtains and come kitted out with espresso machines, Chromecast-enabled TVs, Marshall Bluetooth speakers, and minibars stocked with local snacks. In addition to the ground-floor restaurant, there’s a lovely rooftop bar that’s refreshingly relaxed. A rooftop spa with treatments by Susanne Kaufmann and a jacuzzi rounds out the offerings.
PHOTO: HOTEL DE RUSSIE
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Best Luxury Hotel: Hotel de Russie
WHERE: Piazza del Popolo
A home away from home for rock stars and Hollywood celebrities, this 19th-century hotel that once hosted Picasso is now run by the Rocco Forte Hotels group. While some of the city’s newcomers feature flashy, over-the-top design, the Hotel de Russie is more about quiet luxury, with elegant rooms and suites featuring timeless furnishings and pops of color. No doubt the place to be is in the verdant tiered garden, where you can sip a signature Stravinskij Spritz at the ground-floor Stravinskij Bar and enjoy acclaimed chef Fulvio Pierangelini’s ravioli cacio e pepe at Le Jardin de Russie restaurant above it. The al fresco Aquazzura Bar, whose menu focuses on tequila cocktails and Latin American small plates, is back this year.
PHOTO: AIRBNB
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Best Airbnb: Palazzo Borghese
WHERE: Piazza di Spagna
Sleep like royalty in a literal palace at this Airbnb set within the noble Palazzo Borghese near the Spanish Steps. The one-bedroom apartment boasts original frescoes, coffered ceilings, and a fireplace in the living room, while the bedroom is crowned by a chandelier and has a jacuzzi tub. The kitchen and bathroom were renovated in a more modern style and come equipped with everything you would need for a comfortable stay. But perhaps the most unique selling point is the access to the palazzo’s beautiful courtyard garden, a verdant oasis in the midst of Rome’s busy shopping district.
PHOTO: AIRBNB
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Best Airbnb: Fort 44
WHERE: Pigneto
For a full immersion in Rome’s contemporary creative culture, book a stay at Fort 44, a spacious two-story loft in up-and-coming Pigneto, a hip neighborhood known for street art and nightlife. The two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom apartment melds industrial design elements and mid-century modern furnishings with eclectic art. A fully-equipped kitchen and washing machine make this apartment great for extended stays. Though the location is a bit off the beaten path, it’s only ten minutes from the Colosseum on metro line C.
PHOTO: ENGIN KORKMAZ
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Things to Know
Navigating Rome isn’t too difficult, but there are some things you need to know. Uber drivers must be licensed professionals, but you can use the app to call a taxi. Otherwise, look for a taxi stand designated by an orange sign, call the central dispatch (+39 063570), or use an app like ItTaxi or FreeNow. There are three metro lines that stop near sights like the Vatican, the Spanish Steps, and the Colosseum. Tickets cost €1.50 and are valid for 100 minutes on a combination of metro, trams, and buses.
The best times to visit Rome are spring and fall for the best weather and moderate crowds. Summers tend to be hot and crowded, except August, when Romans decamp to the sea and many small businesses close. Winters are generally mild and are really the only season when the city gets a respite from the crowds.
Hoteliers confident in stable US demand trends despite persistent cost increases
Number of US households earning combined income of $200,000 or more is increasing
https://www.costar.com/article/828612145/hoteliers-confident-in-stable-us-demand-trends-despite-persistent-cost-increases?
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Despite some U.S. hotel markets not scoring a goal during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, hoteliers are tightening their operations strategy and are seeing some positive demand indicators for the rest of the year.
One major boost is that the number of households in the U.S. in which there is a combined income of $200,000 is increasing, and that segment now accounts for 36% of lodging spending, said Jan Freitag, national director, hospitality market analytics for CoStar Group, during the first day of the 18th annual Hotel Data Conference.
There are 2.3 times as many households with nominal income above that threshold as there were in 2018, which equates to approximately 11% of all U.S. households, he added.
With luxury hotels seemingly not having to worry about where demand and average daily rate are deriving or improving, this is good news for the chain-scale segments beneath that gilded level.
Hotel occupancy is increasing in segments and in many markets, and average daily rate has largely followed, but operating margins — particularly in hotel food and beverage are tight.
A holistic reappraisal of each hotel might be the way to move forward, loosen up margins and take more cash to the bank.
Here are some more highlights from the Hotel Data Conference.
Slide of the day
STR and Tourism Economics presented an updated forecast for U.S. hotel performance at the 2026 Hotel Data Conference.Quotes of the day
"Distribution has become increasingly opaque, so channel information doesn't necessarily tell us the same as it used to years ago. ... I don't think it's that it's become harder to identify. But I think we're trying to categorize in the same way that we have in the last five to 10 years, when the traveler behavior has become a lot more fluid."
— Paula Weissend, senior regional director of revenue management, Pivot Hotels & Resorts
"In the past we thought the rise of an LLM platform allows us an even playing ground with an [online travel agency] partner. OTAs are way ahead of the game; they've invested highly effectively in that space and are very well on their way to being that authority for your hotel."
— Priya Chandnani, executive vice president of commercial strategy, Sage Hospitality, on the competitive landscape of hotel marketing in the AI age.
“The benefits of [U.S. city] convention-center upgrades take time to prove, [but] the smaller dogs want to be bigger, and the top dogs want to be massive”
— Chantal Wu, senior director of hospitality market analytics, CoStar
"I do have a bit of good news. If you'll stare out at the horizon just a little bit and squint, you'll see that inflation is almost certainly going to come down. It's not going to come down this month. It's not going to come down probably appreciably through the rest of the year, but if you look at 2027, we do expect it to come down."
— Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics
'Outsized rate growth' in first half of year, expected stability in second lead Host to raise outlook
Hyatt renovation program nearly complete while Marriott projects are underway
The renovation project at Host Hotels & Resorts' Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego is expected to be complete by the end of the year. (CoStar)
https://www.costar.com/article/1206950179/outsized-rate-growth-in-first-half-of-year-expected-stability-in-second-lead-host-to-raise-outlook?
By Bryan Wroten
The combination of an improved year-end outlook and better-than-expected performance in the second quarter has led Host Hotels & Resorts to raise its revenue per available room outlook.
During the hotel real estate investment trust's second-quarter earnings call, Jim Risoleo, chairman, president and CEO of Host, said the company now expects both its comparable hotel RevPAR growth and comparable hotel total RevPAR growth to both range between 4.75% to 5.25%. That's an increase of 75 basis points and 125 basis points, respectively, from their midpoints in the company's previous full-year outlook.
"This reflects the outsized rate growth we achieved in the first half of the year, and our expectation that rate growth will normalize in the second half of the year," he said.
Revenue per available room growth in the second quarter topped Host's expectations, with broad-based strength across both markets and business mix, Risoleo said. Sustained luxury resort demand, strong group performance and elevated rates associated with World Cup matches drove growth for the portfolio.
“We estimate that the event contributed approximately 160 basis points of RevPAR growth in the second quarter,” he said. “For June alone, RevPAR in our World Cup markets grew 15% compared to 12% in non-World Cup markets.”
Host’s team expects the World Cup will contribute approximately 70 basis points of gross RevPAR growth for the full year, a 10-basis-point increase over expectations, he said.
Transient guest revenue grew 7% during the quarter, marking the strongest growth out of the last seven quarters, Risoleo said. Those higher rates were the result of relatively stable demand thanks to major events, citywide compression and continued leisure strength at luxury resorts.
Among Host’s markets, Maui, New York and San Francisco led that growth with improvements in key business transient markets also adding some performance tailwinds, he said. Maui in particular saw RevPAR grow 14% and total RevPAR grow 11%, reflecting strong demand growth as occupancy grew more than 8 percentage points in the quarter.
Group room revenue grew 7% during the quarter, the result of fairly even room-night and rate growth, he said. Host’s portfolio sold 1.1 million group room nights during the quarter, and its definite group room nights on the books for 2026 now stand at 3.8 million. Total group revenue pace is up more than 5% compared to the same time last year.
Food-and-beverage revenue grew 6% during the quarter while other ancillary revenue remained flat, Risoleo said. The growth in on-property spending was offset by a decrease in attrition and cancellation revenue compared to last year’s tough comparisons.
“The broad-based growth across food and beverage departments, golf and spa demonstrates the continued strength of the affluent consumer, as well as the benefits of the strategic investments we have made at many of our properties over the last several years,” he said.
Portfolio update
In June, Host closed on its sale of the Sheraton Parsippany for approximately $12 million, Risoleo said. The deal was in line with its strategy of selling off lower-growth properties with near-term elevated capital expenditure requirements.
During the second quarter, Host made further progress in its Hyatt Transformational Capital Program, and it is now nearly 90% complete, he said. The program should finish by the end of the year. The program has renovated five hotels so far: the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead; the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill; the Hyatt Regency Austin; the Hyatt Regency Ruston; and the Grand Hyatt Washington.
The Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, the final Hyatt hotel in the program, has a phased renovation to mitigate business interruption, and it should be substantially complete by the end of this year, he said.
Host has moved forward with its second Marriott Transformational Capital Program, which is about 37% complete, Risoleo said. It’s tracking on time and under budget. Guestroom renovations at the New Orleans Marriott are nearly done. Renovations at the Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón, and Westin Kierland Resort & Spa are in progress, and the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey is scheduled to start renovations later this month.
During the second quarter, Host received $5 million in operating guarantees related to its transformational capital programs, he said. The REIT expects to benefit from about $19 million in operating profit guarantees in 2026 from the two programs, which should offset most of the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization disruption.
Host finished the final phase of its Four Seasons Orlando condo development at the Walt Disney World Resort during the quarter, Risoleo said. So far, the company has closed on 28 of the 40 units, including 20 of the 31 midrise units and eight of the nine villas.
For 2026, Host has provided a capital expenditure guidance range of about $550 million to $630 million, he said. That includes about $250 million to $285 million in reinvestment focused on redevelopment, repositioning and return-on-investment projects, as well as $25 million to $30 million for property damage reconstruction associated with the Kona rainstorm in Hawaii.
In addition, Host has spent about $17 million to close out the condo development at the Four Seasons Orlando resort, he said.
“Our continued reinvestment across the portfolio remains a key differentiator and is an important driver of Host’s sustained outperformance,” Risoleo said.
Once Host completes its Marriott program in 2029, it will have reinvested approximately $2.1 billion into comprehensive renovations across 34 hotels, he said. That should contribute about 60% of its hotel EBITDA in 2026.
“We have stabilized post-renovation performance at 21 of these properties, where we have seen an average stabilized RevPAR index share gain of nearly 9 points,” he said.
By the numbers
For the second quarter, Host reported net income of $241 million, a 7.1% year-over-year increase, according to the company’s earnings release. Total revenue for the quarter amounted to $1.64 billion, an increase from $1.58 billion the year before.
Comparable hotel RevPAR was $251.53, a 7% increase, and comparable hotel total RevPAR was $417.58, a 5.9% increase.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for real estate were $519 million, a 5.7% year-over-year increase. Adjusted EBITDAre totaled $525 million, a 5.8% increase.
As of June 30, Host reported its total assets were valued at $13.3 billion. The REIT had a debt balance of $5.1 billion with a weighted average maturity of 4.7 years and a weighted average interest rate of 4.8%. It has no maturities in 2026. It has total available liquidity of about $3.6 billion, which includes furniture, fixtures and equipment escrow reserves of $156 million and $1.5 billion through the revolver portion of its credit facility.
As of press time, Host’s stock was trading at $23.53, up 29.6% year to date. The NASDAQ Composite was up 14.5% for the same period.
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