Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Comments on Hotel Europa in Florence

Here is my entire post, my thoughts of the Florence hotels are in the middle. Hope this helps!
-Jill

Hotels:

Rome - Hotel Oceania, Room 11, E138 per night for a double with a private bathroom, breakfast, small refrigerator, TV which we never turned on, and air-conditioning. This hotel was right off Via Firenze near the police station (close to the Quirinal Palace), consequently we felt very safe wandering around our neighborhood late into the night because there were policemen at little "kiosks" along the streets and also guarding the entrance to most of the buildings around us. It was about a 10 minute brisk walk to the Pantheon.
Our room was spacious for Italian standards and very quiet. The hotel owners were extremely friendly and mapped out routes and shortcuts for us every morning on a map they provided to us. They speak excellent English and there is even a flat-panel plasma TV in the lounge if you want to watch TV in Rome for some reason...?? Breakfast was very nice and served by a maid in the breakfast room from 8am to 10am, though we fudged on the times a bit and it was never a problem. We were most touched to find a bottle of excellent champagne, a note of congratulations, and 2 champagne flutes in out room when we first checked in. They must have checked our original email inquiry which stated we would be on our honeymoon. We will definitely stay here again!!

Monterosso al Mare (Cinque Terre) - Hotel Villa Steno, room 4, 125E per night cash for a double room with provate bathrooom, breakfast, and balcony overlooking the lemon groves and sea. We cannot say enough wonderful things about Hotel Villa Steno! When we checked in we were given a most helpful information packet about the Cinque Terre with boat and train schedules, as well as a glass of the local sweet dessert wine. I cannot remember the name of it, but it was 18% alcohol and we certainly felt it on an empty stomach! The hotel is situated a short walk up some steps from the old town and is very quiet. We felt like we were staying in a garden, as there are fruit trees and flowers EVERYWHERE. Breakfast was fantasic (cereals, breads, meats, yogurts, eggs, etc.) and was served from 8am - 10am in their breakfast room or big balcony overlooking the sea. We ate on their baloncy a couple of times and brought it back to our own balcony once when there was no room - they didn't mind and came and picked up the dishes themselves when they cleaned the room.

Florence - Hotel Europa, Suite 39, E140 for a suite (2 HUGE bedrooms one with a queen bed and one with 2 twin beds), huge private bathroom with a jet-massage shower, breakfast from 7:30 to 9:30, small refrigerator, and air conditioning. This was right off Via Cavour and about a 5 minute walk to the Duomo. Our favorite thing about the suite was that all our ceilings had original 16th-century frescos. The hotel was very quiet and having that large suite to ourselves was most luxurious! I'm not sure the regular rooms in the hotel are as nice... they were on a different floor and did not look to be as beautiful or large.

Word of warning - we had booked with Hotel Casci back in January and had confirmed in late May and received a confirming response from them. However, when we arrived they claimed to have had an email problem and had no room for us, despite the email I was holding dated only 2 weeks earlier. They quickly saw that I was going to pitch a fit in front of several of their customers and walked us over to Hotel Europa where we were given this gorgeous suite I described above for 5E less than we would have paid for a single room at Hotel Casci.

Venice - Locanda SS Giovanni e Paolo, room 3, 120E per night for a small double room with provate bathroom and breakfast in the room daily between 8am and 9:30am. The hotel was very close to Ospedale San Giovanni e Paolo and was about a 10 minute walk to either San Marco or Rialto. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this hotel to anyone in good faith. Our room was UNBELIEVABLY loud - not from the street, but from the hotel lobby. We clearly heard the phone, the doorbell, people chatting with the doorman, the doorman on the phone with friends at all hours of the night, breakfast being prepared, and just about everything else. It was very difficult to get much rest to say the least. Also, all three mornings we were awakened by loud knocking and our breakfast 45 minutes to one hour before we had specified. They actually wrote down the time you wanted breakfast (which was incredibly sparse anyway) to be delivered to your room, but they appeared to totally disregard it. Last, you were requested to leave your room every morning by 10:30am in order for the cleaning service to clean it. This wasn't a problem for us except for one day, and you guessed it - they came and knocked and requested us to hurry up and leave. My husband was more than a little irritated to be sure. There were more minor annoyances with this hotel but I think I've covered the high points. If you want any peace and quiet do not stay here!