Relais Teatro Argentina in Rome

We stayed four nights in May 2024, and Relais Teatro Argentina had been highly recommended to us. We found the hotel to be a pleasant stay in a top-notch location right by Torre Argentina. The building is a charming old palazzo with a ton of character, beautiful vintage furnishings, and large spacious rooms. For the location alone, I'd say this place is worth it. Paolo, the owner, and the staff onsite were very helpful and lovely, full of suggestions of places to visit and things to do in Rome. Overall it was a good experience. Note that there were a few drawbacks, though. For one thing, the old building is a bit run-down and in need of maintenance. The shower only ever got tepid or lukewarm, never hot. The tap in the sink wasn't working properly, and the toilet ran constantly. Two of the four days, our room wasn't made up, for some reason. And the price, given that breakfast was not included, was on the high side, made worse by the fact that they insisted on payment in cash despite having signs out front that credit cards are accepted (and despite Italian laws that require them to accept cards for purchases above a certain amount). We had to waste a couple of hours looking for ATMs to withdraw large amounts of cash, and pay high conversion fees, which added to the price of the room. Then they tried to ask us to go BACK to the ATM to withdraw even more cash to pay the city tax. Whether the hotel owners are trying to evade taxes or simply cut down on banking fees on their end, I think it's pretty egregious to pass this along to the customer, especially given the prices. If I were to return to Rome, I probably would not stay here again.