I arrived 11pm on 29 April for a 2 night stay -the man on the desk had very little English and could hardly be described as either friendly or welcoming ( hotel brochure boasts about their multilingual friendly staff) .Room was really tiny and basic -double bed took up most of the room, and a small toilet /shower -ok, but in need of some grouting:-not a good feel, dark ,and reminded me of my student bedsit days.No tea/coffee making facility.A TV on the wall could be viewed from the bed only in the same way that one stands at the bottom of a cliff looking vertically to the top.This hotel is rated 3* (who are they kidding? Most B&Bs and 2* are superior)

Couldn't get the airconditioning to work properly, opened a window to get some air and awoke covered in mosquito bites. Self-service continental breakfast was fine and the lady running it seemed to take pride in it, and there was a selection of pastries , fruit yogurts, cheeses etc and a coffee machine.On leaving the hotel to do my business in Florence for the day, the lady at reception was helpful , and gave me a city map , and some directionsin English and offered me a booklet of bus tickets and explained how to use them.I handed in my clunky doorstopper type hotel key(all keys hanging on a board at reception)

I arrived back at the hotel at about 11pm that evening, with an impending flight to Dublin , via Frankfurt., at 6.30am tjhe following morning. The same chap as the previous evening was on the phone for several minutes before I was attended to---and lo presto -my key was nowhere to be found(hotel was not busy -most keys were on the board , but mine ,No 212, was missing-lots of shrugging of shoulders , searching in nooks and crannies , a phone call to someone who spoke English , who suggested I might have taken it with me that morning -I had not. Eventually I was escorted to my room by the reception person ----and that is where the fun (well not really at all) began.

I opened the door,in the gloom, and on the bed lay a man on top of my bed , only in his underpants , 'out for the count'. I was shocked. The receptionist proceeded to ernter the room, unceremoniously grabbed my bag all my clothes etc from the wardrobeand dumped them in my arms-I told him I had stuff, including medication etc in the bathroom, which he entered and grabbed (on returning home I have some medication and clothes missing).The room occupant awoke -visibly annoyed - and I scarpered to the stairs as quickly as I could.

I got an unconvincing apology , no explanation, & more shrugging of shoulders ; was put in another room -which was truly awful -next to a main road , like sleeping in the middle of a motor racetrack - more mosquito bites. I asked for a small bottle of wine to bring to my room(he still charged me €8 for it after all that !) and in Italian I asked him to make sure that I got a morning call at 4.30 am and to booka taxi for 5. No morning call came and I had set my phone alarm and I couln't sleep anyway -just as well.I went down to reception -out of the darkness a figure jumped off a sofa- again my favourite man awakened , jumped up---shrugged his shoulders when I asked him about the morning call (no apology)--thank God he managed to summon a taxi--and with a great sense of relief I departed for the airport.

This might be in line for a 'worst hotel' award , but it was truly an unbelievable and jhorrible experience in what is truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world-worst hotel experienceI have ever had and I am 55 and have travelled extensively on business throughout my career.Shows how an incompetent /indifferent member of staff can destroy a hotel's reputation.