J.K. Place Roma: When in Rome, a Town House to Call Your Own

Ever dreamed of setting up shop in Rome? That is, buying a little place, spending a few million euros to renovate it and inviting your globe-trotting friends of means to come and stay for a few nights (or months)? That’s the vibe at this glossy, 27-key town house just a few blocks from the Spanish Steps, where you can luxuriate in that home-away-from-home feel—that is, if your home had a four-poster canopy bed and an elevator furnished with an actual couch in it.

Yes, you occasionally need to ring the doorbell to gain entry to J.K. Place Roma—but that’s part of the draw. From the minute your town car rolls up to the hotel’s elegant stone façade, you should feel like you’re kicking off an extended sojourn to the home of a good friend, not performing the perfunctory revolving-door rituals of a hotel guest.

Once inside, you’ll breeze past the door attendant and the lacquered table in the foyer and the vase of fresh flowers, gliding toward the salon while the watchful butler fixes you a drink. All around are trappings of cosmopolitan life: large-format abstract paintings, alabaster-white statuary, sculptures resting on plinths. Thick art books, many of them from the luxury publishing house Assouline, cover every table, the only pops of color in a sea of black, white and gray.

Watch from a couch the color of French vanilla as the bellhop carts off your luggage, and a member of the genteel front-desk staff walks you through the offerings: complimentary newspaper access (print and digital), laundry service (for an additional fee), a WhatsApp number you can ping at any hour, with any request. You’re handed a hefty metal room key and disappear behind the elevator’s mirrored door.

Use your property credit to have the kitchen pack you a picnic that you can bike over to Villa Borghese, fancy cutlery included.

There are only four hotels in the J.K. portfolio (Paris, Capri and Rome, with Milan in the works), and the same maxim that governs the amenities—that of quality over quantity—extends to the hotels themselves. This outpost has just 27 rooms, and what it lacks in conventional amenities, like a gym, a spa or a rooftop, it makes up for with the faultlessness of what it does offer. Like the 2-to-1 staff-to-guest ratio, which ensures your WhatsApps are answered within minutes and your requests are swiftly handled. (Break a nail? One text later, and you have an appointment at a salon around the corner. Need repairs to your favorite leather belt? Watch them crack open their trusty black book and find someplace that’s open—at 5 p.m. on a Sunday.)

There’s also the attention to detail: A career bartender learns how you like your martini (Diego, for example, will get the order right down to the number of olives). Ask the front desk to stock your minibar with more Diet Coke, and they’ll begin sending up a supply every day. And while we won’t say you needn’t dine out for dinner—after all, you’re in one of the world’s great food cities—it wouldn’t be a travesty if, rather than heading out after aperitivi, you stayed in and worked through a bowl of J.K. Café’s creamy paccheri and sea bass with frizzled potato strands, then retired to the adjoining library. (That same attention to detail extends all the way down to the monogrammed pats of butter.)

While J.K. probably isn’t the right pick for certain scenarios—for example, a first-timer’s visit to Rome (you’ll want something more emblematic of the Eternal City) or a trip with young kids (guests here enjoy their peace and quiet)—it’s perfect for the seasoned traveler who knows just what they like, and expects their hotel to know, too. After all, this is a home away from home.

The Room

Think: Visiting dignitary with zhuzh. Pale gray carpeting, chalk-white wainscoting, a marble mantelpiece over a faux fireplace, long ivory curtains that block the daylight streaming in from ceiling-height windows when you’re snuggled up in your four-poster rosewood bed. (That’s to say nothing of the bathrooms, which could’ve been pulled straight from the British royal yacht with their candy-stripe marble shower stalls, shellacked wooden floors and shiny chrome fixtures.) 

Rooms are elegant, but they’re also comfy and cozy; don’t be surprised if you order room service one morning and simply decide not to get out of bed until aperitivo hour. And while you could go for the JKMaster Balcony Suite and net yourself a parlor and a terrace with a view over the piazza next door, even the “lower” room categories will do nicely. Just note that some rooms face the street, which is deceptively quiet by day but comes alive at night. While the rooms have impressive soundproofing, particularly sensitive sleepers might want to play it safe with a room facing the inner courtyard. 

The Features

Start the day at J.K. Café with a cappuccino and an order of French toast layered with fresh berries and bananas.

Don’t miss: Breakfast in bed. The order: a cappuccino, plus a platter of eggs à la carte—maybe the Mediterranean, fried with basil, tomato and avocado—and a stack of crêpes oozing with Nutella.

Favorite features: The cushy velvet bench—in the elevator. It’s quietly over the top, and yet, why should you be forced to stand for even a moment?

Can’t stop thinking about: The room. No, it wasn’t a grand suite, and it didn’t have a terrace with an unmatched view of the nearest piazza, but it was tranquil and refined, with its soaring ceilings, handsome wainscoting and four-poster bed.

The Lowdown

Even the staunchest martini loyalist should sample the One Way, one of the hotel's signature cocktails, made with 10-year-old Scotch and chamomile liqueur, served under a cloche of smoke.

The movie that could be filmed here: The Italian-language remakes of “The Devil Wears Prada” or “Pretty Woman.”

The highly specific reason you’d come here: You just bought a new apartment near Central Park, and your interior designer asked you to fly out to sign off on an 18th-century armoire at Carlucci Gallery.

What’s on the speakers? Wordless jazzy music; somewhere between a French department-store elevator and modern bossa nova.  

What are people drinking? A Negroni or a martini, or one of two of the hotel’s specialty drinks: the One Way, similar to a smoky Old Fashioned, or the JK Sour, brightened with passion fruit. At aperitivo o’clock, the Aperol spritz reigns supreme, as does the gin martini, which is served in a short glass and presented with the remaining contents of the shaker over ice.

Are guests staying in or going out? Both. The ones who are going out probably have plans with local friends; those staying in are either here on business and have an early morning, or they’ve seen and done it all before.

The hotel’s petite size and savvy staff translates to quick, consistent service, whether you’d like an Aperol spritz in the lobby lounge or another set of slippers for your room.

Fast Facts

• Number of rooms: 27
• Number of pools: 0
• Fitness center? No 
• Spa? No
• Salon? No
• Number of bars/restaurants: 1  
• 24-hour room service? Yes
• Childcare and kids club? No

This feature, based on a visit in December 2023, includes information that is subject to change. Please check with the hotel to confirm information prior to your stay.