Palazzo Firenze Hotel

We stayed at Palazzo Firenze as a family of six adults and one infant. While there were some lovely aspects — the staff were friendly and gave us great recommendations for food and sightseeing, the rooms were clean, breakfast was fantastic, and the pool area had a great vibe — our overall experience was overshadowed by a deeply disturbing incident.

While taking the elevator, which was full at the time, a woman waiting on another floor was unable to get in. As the doors were closing, she leaned her head forward and spat at us, hitting both myself and my mother in the face. We were in complete shock and immediately reported this to hotel staff.

What was even more upsetting was the response. Staff acknowledged this woman is a known issue, saying she often frequents the hotel and has spat at staff members previously, including today also. If that’s the case, why has she not been banned from entering the hotel? Why were the police not called?

This incident was deeply distressing, unhygienic, and frankly traumatizing. We felt completely unsafe and let down by the hotel’s lack of adequate action to protect guests. A clean room and good breakfast are meaningless if basic safety and dignity are not guaranteed.

I sincerely hope management reflects on this and takes immediate steps to prevent anything like this from happening to another guest.

Overall very satisfactory. The location is a bit sketchy (not many native Italians, if you know what I mean) especially in the evening hours, so I’ve had to deduct a star for that, but they do their very best to keep the hotel secure and it’s not as bad as it initially seems upon arrival. There are more wholesome streets within walking distance. There’s a cafe two short blocks down the road and a great pizzeria right around that corner. The train station is only a few blocks away as well, and the valet is very convenient for guests with vehicles because parking would be a major nuisance. It’s very clean and the showers are amazing with phenomenal water pressure. Breakfast is well-maintained and most of the staff is very polite, including the director, Francesco. The pool closes at 7(?) but the pool/rooftop bar stays open until 11:30. They do last call at that time but also kick you out immediately to lock the rooftop and you can go to the lobby instead but no one wants to do that because everyone wants to sit outside which can only be done there.

This brings me to my reason for the additional star reduction. One staff member, Giuseppe/Joseph, took over the rooftop bar at approximately 10:35 and asserted the rooftop would close at 11:00. I said he is supposed to close at 11:30, but he very confidently insisted it closes at 11:00, which I knew was wrong, because I’d already confirmed the procedure the day earlier. This argument went on for a few minutes, and he never admitted the rooftop closes at 11:30, although he did admit that he wanted to close it so he could go home. At 10:39, he told us we have 10 minutes. I showed him the time on my phone, and said it was 21 minutes until 11:00 and he is supposed to close at 11:30 anyway. To be snarky, he repeated “10 minutes” so I again informed him that it was still 21 minutes until 11:00. Things devolved and I told him he is lazy, mean and a liar, which wasn’t very nice of me but remain true observations. We were made to leave and I arrived at the front desk by 10:45. Gianni/John and Michael were there. Gianni affirmed that I was correct about the time, and said Giuseppe is just new. He did not apologize or indicate that he has any concern about Giuseppe’s behavior, despite Giuseppe’s demeanor being even more problematic coming from a supposedly new employee. Gianni told me I could go back up (to the rooftop), but I did not want to anymore, so Gianni didn’t know what I wanted from them. I just wanted to know that they understood Giuseppe’s conduct was unacceptable and would tell him so, and perhaps the courtesy of an apologetic attitude. Being informed repeatedly that he is new, as if it explains or excuses the conduct, was not a satisfactory resolution to me. Gianni then actually kind of got in my face and spoke harshly to me, on his way out to head home. I think it was in Italian, so I don’t know what he said, but I would characterize it as an outburst. I went upstairs after finishing the conversation calmly with Michael who was very professional and courteous, so I felt better. I asked him to let the director know about the incident, and he must have, because the director apologized when we checked out the next day. I appreciate that, but some other Anglosphere guests (1 Canadian, 2 English) and I already felt the rooftop hours were substandard, especially for an otherwise very nice hotel, due to the fact we had no access to outdoor seating elsewhere, so the last incident was a nail in the coffin.