Hotel Olimpia - Florence, Italy 

What a great location this Hotel has. Right in the middle of all the main places you would want to visit. It is a wonder that the owners don't upgrade. The Hotel is an Italian 3 star and definately not up to 3* UK, however, it is perfectly adequate. Our room was quite small with no outlook (a stone wall to be precise)with a very strange 'wet room' with the shower in the middle which meant everything got soaked. The air con is a bit dated, the old blower radiator style which can be quite loud but it did work okay. Breakfast was basic, cereal, rolls, cake and croissants with terrible coffee. Ask for hot water as they have a good selection of teas. We found the staff really pleasant and very helpful. If you are booking I would ask for one of the front rooms as they have lovely street views and are quite large and airy.

I stayed here with some friends for 2 nights in June. The ONLY thing going for this 2 Star hotel is the fantastic location...right on the Piazza Republica. Our room was very musty and the old fan did not work. Thankfully, the evenings were fairly cool, but in deep summer, it would be a problem. The included breakfast was just so-so...with, as the previous reviewer mentioned, terrible coffee. The little bar below the hotel had fantastic coffee, though. The shower was something to behold...and be sure to take everything out of the room....towels, toilet paper etc. as they will get soaked. The main problem was in discovering that our door did not lock. When we talked to the manager about this, he became very angry and did not believe us. Upon showing him, he then became angrier and felt like we had somehow broken the lock. He attempted to fix the problem, but it could still be shoved open if you really tried...this did not make us very comfortable leaving our things in the room the last day. I love Florence and the wonderful people, but would definitely not stay in this particular hotel again fantastic location or not!