Everything about the ground floor of Casa J.K. Place, down a cobbled street in central Rome, operates like a luxury hotel. A doorman takes your bags, reception collects your passport, and the manager pours you a glass of champagne—most welcome to me after arriving on a warm day. There’s a fitness center and a restaurant with dark green velvet chairs beneath a soaring glass ceiling. But upstairs, the experience is decidedly more residential.
“It’s a hotel,” says Ori Kafri, the Italian-born owner of J.K Place, the boutique hotel collection behind Casa J.K. “But instead of a room, you’re checking into a residence, which gives you comfort and space—your own private [apartment in] Rome.”
Set across three floors, some of the one-, two-, and three-bedroom residences have kitchens; all have sleek wooden dining tables and separate lounges with curved couches. A guest bathroom in the hallway of each residence means visitors don’t have to enter the bedroom.
The last time I traveled to Rome and stayed in a regular hotel, I felt cramped in my room. After a day spent wandering the city, I’d return to a box with a bed and a desk, and nowhere to settle. At Casa J.K., I could move between rooms, sipping morning coffee at the dining table and stretching out on a couch in the living room after a long day of walking.
“If you want to invite someone over for a coffee or talk business, you’re not inviting them into your room,” says Kafri. “A chef can come and prepare breakfast, or maybe you go to the market and buy a bottle of wine.” Guests can also head downstairs to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, depending on how much of the hotel experience they want.
Why travelers are choosing hotel residences
Casa J.K. Roma’s one-, two-, and three-bedroom residences include separate living spaces and, in some cases, private kitchens.
Courtesy of Casa J.K. Roma
Casa J.K. is part of a new wave of luxury stays that blur the line between hotel and private residence. Instead of choosing between a conventional hotel and a private rental through a platform like Airbnb, guests get both: the space and autonomy of a home, with hotel services available when they want them, and someone on hand when something goes wrong.
“Guests don’t have to choose between luxury and feeling homey,” says Dawn Oliver, a travel advisor with Embark Beyond. “They have their own front door, and they have a concierge there too.” Oliver has long booked villas and apartments for multi-generational travelers who want both in-room dining and their own kitchen, but historically, many of these bookings were in more remote destinations.
Now, she says, clients are looking for the same setup in cities. Recently she booked a family into a Paris residence for a week—roughly twice as long as their typical three- or four-night stay. Properties like Casa J.K. bring the independence that travelers seek in villas and apartment rentals into the framework of a full-service city hotel.
Kafri says some guests use the property as a home base for exploring the rest of the country. “Maybe they will go to Florence for the day or the Amalfi coast for a couple of nights, but Rome will remain their home.” Since opening in May 2026, Casa J.K. has hosted guests for as long as three weeks or even a month. Some have used it as a base for day trips to Umbria and Campania; one guest flew back to London for work while their family remained at Casa J.K.
Rates from $2,600 per night
More hotel residences arrive in Italian cities
Milanese heritage meets modern design at Maison Senato, in the city’s fashion district.
Photo by Francesco Dolfo
In Milan, Maison Senato opened in 2025 with six luxury serviced residences in an old palazzo on the edge of Porta Venezia, a lively central neighborhood filled with shops and restaurants. The apartments have kitchens, dining rooms, and lounges furnished with Italian design pieces, including Murano chandeliers. Some have marble baths.
Rather than creating another luxury hotel, owner Amira del Bono wanted to rethink the way people experience a city by offering apartments, designed by Locatelli Partners, that are intended to feel like homes. “Many of today’s luxury travelers don’t necessarily want more services; they want more freedom,” says del Bono. “They want to be able to work, host friends, spend time with family or simply relax without feeling confined to a hotel room.”
Rates from $1,300
In Florence, a palazzo remains a home
French design studio Gilles & Boissier conceived La Réserve Firenze’s interiors with a palette of neutral hues and vintage pieces.
Courtesy of La Réserve Firenze
In mid-October 2026, luxury hotel brand La Réserve will open its first Italian address, La Réserve Firenze, with a similar concept. Located in a 15th-century palazzo near the Ponte Vecchio, it has six private apartments with one, two, or three bedrooms. The three-bedroom apartment has a rooftop terrace with views of the Arno River.
The apartments, designed by French studio Gilles & Boissier, are furnished with neutral linen sofas and intricate vintage tapestries beneath original ceiling frescoes. The building was originally a Florentine residence, so the owners chose to maintain the property’s history rather than transform it into a hotel. “We wanted to share the city the way we experience it ourselves—as a home,” says French co-owner Grégory Marciano, who moved to the city with his wife, Olivia, in 2019, after living in Paris and Brussels. “The apartment-only concept allows guests to truly settle in, with the privacy and freedom of their own residence,” he says.
During a pre-opening stay, I had breakfast prepared in my apartment’s kitchen, then ate prosciutto and pastries in my pajamas in the living room, much as I would at home. But the comforts of a traditional hotel were close at hand: Guests have access to a gym, lounge, games room, and courtyard, along with a concierge and butler service, housekeeping, and private chefs. The difference from my home, of course, was that someone else had made breakfast.
Rates from $1,510 per night
