Hotel Centro

We’d booked in January for our April honeymoon, flying in from the USA. When we arrived, the front doors were locked. We knocked and rang the bell, but nobody came. On the phone, the hotel said we had no booking and that they no longer worked with Agoda. I checked that morning and they were still listed there. Agoda told us our room had been canceled, even though Hotel Centro had taken our payment just two days earlier. We were left in the dark on the street trying to find internet and another room. The hotel wouldn’t even open the door so we could use their internet. The people across the street kindly let us sit in their lobby and get online. I would NOT recommend Hotel Centro. You can’t trust its bookings, and the service was terrible.

If you just need somewhere to crash for a night, this might be fine. We were in Florence for three days with day-long walking tours planned and wanted somewhere to cool off and relax afterward. This wasn’t it, and we left after the first night. The location is fantastic, close to Florence’s major landmarks. The woman at the front desk was kind and helpful when she was there, and the property felt secure, with a locked coded outside door, an inside gate, and other locked doors. Our room and the cozy hallway, lounge, and cafe felt clean and comfortable. The listing made it look like a proper hotel with front desk staff, but one woman appeared to run check-in and room cleaning. The door said they were open 8am to 8pm, yet no one was around after 6pm during our stay. That was a problem when the AC malfunctioned and we couldn’t reach anyone. The walls were thin, so we heard everything happening in the hotel, on a street with activity all day and night. The online photos and details were misleading. Some first-floor rooms share a bathroom. We had a second-floor room with an en suite, but its sink and shower drains didn’t drain properly. The towel was so plasticky it might as well have been a tablecloth. The pictures suggested standard travel-sized shower soap and shampoo, but we got tiny sachets that barely lasted, and there were no washcloths. The water got warm enough, though pressure was weak. The bed was hard as a rock, like a dorm bed, and the pillows were flat and hard. As a side sleeper with broader shoulders, I didn’t find them comfortable. The bed also looked different from the online pictures, and there was only a sheet, no blanket.

We felt very safe here, and would stay again. The room fit our family of four, though there wasn’t much extra space. We had all the glasses, mugs, utensils, plates, and a wine opener we could need in the decent-sized cafeteria. It only had instant coffee, but there was a big selection of tea. We also used the two extra common-area bathrooms to brush our teeth while one person showered in the room. There’s a nice seating spot with books, and we could leave our luggage there after checkout until it was time for the train station. We heard street noise, but the walls between rooms were soundproof. The location was wonderful, central to everything we needed for our two-night stay. A note about check-in: you do need to contact the hotel ahead of time with an estimated arrival time, and passports are required for all guests. We found both are completely normal in Italy. I mention it because other reviews seemed unhappy about check-in. The receptionist is normally there from 8:00-20:00, but she also cleans the rooms, so she isn’t always at the front desk. She is around, though.

The hotel occupies the first and second floors of a residential building, with the lobby on the first. That floor has single rooms with one twin bed and no private bathroom, shared among three or four rooms. There’s also a dining area with four tables, eight chairs, and forks, knives, plates, and other items. The larger double rooms and up are on the second floor, all with private bathrooms. Rooms are spacious, clean, and have AC. The hotel uses regular keys, four of them, but each room gets just one set. WiFi was fast, and the location is excellent, about a 10-minute walk from the Duomo and many attractions, and quite close to the train station. There’s a small elevator, as usual. During the day, an employee was always available for check-in, and we didn’t need to make an appointment.