Can someone give me some insight on following hotels in Florence:

Hotel Savoy
Gallery Hotel Art
Hotel Relais Santa Croce
Westin Excelsior
Grand HOtel

THanks

Have you looked for reviews on www.tripadvisor.com?

I have stayed at the Savoy, Grand and Excelsior. The Grand and Excelsior are right across each other, some rooms have a view of the ponte vecchio. Rooms are grand but the interior rooms are on the dark side. I prefer the Savoy, rooms are bright, modern, on the large side, marble bathrooms and the location is the best. The rooms facing the piazza de la republicca are noisy especially on friday and saturday night. The restaurant on the groud floor, facing the piazza is great. Breakfast is expensive, but you can always eat at one of the two restaurants right next door. One of my most memorable memories of florence was having coffee at 6:30 AM at the restaurant facing a empty, quiet piazza de la republicca. I highly recommend the Savoy.

Thank you very much. Curious what your recommendations would be in Rome for a Hotel: We are looking at Hotel Splendide Royal, De Russie and The GRand

I also think the Savoy is a great hotel for those that can afford the rates. I very much enjoyed my one week stay at the Excelsior which I was able to confirm when I took one look at the room I was given at the Grand (musty and OLD) and ran across the street begging for mercy.

As for Rome, my splurge hotel is the Grand Hotel de la Minerve. Fab location, wonderful service and a lovely rooftop terrace.

We really liked the excelsior in rome - great location, service, rooms were beautiful and large.

In rome I have only stayed at the Excelsior and Ambasciatore. I liked the Excelsior. I have eaten at Hotel De Russie and was shown the standard rooms, they were fantastic. I think De Russie is the best hotel in Rome in terms of service. I also love the location.

I stayed at the Grand Hotel for a week and loved it. It is an old hotel, yes, but I thought our room was quite luxurious and updated, the full breakfast was fantastic, the service was out of this world, and the view of the River Arno from the room was exceptional. I would highly recommend it.