Hotel Silla - Florence, Italy     

The Silla was recommended to us by Italian-American friends who have stayed there many times and know Florence well. We were not only welcomed with gracious attention but our emails prior to arrival were answered promptly and our requests were fulfilled. For the price, we did not expect this level of service and were more than pleased. Breakfast on the terrace overlooking a small park (with the view of buildings across the river) was also more than a simple, "Continental" breakfast menu, with attentive service. It was a pleasant way to plan the day and feel completely "on vacation." The room we were given had large doors to a "Juliet" balcony, a clean, simple bathroom with shower and one sufficient closet and dresser. Nothing fancy. Clean. Plenty of room (by European standards, for sure). Laura and Massimo at the front desk were very helpful with directons, recommendations and advice. We don't usually use a city hotel for more than a place to sleep and, so long as it's clean, safe and reasonably comfortable, we're happy to spend our money on other parts of the trip. If you don't need to be at the "Ritz," this fills the bill more than adequately.

My wife and I were honeymooning in Italy and Austria for two weeks. All of our hotels were between $140 and $200 per night. Of all the hotels we stayed at, this is the one hotel that I would not recommend. In general, I am not a complainer. All I am looking for in a hotel is a clean place to sleep, a decent location and helpful staff who provide good customer service with smile. While the overall experience was not ‘nightmarish”, it was far below my basic expectations; especially in light of the other reviews on this site and elsewhere. There just has to be a better value for your money. The Bad: When we arrived, they had no record of our reservation, which was particularly disconcerting since I had paid for one night (a deposit) prior to arriving. The saving grace was that I had printed off my confirmation email. Once in our room, we noticed that there was a sandy, gritty substance all over the floor as if it had not been swept or cleaned in quite some time(which was never cleaned up during our three nights there). This sandy substance was also on a portion of the bed sheets. Maybe the maid set them on the floor before putting them on the bed. Regardless it was a little gross. Every time we left the hotel, the staff at the front desk would ask when we planned to return (as if it were a hostel or something). One morning that we had planned to leave early in our car to visit Pisa, we went down and found that the hotel had allowed another hotel guest with a Mercedes Bens to block us into the garage. The guy at the front desk did not want to wake up the hotel guest, would not move it himself and said it would be another 45 minutes before his manager who could move the car would be arriving. He said the only thing he could do is give me the keys and let me move it. (they ask all guests to leave their car keys at the front desk) It was such a tight fit out of that garage, I almost took the side-view mirrors off three times before safely getting it out. Besides that, the guest had all sorts of personal things on the seats which any dishonest person could have taken. (I would not leave the keys to your car at the front desk-who knows who they will let drive your car). The best part was that they blamed me for the the whole thing saying that I should have told them we wanted to leave early. (Mind you, they charge $20.00 a night for the parking spot). The Good: they are located in a decent spot, just down the street from Ponte Vechio and about 5 minutes from Ufizi. The breakfast bar was adequate and the breakfast terrace was lovely Conclusion: There has to be a better value for your money than Hotel Silla. I will not stay there again, and would suggest people look elsewhere.