Soggiorno Michelangelo - Florence, Italy     

Stayed for four nights at the Soggiorno Michelangelo and were reasonably satisfied. Previous reviews and criticisms are quite accurate and the hotel is typical by European standards. The owner, Oscar, is very pleasant, welcoming and will do anything to make your stay more enjoyable. Appears clean (although don't look under the beds/corners) and very spacious for a small hotel, with the benefit of being slightly further away from the city (15 minute walk/2 minute bus ride) and thus very quiet at night. Breakfast is quite adequate (cereal, croissants, toast, cheese, cakes etc), but if you want something more substantial there are a few nearby pattiseries (S.Matteoi). On the downside though, pillows were annoyingly flat, the room lacked a safe (as advertised) and the breakfast/seating area is rather communal (but good if you want to get acquainted with other guests). Not the easiest place to find, I would definitely recommend purchasing maps before you travel and locating the hotel via multimap/googlemaps thoroughly as local taximen/bus drivers don't know the hotel offhand. On the whole, it is a perfectly adequate hotel for a short stay, couple/traveller friendly, good value for money and typical european, recommended.

I booked this Hotel based upon the reviews from this site and whilst not entirley displeased with the stay, I would not use this hotel again. Looking around florence, there appears to be better choices. Staying at the Soggiorno Michelangelo Hotel, is very much like staying at a distant relatives house - if you like that sort of feel then its great, but it wasn't to my liking. The Hotel seems to be a conversion of a large apartment on the Second floor of a large building which contains residential flats and business. There are 7 rooms in total, most of which open onto a communal 'living room' where a cereal based breakfast is laid out on a table. From 8-10 we could hear people talking and eating breakfast very easily (spoons on bowls etc) - just like being at home! The rooms although clean on the surface had dust and dirt in the corners and the rug in our room was in need of a good hoovering. I placed our suitcase on top of the wardrobe out of the way and when bringing it down, brought down several years worth of dust, dirt and mites! We had a clean bathroom and towls, but the shower didn't have hot water (luke warm at best) and I would make sure you bring your own toiletries (inc soap and shower gel) - there was no bath. The bed was two singles pushed together and were grossly uncomfortable, both me and my fianceé felt bruised and had stiff necks each morning from sleeping on the bed. The pillows were rubbish, we had to sleep with a folded towel underneath for some extra cushioning. The hotel is in a quiet area of Florence on the NE side going out of town. Its a good 15-20 minute stroll into the centre and can be a pain after a while. If you are looking for a central hotel, this is not it - but is is quiet from noisey mopeds etc ... and we felt safe walking to and from the centre to the hotel. A taxi from the train station the the hotel will cost 8 euros - and he may find it hard to find - get the address and show the driver, we visited a different hotel first (looked a lot nicer!) and then got lost a few times finding the street. Its not obvious to find - look for the light and sign on the wall - its number 24. Its a friendly place, Oscar (the owner) was polite, although we never really saw him as we were out and about during the day. We were only there for a few days and could not be bothered to raise any of the issues with the room we had with him. This is a cheap Bed and Breakfast and good if you are on a budget and cant spend a little more to get closer and some luxouries. There a lots of books and guides available in the hotel for you to read (we left an English AA version there!) and Oscar will arrange taxis for you if you ask. The TV which was in the room, has appaling singnal quality on all channels, and the only choice was Italian TV channels or Italian MTV ... no BBC/CNN world news here! I dont want to sound damining of the place, as it didn't spoil our vaccation, but reading the reviews before I left I was expecting something else.