JFRC Resumes Alternative Housing with Local Hotel

Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center is now using the nearby Hotel Zone as alternative housing for a small number of students while the university completes ongoing campus renovations.

In total, 10 students are occupying five double-rooms at Hotel Zone this semester out of the total 215 Loyola students currently studying abroad at JFRC, according to Elisa Ascione, the assistant dean of Student Life. Both Hotel Zone and the Rome campus reside in the Balduina neighborhood of Rome with a roughly 15-20 minute walk between the two locations.

The Rome Center disclosed the limited amount of alternative housing in a Nov. 11 newsletter announcing the opening of fall 2024 applications. While JFRC had previously worked with Hotel Zone, this semester is the first time since opening up after the COVID-19 pandemic where Rome Center students are once again staying at the hotel, according to Ascione.

JFRC began its relationship with the hotel between 2009-2011, according to Claudio Iversa, the director of sales and reservations at Hotel Zone. After over a decade of collaboration, Iversa said the relationship has been “excellent” as they’ve always felt supported by the university and the students seem to enjoy their stay.

“We even been invited to the university, we’ve been visiting the university,” Iversa said. “We have a good collaboration, even with the students our experience has been always good.”

While the previous collaboration was larger scale — housing roughly 30 students per semester — and more permanent, Ascione said this time it’s meant as a temporary relief while JFRC modernizes several dorms. As overall capacity is down from the standard 230 students due to the renovations, alternate housing allows more waitlisted students to attend.

The renovations will cover four residential floors and are estimated to last several years after which the temporary housing arrangement with Hotel Zone will end, according to Ascione. New additions will be central cooling on each floor and private bathrooms in the original dorms which previously had communal bathrooms and no air conditioning.

Second-year Sadie Walden is one of the 10 staying at the hotel and said between food and friends, she’s only ever at the hotel to sleep. Walden said she was waitlisted for several months after applying to study abroad in Rome and almost went to Athens instead before she was alerted to an opening.

“I think it was November or late October that I got an email that said, ‘Hey, so we now have spots open at the hotel, if you’re up for it, for the Rome Campus,’” Walden said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to go there instead of somewhere where I’d have no set family or sources or really anybody to rely on.’”

Ascione said students at the hotel have access to all the same amenities as those staying on campus with the exception of in-house laundry. Iversa said there is a free buffet breakfast, but students staying at Hotel Zone must either pay extra for the hotel’s laundry service or make the roughly 15-20 minute trek back to campus.

Walden said she is currently living out of her suitcase and using multiple bags to organize her clothes because of inadequate amounts of storage in her room, which she attributes to the typically brief nature of hotel accommodations. Despite this, Walden said her experience with Hotel Zone and the surrounding area has been great, awarding it a symbolic four-and-a-half stars.

“Balduina is called the highest hill of Rome,” Walden said. “So where I am my window looks out to the neighborhood and you’ve got a nice view of everything above, kind of like a bird’s eye view. And then there’s also a lot of terraces all around the hotel that you can go out on and balconies, which also have some really good views as well.”

While Walden said her experience at the hotel has been overwhelmingly positive, the walk to and from campus at the end of the day or to do laundry has been a downside. She also said remembering she has to make the return walk late at night after spending time with friends on the campus can sometimes hinder social activities.

Featured Image by Holden Green / The Phoenix