Florence Room - Florence, Italy     

To be fair, this review is of a stay from almost 1 year ago, after reading the more recent ones, I suspect that a few things have changed for the better. But I hope my story will serve as a precaution nonetheless. Before that, some objective observations: The single room I stayed in was nicely decorated, very clean, the bathroom was also very clean. Yes mosquitoes can be a problem as one reviewer noted, but overall, a really pleasant room that's in a good location. Wasn't served the breakfast so I can't comment on that. Now the story: I had reserved my room through a hostels booking site. I also emailed Florence Room directly to let them know I had made a reservation just in case (I also did not speak any Italian). When I arrived a stern hostess (who spoke zero English) opened the door and had no idea I made a reservation. She pointed to the computer and said it was not functioning. The price for a single was also different from their listing on the hostel website. I was desperate so I paid. I paid cash and did not get a receipt. Make sure you demand a receipt! The next morning I asked if breakfast was included and the hostess shook her head. A day or two later I changed rooms because I had to extend my stay, this room should have been cheaper because there was no bathroom, but I nonetheless was asked to pay the same price. To make a long story short, I later got in touch with the manager with this complaint, and to my surprise, he said the hostess had explained the room and meal options and prices to me (impossible since she spoke no English and I understood no Italian) and blamed *me* for not taking the room I was 'supposed' to take! The hostess had completely lied about how things had happened. After reading the information from the manager about their rates and options, I realized that I had been ripped off because I should have received breakfast the first time and the second booking should have been cheaper since I was in a smaller room. I demanded a refund for the amount that I was over charged. Fortunately, the manager believed me and agreed, but it was just horrible to have to go through all this. BE CAREFUL if you are a female traveler visiting here on your own and do not speak Italian. I suspect this may be one reason why I got ripped off. Like I said at the start of the review, it sounds like things have improved in the past year, but my experience was awful and I personally would strongly advise against staying here.

We paid about 100 Euros a night for our double room. This was relatively cheap compared to other accommodation we looked at in Florence. The location was great, less than 5 minutes from the train station, and a five minutes walk to the centre of the city. The room was clean, as was the bathroom. The bed however was quite small for 2. The breakfast is served in your room at the time you request. You get tea or coffee, and a crossaint, crispbreads and biscuits each. It's not the biggest breakfast, but enough to get you through to lunchtime. The staff spoke good enough English to make our stay easy. The only downside is the noise. We had a street facing room and the bin lorries came at 5am and made a lot of noise! I would recommend this B & B if you're on a budget and would stay here again myself (and ask for a non room facing room).