Hotel Calimala Florence — Hotel in Florence

Chic Boutique in the Center

Unlike most old town hotels that focus only on heritage and character, this property has also added a strong dose of boutique chic and style. Everything from the Rooms to the rooftop come with a touch of class. I Would have certainly given this place a 5 star if not for the lack of a warm and welcoming hospitality . A reception that is smaller than the size of a room resulting in overcrowding, Staff who seem to be friendly but can certainly do better with more similes, and an invisible cold vibe we got here made this property fall short of the 5 stars. But certainly a great value for money given the price and the location and the class of the hotel itself!

LOCATION: Excellent location in the center of old town, and walkable from all key points of interest

DINE + DRINK: The hotel houses the finest rooftop bar and restaurant that comes with spectacular views of the entire old town

ROOM: We stayed in 403, so this review is based on that; VIEW: Sweet view of the city ; SIZE: Reasonably spacious room; AIR-CON: Perfectly functioning cooler that helped in setting the perfect room temperature; BED: Comfortable bed that played the expected part to put me to sleep; BATHROOM: Stand in shower; TOILETRIES: Lovely spa quality cosmetics

FACILITIES: Compact Gym with a basic range of weights and Cardio machines that is good for a decent workout. Technogym equipment.

HOW WIRED YOU WILL BE: Free high-speed Wi-Fi that works well all over the property. Big Plasma TV screen dishing out dozens of channels spanning sports, news, music, movies and a wide variety of entertainment in...

We decided to venture out and try this hotel instead of the one we usually stay at when we visit Florence. I don't think we will make that mistake again. The positives of this hotel were the location (though Florence is a very walkable city so a lot of hotels are in great areas and the staff were very nice and accommodating. Now, we chose a superior room which is the lowest level but did not expect to not have any natural light in the room. It was like staying in a cave. The window looked out into concrete columns and looked directly into another room and did not have curtains. We did ask to upgrade our room but there was no availability. Our shower backed up the first day and the bathroom flooded. Also, we booked a reservation at their rooftop restaurant, Angel, a month in advance and we were sat at a table that looked at the elevator shaft. We asked to be moved and were told no and only those who booked in advance get preferential treatment to the upper areas. I told them I booked a month in advance and then they miraculously found us a table. The dinner was enjoyable and there were at least 5 tables open during the two hours we dined. I am not one to complain but glad I found the courage to say something. The upper area of the restaurant was worth it. The breakfast buffet was good but our first day we had to wait an hour for eggs to come out. My advice if you book, spend even more money and ask for a room with a window that actually has light coming in or else you may become deficient...

Please read before considering this hotel: there are 2 separate Calimala locations, kitty-corner to one another. One is on a relatively quiet street with a lovely lobby; the other is on an extremely busy street with no lobby or charm at all, just big slabs of marble in the tiny entrance. We were dropped off at the lovely lobby but then moved over to the other building without anyone having told us that the hotel address we paid for was not the one we were getting. We had a top floor room that was beautiful, but the hallways in the second building absolutely reek of raw sewage (our room smelled fine). Our room was directly underneath the Angel rooftop bar, and the first night, people were dragging something very heavy around at 1am, and it not only woke us because of the sound, but because whenever the room shook from the vibration, the very-bright light in our closet turned on. We informed them about this the next day and they were apologetic, but the light did not get fixed, and we ultimately had to go upstairs at 10pm the next night and ask them to please stop dragging furniture around.

Overall, particularly for a splurge stay, this experience was not worth the cost. And it felt awful to be whisked off from the more-desirable location to the more-crowded (and dated, and smelly) one. It seemed like a bait-and-switch that left a bad taste in our mouths.

Finally, be advised that breakfast is NOT included in the high price of the rooms: it was an extra 50...