Hotel Tornabuoni Beacci - Florence, Italy 

We booked the Tornabuoni based on the mostly positive reviews here on Tripadvisor. This site is usually right on the mark, but it failed us this time....forgive the rant that follows, but we had to get this off our chests. We were so disappointed with this hotel right from the start. It was my girlfriend's 40th birthday, and we booked this hotel 4 months in advance through Expedia. We called the hotel a week before our arrival to request an upgraded room since it was a special occasion. They said they would see what they could do.. After checking in, they took us up one flight of stairs, then down another (the hotel layout is really confusing) to room 28 - This has to be the worst room in the hotel!!! It was a small, cramped, dark, room with a partial view - of the alley! It felt like a dungeon. To add to it's charm, they were kind enough to leave the dirty imprint of a former occupant's sandal on the wall (apparently someone found a solution to the hotel's massive mosquito problem!) - no "4 star" hotel I have ever heard of would ever let that happen, or even provide such on awful room. It really felt like a converted janitor's closet. I was completely embarrassed that I had chosen this place for my girlfriend's 40th, so trying to make it better, we marched back to the front desk and told them there was no way we were staying in this room. We reminded the front desk that we had called and requested a nice room with a view, and the front desk clerk pointed to his hand written ledger and said he didn't see any notes on such a request, and then proceeded to look down his nose at us and said "Well, you see, you are Expedia customers, and 90% of our customers book directly through our website...and blah, blah, blah - now I'm even more embarrassed! (Can't wait to write to Expedia about that). But we stuck to our guns and demanded a better room. The guy huffed and puffed and said that the hotel was really full. He said he may be able to give us a different room, but it may only be for one night, then we might have to switch rooms. Not exactly what we wanted to hear, but we figured anything would be better than Room 28, so we decided to go for it, especially since he only said we "MIGHT" have to move. The second room was much better, can't remember the room number. It was definitely one of the updated rooms that we read about - don't understand why they wouldn't update all of the rooms? We settled in and hoped we wouldn't have to switch rooms again because this room was acceptable. We woke up the next morning, and hadn't heard from anyone at the hotel, so we figured we were OK to stay in this room. We went off to breakfast on the terrace, and stopped by the front desk to leave our room key (This is normal, I guess older hotels don't like replacing their locks when tourists lose their keys). When we returned later that afternoon, we stopped at the desk to pick up our key, which they gave us, and we headed to our room...Shwew! Looked like we were able to keep our room! We get there, and open the door...I didn't recognize any of the luggage in the room? Uh-oh - I guess they moved us??? Good thing we're not criminals, or a couple of tourists would have been out of their belongings...anyway, off to the front desk again... The guy tells us, yes you were moved....Now I really want to lose it - we felt so violated, they had every opportunity to make us aware of that - at breakfast (they ask for your room number), when we left our key at the desk, and when we returned and they gave us the key to that room! Then of course they could've called us too!!!!!!!! We are LIVID! And to make matters worse, they put us back in Room 28!!!!! Why wouldn't they give that room to the people that had just checked in??? We asked and got no answer...and to top it off, they forgot some of our items in the other room!!!! What an embarrassment, I feel like a complete moron for ruining my girlfriends 40th birthday by booking this place. We both want nothing else but to leave this dump, but what can you do - we already paid for it. So, back to front desk we go...we tell them how incredibly disappointed we are. And they don't even offer an apology - we tell them there's no way we're staying in room 28, and they offer us yet another room...but tell us we will probably have to switch again the next day!!! I've had enough, but I left it up to my girlfriend to decide - Room 28 is so bad that she decided we should go for it. So off we go to our 3rd room - long story short, we had to move, yet again, they next day - at least this time they called us in the morning to let us know that they would take care of it while we were out on the town. We moved a total of 5 times...5 TIMES! while we were there. OK, so you get the point - sorry, but we had to get all of that out - we certainly did not get treated very well by this hotel and wanted to warn potential victims who might not want to be treated this way...We would definitely not recommend this place to anyone...but to be fair, here are our thoughts on the rest of our experience: Location: Excellent, and really the only positive thing we took out of this part of our trip - 5 minute cab ride to train station, close to all the sites Decor & Common Areas: Really outdated throughout - a few nice areas were the reading room (only place to get internet) and the terrace. There were several areas where old pipes and equipment were stored in corners, and didn't look like they had been moved for months - a lot of the common areas were not clean, and they definitely could use a fresh coat of paint throughout. There is no logical pattern to the layout of the rooms - they are scattered in far off nooks and crannies, and can be hard to find, and it is hard to maneuver luggage and large bags. Food: Breakfast was adequate, croissants, fresh cheeses and ham, rolls, good coffee - we had read about a restaurant - but there wasn't one? You could eat your breakfast on the terrace which was nice. Rooms: Hit or miss - we got to experience 4 of them during our 4 night stay!!!! Some are updated, some not...some are REALLY small, others acceptable. All in all, you can do better for the money. To sum it up, even if we weren't forced to bounce around from room to room, we would not recommend this hotel. It is not worth the extra cash you will spend. There are many hotels in great locations nearby that are less expensive, and will hopefully treat you better. And definitely don't book this place through Expedia!