Hotel Malaspina sits on the outskirts of the central area of Florence within easy walking distance of the railway station (SMN - 10 mins) and the Duomo (12 mins).
The hotel is clean with very friendly staff. On our arrival we decided to book various tour tickets and the reception staff were very helpful in making all the necessary arrangements.
The room (304) was very tidy with all the expected facilities. The air con was very good an needed! Had a small balcony and overlooked a tree lined square which was very quiet with part of the roads blocked off to traffic. That said, there is a busy road by the side of the hotel but didn't cause any problems.
I am happy to recommend this hotel for a no frills stay in Florence. After all, why are you in Florence? and it isn't sitting in a hotel room!

It's all about places - isn't it? And there are certain places, which bear the mark of uniqueness; places which, undoubtedly, hold a prominent place in the human culture. Like Florence, for example. If you visit Florence, you will never be the same person again. Also: the more you visit Florence, the more you discover the secret and incessant connection between its past and its present.
I have been visiting Florence with my wife and my 12-year-old son for the last 5 or 6 years, sometimes twice a year. We’re not rich, we’re just ordinary people but we love to turn our savings into happy moments.
We have stayed in a number of hotels there but our favourite (remember? “It’s all about places”) is Hotel Malaspina. It's in the best location: in front of a quiet, little square, the ideal place to unwind and relax. To gather strength for sightseeing. San Lorenzo, Florence's traditional, open market, as well as its historic centre are within walking distance.
Hotel Malaspina occupies an old and fully refurbished building and offers spacious rooms with ample bathrooms. After a good night's sleep, you can start your day early eating a hearty and healthy breakfast and then venture out to enjoy Florence’s many museums or shops. The Hotel staff is always happy to help us; they are all friendly and attentive - especially the kind and gentle Mauro who works the night shift. The Hotel owner, Marco Nori Bufalini, is a genuine Italian, elegant and gracious, whom we trust completely. Such a nobleman! A real and fine gentleman. Both Mauro and Mario have always offered us good rates and the room of our choice, so it's been more than just a "good value-for-money" stay.
Our last visit was during Easter in 2009. We found good friends in Malaspina, people we now miss and will be happy to meet again. You see, in the end, it's all about people. Isn’t it?

I stayed with My wife in this hotel for three nights and we had a wonderful stay. Personell was very nice and firnedly with us , accomodation was perfect and clean . We may really suggest this hotel to our friends
The Location is very good quite but relly near to all florence attractions

Our travel agent booked this hotel for us and if I'd seen the reviews in advance I would have asked her to change it immediately. If you've booked this hotel I suggest changing immediately.
The first problem is that it's located on the far corner of the Piazza Independenzia, which is a 10-15 minute walk from the duomo and most of the Florence restaurants and shops. You have to walk by about 25 hotels to get to the duomo and I'm sure any one of those would be a better choice. Its location was inconvenient because it was a big production to drop off packages, grab a jacket, etc.
The hotel staff is incredibly rude as others have mentioned. We had a room on the ground floor which was very loud -- it's on a busy street and also lobby noise floated right into our room. Besides that, we had a problem with our room (hot water basically dripped out of the faucet and that's it for pressure), and the guy behind the desk more or less told us we'd have to deal with it until a technician could come by "maybe tomorrow." We packed up our things and changed rooms, this time to a smaller room on the 3rd floor, which had functioning hot water but a broken thermostat. The room was about 85 degrees and we needed to open the windows in order to sleep, but the busy street with Vespas flying by all night required us to use earplugs. Also, our new room had twin beds (we were on our honeymoon) and it took two days for them to convert it into a king-sized bed.
The continental breakfast was just OK, and the staff there was rude as well. I hated this hotel. We sent a note to our travel agent while on the trip and she emailed the hotel manager, and though we eventually did get our bed made up as king sized, it still wasn't enough to change our opinion of this hotel. STAY AWAY. There are dozens of other hotels in Florence, so while this might be inexpensive, you should try to find a different place.