I have only two complaints. The hotel is very far from the centre (I should have checked!) and they charge too much for room wifi. I've stayed in 3 star hotels in Rome and Pompei which had excellent in-room wifi - FREE. 4 star hotels should include this as a service.

The rooms are large, well furnished and clean. Checking-in staff were efficient and gave us rooms on high floors. They knew, we didn't, that there were 3 tour groups coming and kept us away from them. Good thinking. Didn't work at breakfast, but see below.

Parking is free and secure. There is free wifi, for 30 mins, in the lobby and staff were good enough to allow me two such free periods, but it is difficult to concentrate when there's a crowd of tourists from different countries jostling for seats and speaking rather loudly. So I opted for the in-room wifi so I could deal with e-mails in peace. 11.50Euros.

Food. There seems to be nothing much around for evening meals. We opted to eat in the hotel restaurant and were glad to have done so. The quality was excellent and the prices similar to what we paid in downtown Florence. Wines were also reasonably priced. Service the first night was so-so (those large and loud tour groups) but excellent and attentive thereafter, when we only noted one small group of older Germans on tour. Breakfast also suffered from the large tour groups on the first day. The restaurant looked as if it had been used by the RAF for practice bombing. We were shown to a cluttered table, which we refused. Staff changed their attitude immediately once we made clear we were independent. They quickly re-set a table for us and made certain fresh food was available. The tour groups had left nothing. I even saw one taking a decorative wax apple. For later? Breakfast was very good and peaceful on subsequent days. The moral of the story is - find out if there are going to be tour groups when you book!

Would I return to this hotel? Yes as a base for touring the area. Not for visiting Florence. I've stayed in other hotels in Florence with garages and though pricey, they are more convenient. It took about 1 hour each way, which is a bit of a waste of time. The station parking is very close to the sights (by Santa Maria Novella), has plenty of room and is easily accessible if you have a navigator, but given the cost of parking there, one might as well stay in the centre and leave the car in the hotel garage.