Hotel la Fortezza — Hotel in Florence

We stayed here for a week in July. Total that I paid for 7 days was 920USD. I do not believe it was worth the money due to multiple reasons listed below. We primarily chose this hotel because of the breakfast availability and being close to the train station since we had multiple day trips planned from Florence.

Pros: 15 minute walk to Firenze Santa Maria Novella (Florence train station), 1 minute walk to the tram and bus station, staff was extremely nice and kind (this is where the hotel went from 1 star to 3 stars for me)- some staff members such as Mohammed and Elizabeth from Reception, Kevin and Kiran from breakfast service were all very courteous and helpful.

Cons: Where do I even begin. Let's start off with the price, for ~130/night this hotel is definitely NOT worth it for its price due to VERY outdated rooms. The picture of the room on the website (I booked the reservation through hotel's official website) did not match the room that we were assigned. There was mold in and around several areas of the bathroom. There is no ventilation in the bathroom. There was somewhat of a delay in water drainage from the sink and the standing shower. The bathroom mirror had peeled off/rusted off from the sides. There is no phone in the room to call reception, and the few times we had to speak to the receptionist, we had to physically go down to the desk to do so. The wifi range is not good at all, it kept disconnecting every now and then. THE WORST PART: THE AC kept shutting off intermittently (the fan would keep on going but no AC) every single day especially between 2AM to 10AM. We finally complained to the receptionist during the middle of our stay and we were told that the previous guest in the room had requested for the AC to be intermittently shut off and hence she had to physically turn off the setting- which was done promptly. I read a few of the hotel's lowest reviews and it seems like they have had multiple complaints of the AC intermittently shutting off. There is no microwave in the room. The room is literally bare bones and seemed very dated. There was no variety in the breakfast menu- everyday's breakfast was the same and no dishes were changed for others.

Overall, we will not be returning to this property ever and will not recommend it to anyone visiting Florence.

Thank you Mohammed, Elizabeth, Kevin and Kiran for making our week long stay at this hotel at least...

Forgive me, for I'm getting to this wayyyyyyy too late. Our stay was back in August of 2022, I believe it was the weekend of the 12th to the 14th (Unfortunately, the date allowed wouldn't let me go that far back, so I just put the oldest date allowed). We went for my wife's birthday, and had an amazing time! Our luck, the hotel was almost booked entirely. However the Manager (Or Owner) happened to be the one working the front desk. He managed to provide us with a suite at an excellent price, and we even chatted for quite a while. We both happened to serve our countries proudly, so we spoke of the military highly. He was such a polished gentlemen, and treated us with the utmost respect. Regarding the stay, we also happened to have breakfast included with the rooms, and I must say that it was quite delicious. All of the staff there were completely delightful, and extremely professional. They treated all of the customers very well, and maintained smiles all the while. Side note, we managed to get parking on the premises that had security (which I do believe we paid a small addition for). However, if you're familiar with Firenze, there's nothing like a sound mind and guaranteed parking at the end of the night, Lol.||||Personally, I would love to revisit this establishment again. We enjoyed every last bit, and thought it was an amazing stay for the price that was paid. It was a little walk outside from the city center (10-15 minutes I believe), however it was completely worth it. The surrounding area was relatively quiet and there wasn't much noise aside from traffic. A must visit, and we will be returning customers in the (Hopefully)...

Check in and check out process was easy. The breakfast is superb - and the staff in the breakfast area is fabulous and always smiling. The location is good too - there is a tram station right outside which will take you to the main train station and within walking distance of the main piazza.

The were lots of problems with this place, let me list them:

1. The hotel is quite old and outdated. The walls are paper thin. I basically knew when the baby in my neigbouring room woke up, or when they were having a shower or what they were talking about. The paint on the ceiling was peeling off (picture attached)
2. The major problem is how the hotel is trying to cheat - they turn off the ACs from 2 am to 8 am without informing the guests. And bear in mind, it was 37 degree Celsius when I was in Florence. I woke up for the first two nights sweating, but my AC fan was running. I asked the front desk about this
3. The first guy on the front desk says, they turn it off due to the war in Ukraine and regulations surrounding it (which I was empathetic about - but did not see any regulations on the internet in Italy - so this was a cooked up story)
4. Evening, I ask the lady and she says it is due to noise pollution for the neighbouring houses - which also did not make any sense based on what I have listed in (5)
5. I see a review from 2 years ago, that during winter they turned off the heater during the day - so noise pollution during the day eh?
6. I just feel cheated - when the front desk can basically control how comfortable I am. They do not inform about this unless confronted

Stay away...