Aleph Hotel Rome, Italy: This small, luxury hotel is located in the old headquarters of the Italian bank, Istituto Credito Casse di Risparmio Italiane, just minutes from the Via Veneto.

Aleph Hotel, which opened in April 2003, is part of the Boscolo Group of hotels. It has 96 rooms, which include 24 deluxe rooms and six suites and junior suites. The public spaces of Aleph were pure decadence, the front desk and bellman's service was top notch, but my guest room was disappointing.

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First Impression/Lobby: I was blown away with the entrance of the Aleph hotel. Chic and trendy just barely begin to describe the décor. Flashy, sexy, dangerous and exciting, the lobby, bar and public spaces overloaded our senses. If the guestrooms were half as exciting, this hotel was going to be fantastic bombastic.

Reception: Checking into this boutique hotel was fast, efficient but most importantly friendly. They had all of our information ready so we just gave our last name and they said, 'Yes, we have been expecting you'. Within just a few minutes they made copies of our passports, got our signatures and we were on our way to our junior suite. A check-in like this is just as it should be, perfect.

The Suite: The Junior Suite was small (and that was putting it nicely). The size of it, tiny, reminded me of the cramped Hotel Le A in Paris that I had stayed in last autumn. With just a few feet on either side of the bed, I was grateful we had the Junior Suite. Had we not done that, I am not sure where we could have possibly put our luggage.

The décor was as you would expect from a small, boutique hotel, trendy but the large black and white mural on the bedroom wall was a bit much for me. At times, it made me feel like I was next to a large picture window on the side of a street or maybe by a movie screen from the fifties. At other times, I felt like an over-sized newspaper picture was smothering me. Even with bright lighting and plain white linens, for a room that small, the mural was just too large.

The 'living room' of the suite was just a small sitting room with two chairs and a desk, no TV, the older model TV was in the bedroom. The carpet, a navy and royal blue and the white furniture gave the room a clean, fresh feeling but did nothing to make the room feel larger.

The bathroom is a spiffy blue and white tile. Again, keeping in line with the rest of the room, it was small, with just a stand-alone shower, bathtub, toilet and single sink. It is a very sharp looking bathroom; it is just small, especially for a junior suite.

The hotel had nice robes and slippers but not the Etro ammenities their website said.

Was the room five-star? Was it luxurious? No, not even if I used my imagination.

Room Service: As any good five-star hotel should, Aleph Hotel offers 24-hour room service. However, what they really offer is an extremely limited lunch and dinner selection. So small in fact, that they do not even have a menu. Before 7:30 PM you have the option of a few sandwiches, after 7:30 a just as small selection of pastas.

Their wine and champagne menu is limited as well, however, their prices are not; the Champagne prices start at Euro 220.

Overall Impression: As exciting as the entrance, lobby and public spaces were and as bombastic as the service at the front desk was, the Aleph Hotel just did not live up to a true, five-star, luxury hotel as it billed itself. Based on this, I give Aleph Hotel a rating of somewhere between Bombastic and Not.

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