Athenaeum Personal Hotel, Florence

I don't know why I booked this hotel, perhaps to have a contrast w/ the old-world style surroundings. However the room was the smallest I had out of 6 hotels, and the clear plastic shower stall tiny. You had to shower with your arms down practically. If you like sparsely-decorated angular rooms w/ a modern flair of dark brown, mustard, white and red colors, this is for you. The small flat tv screen mounted above the desk made the room seem more like a college dorm. The breakfast was also the smallest selection out of the hotels I stayed in. Everything was small, including the closet. The bell boy did not help me w/ my luggage, even though he saw me trying to carry it up the 6 stairs from the sidewalk. The staff are very metro, the women w/ pierced noses and the men a little too sensitive. They didn't offer me any maps or city info. Also for as modern of a hotel as it was, they didn't have card-keys. They had a real key on a bulky key chain showing your room number. You had to leave the key w/ the front desk if you wanted to leave the hotel, which made coming back in less inconspicuous because you have to ask for your key. I'd also worry about safety if the keys could be copied. They had no turn down service, and the location was very inconvenient. It was about 20 blocks from the Duomo, and there was nothing around the hotel as far as eating places, bars, shops. You can tell it was out of the way because there were less and less people on the sidewalks. If you are walking from the train station w/ luggage, I pity you. I never caught a taxi while in Florence, but I wish I did to get to this hotel. Fortunately, I had only booked 1 night. As soon as I checked in, I went hunting for a new hotel. In Florence, you want to be as close to the Duomo as possible, which is where all the action is. I then booked the Hotel Sofitel for the same price as this hotel, which was $180 euro. In general, the hotel definetly was a trendy place, for a select group of "sensitive" people.

Very modern with flat screen TV's, a putting green, and lots of character. My wife and I were able to walk to everything that we wanted to do. I would definitely go back!!!