The Petit Palais Hotel de Charme in Milano is a gorgeous hotel. There is no doubt. But once you get past the gloss, there is little substance.
First of all, avoid room "quatre" at all costs. It's gorgeous but despite the assurances of the management, you hear everything outside your room windows: cars, music, and conversations at 2am. I, unfortunately, had this room and when I complained the following morning - after about 4 hours of sleep - I was told repeatedly that the room had sound-proof windows. It doesn't. Finally, after much back and forth, the front desk manager said "if you want to pay a little extra, you can have a better room."
The "petit" breakfast is truly that and really not worth the time. Breakfast is included, but you can have better coffee and a better cornetto/croissant a few doors down.
And finally, don't believe that they are as close to the Duomo as they say: it's a 15 minute walk and on Sundays, no bars are open to get a coffee.
It's really not worth the money.

We stayed 4 nights in Milan at the Petit Palais during our recently trip through Italy. We received a warm welcome by the staff including a welcome drink - this was the only hotel to offer. We were also given a map of the area straight away which was very helpful. The room was amazing. We had a junior suite on the first floor - it was very comfortable, spacious, large bathroom, and lovely decor. We had read reviews before booking and despite the comments about the noise thought other reviewer might be light sleepers. I lost count of how many times we woke to either ambulances or trams. The room actually vibrated from the trams running by. Our request to be moved was not met with a very helpful response. The staff member on duty treated our request as an inconvenience and actually said he didnt have time to deal with us. He also told us how unreasonable we were being expecting a quiet room in the middle of a big city and the trams stopped from midnight to 6 am - the trams run much later and earlier than that. After pushing the matter that my husband needed to sleep as he was unwell that day I was finally shown a very quiet suite but then was told we would have to pay over 80euros extra per night for it! We stayed in our original room as thought the extra charge was too much. Luckily this rude man was the only unpleasant staff member. We had breakfast included in our stay. This was a little average serving only pastries and fresh fruit and served downstairs (underground) in a converted basement. The hotel is about 15 minutes walk from the Duomo and has some good places to eat close by. Eco Pizza serve much more than pizza and was great. Via Torino is full of nightlife shops and restaurants. Milan is not really a tourist stop. It is a commercial centre and the shopping seems to be the big attraction but is mostly the big fashion houses or chain stores. Buying shoes here from Tods or Ferragamo was still less expensive than Australia was how wonderful to buy your shoes in Milan in the Galleria! Finding a self serve laundry was impossible. We ended up at a really helpful dry cleaner in Viale Monte Negro and paid a very reasonable 30euro for about 5 days worth of laundry to be washed and ironed. When picking up our laundry we discovered a huge market near Porta Romania metro stop. I dont know if this was one of the famous markets as it was on a Friday but did have streets of clothes, shoes, food & jewelery. They closed about 2pm. If your are on your way to Florence, wait for the San Lorenzo markets. Getting money changed in Italy was quite a challenge. Very few banks will help and the money changers offer a very low rate. ATMs have a 250euro per day limit. We missed the Last Supper as tickets were sold out and the only way to see it was to join a 4 hour walking tour seeing other parts of the city so book ahead online. Milan is a great central position for trips to the beautiful towns and country side around it.

I agree with the the July 2009 review from oslo. We stayed for 2 nights in August 2010. We must have had the same room! the sleeping area is just big enough for the king bed and wardrobe. there is a divider for the kitchen that is in the foyer. why put this kitchen in there when all you have is a tiny table and 2 chairs shoved into the corner? it isn't like you are going to cook a large dinner! Also that divider prevented most of the air conditiioning from reaching the bedroom. You could not adjust the thermostat, it was locked from being adjusted any lower than 23C making it not cool enough to sleep when it was hot outside. we called but there was nothing they could do. I say rip out the silly kitchen and make a nice proper sized bedroom with a nice sitting area with perhaps 2 comfortable chairs. The bathroom was tiny with a small shower. The amenity for being a member of SLH? One small bottle of sparkling water. We were underwhelmed to say the least. We never ate breakfast there as it was served below ground and there are so many lovely cafes nearby. Yes, the road noise was an issue, but it seemed to quiet down after midnight or so. Staff was nice but seemed a bit stiff. I would try another hotel when returning to Milan. And even though they said there were no rooms for the complimentary upgrade, we were up on line while we were there and they were available to book. So that was confusing. We will take that up with SLH

We stayed here for three nights. It was a great location we had the ability to walk to many resturants and shopping. The hotel was beautiful and the staff very nice. We had a beautiful room and it overlooked a busy street. We had enough room a mini bar and a coffee pot in the room. we were able to have breakfast everymorning which was good and fresh. Overall a great experience!