Relais Campanile

The location was the main thing going for this place. The building and room felt badly neglected, and I’d laugh with my boyfriend about it later as the worst hotel we stayed in Florence. I’ve stayed in plenty of places, but this may be my first bad review. It felt like an abandoned building with beds put in it, barely short of a scam. Maybe it started out well years ago and the owners stopped caring because people would keep booking for the location. The online photos are so staged that the rooms don’t look like them anymore. We only got inside because someone happened to be leaving when we arrived. The lobby was dark, dusty, and empty, with other guests’ luggage left there. They say they offer secure luggage storage, but it didn’t seem secure. Nobody had sent us the entry code or Wi-Fi password through the booking app, or left an information card in the room. I found both on the lobby notice board. I called the number on booking.com, and a man told me which room on the second floor was ours. I never spoke to him again. Every time we passed the office, it was empty. There were broken bits of furniture in the hall, and the building was poorly maintained, with lights off and dust everywhere. It looked like no one had lived there in a year. At first the room seemed quaint, and at least the bed was clean. We had two large towels, two small ones, a bar of soap, two shower gels, and a working tiny fridge. That was about it, despite a long advertised list of inclusions. The air conditioner blew hot air, so we turned it off. They’d left a plug-in floor fan, which made it seem like they knew the AC didn’t work. It was 26-28C and we needed cooling, so the listing felt false. The TV and kettle were gone. There were two coffee cups and an empty tin on the table, but no tea or even a bottle of water. The wardrobe was broken, with a big hole, and jammed shut, or else swung open on its own. There was only one working plug in the whole room. The TV and kettle would both need outlets, and most sockets didn’t work. One under the table was pushed into the wall, with its metal cover on the floor. The other sockets needed an old Italian adapter. They’d left one small adapter with the lamp plugged into it, but the lamp didn’t fit the socket itself, so we had to choose between charging a phone and using the lamp. The adapter kept cutting out and wouldn’t charge our phones. I messaged the host about it in the app and got no reply. There was no room cleaning, which I don’t mind, but with no staff around, it was impossible to ask for help. The bathroom sink was so clogged it was nearly unusable, so we ended up spitting toothpaste into the bidet. There was just one tiny bin for the room, a small bottle of shower gel, and a bar of soap. The bathroom smelled like sewage, as many old city bathrooms in Italy do, so we had to keep the door shut. The toilet seat was too small and didn’t fit over the rim. Florence is beautiful. Do yourself a favor and stay somewhere else.

The staff were so welcoming and went out of their way to make sure I had what I needed. My room was spacious, spotless, and had comfortable bedding that made it easy to sleep well after a day exploring. The hotel is absolutely charming, and its location is hard to beat, just ten steps from the Duomo. I had a wonderful stay and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Italy.

The B&B had leaks in several places, and there was a large hole in the roof where plasterboard was missing, probably so pipes could be fixed. It badly needs a coat of paint. We didn’t get the room we booked, and breakfast wasn’t available. The location was very good, but I strongly don’t recommend staying here.

We arrived with my family after booking an Airbnb here, only to learn there were no rooms. Apparently it had been “overbooked,” but we hadn’t seen the notification. Two rude men who said they lived there told us to call a man named “Garcia,” or something similar, to find out where we’d been moved. They’d made us a new reservation at a hostel, not a hotel. It was only $40 a night compared with this place, and around $600 has gone missing. We’re still waiting for our credit card company to resolve the dispute. Be careful.