Starwood Preferred Guest - Sheratons in Florence, Rome

Hi

I am going to be in Roma and Florence at the end April-start of May and wanted to know what people thought about these two hotels. The Firenze hotel looks like a good deal, and hotels in Rome seem very expensive. Both are outside the city centre, but offer transportation, is this reliable. My price range is aobut $150/night, so if there are recommended alternatives, I would appreciate suggestions. I tried a search, but could not see anything on Florence.

Thanks

Hi

I am going to be in Roma and Florence at the end April-start of May and wanted to know what people thought about these two hotels. The Firenze hotel looks like a good deal, and hotels in Rome seem very expensive. Both are outside the city centre, but offer transportation, is this reliable. My price range is aobut $150/night, so if there are recommended alternatives, I would appreciate suggestions. I tried a search, but could not see anything on Florence.

Thanks
I can't help ya with Florence, as we always just "suck it up" and stay at the Excelsior. But in Rome, I would recommend the Four Points. It is brand new and is quite nice for a 4-Points. This is not your motel-6-type 4-Points. Nice lobby, restaurant, bar, etc. The room was just OK, but it was very cheap - I think I paid 2000 *points/night - compared with 14-25000 I normally pay elsewhere in Rome (Excelsior or St. Regis). Depends on the details of your trip, but if you don't mind catching a bus, then train for a half hour every day, it's not bad. We quite enjoy the adventure.

If you're more interested in saving $ than in staying at a *wood property, I would recommend one of the many nice little B&Bs. We've used www.laterooms.com on several occasions to find great, clean, well-appointed B&Bs in the middle of town for 50-60E per night. Same for Florence. 2 blocks off of St. Lorenzo square is one called Pucci I believe. Kinda loud if you get a room next to the street, as Firenza is a very pedestrian town. But otherwise, VERY nice rooms for 65E/night.

Edit: OK, never mind that idea. I just checked, and they're going for 145 right now. We musta been lucky. But anyway, keep an eye open for these. Just depends of the date of your travel.

I am going to be in Roma and Florence at the end April-start of May and wanted to know what people thought about these two hotels.

I came back last night from The Sheraton Roma.

It's a good hotel, I got a suite as a Platinum but that's unusual mid week - We only got it because we had a 7 year old who they felt would be cramped in an exec room with a rollaway.

The club lounge is very good, breakfast and snacks all day, pleasant terrace outside on the 5th floor.

20% dining discount for Plats, reasonable food.

Helpful staff.

Free shuttle to the centre of Rome every hour, 5 minute walk to the metro otherwise. 5 Euro shuttle to the airport.

I'd stay there again like a shot, particularly as the current points and cash offer is very good.

The S in Florence is outside of downtown, next to the freeway A 1 and it is modern and has shuttle into town. Also it is in area where you could go to several fine suburban or country restaurants with car or taxi.
Our memory is that it is usually a lot less expensive than downtown.
I would only stay downtown if you do not have a car and wish to walk immediately from your hotel.

Thanks for the input.

I am trying to budget myself (for once) and the Westins and LC are very pricy. I think I will try a non-*wood in Florence and the SherRoma. As I am only spending 3 days in Roma, I was worried about time, but the shuttle freq sounds like it will work.

May I ask about the4P in Roma: spg does not show any "brand new" there. Only 4P we found is the Roma West which is not brand new and we stayed there about 4 years ago.
Where did you find the "brand new" 4P and what is exact name and location?
Thank you for the help.

QUOTE=Jills]I can't help ya with Florence, as we always just "suck it up" and stay at the Excelsior. But in Rome, I would recommend the Four Points. It is brand new and is quite nice for a 4-Points. This is not your motel-6-type 4-Points. Nice lobby, restaurant, bar, etc. The room was just OK, but it was very cheap - I think I paid 2000 *points/night - compared with 14-25000 I normally pay elsewhere in Rome (Excelsior or St. Regis). Depends on the details of your trip, but if you don't mind catching a bus, then train for a half hour every day, it's not bad. We quite enjoy the adventure.

If you're more interested in saving $ than in staying at a *wood property, I would recommend one of the many nice little B&Bs. We've used www.laterooms.com on several occasions to find great, clean, well-appointed B&Bs in the middle of town for 50-60E per night. Same for Florence. 2 blocks off of St. Lorenzo square is one called Pucci I believe. Kinda loud if you get a room next to the street, as Firenza is a very pedestrian town. But otherwise, VERY nice rooms for 65E/night.

Edit: OK, never mind that idea. I just checked, and they're going for 145 right now. We musta been lucky. But anyway, keep an eye open for these. Just depends of the date of your travel.[/QUOTE]

HI-
I'm trying to book a Europe holiday Paris, Florence, Rome for a family of 4 this coming July/Aug using my points. Already tried the European Holiday Award option unfortunately it seems that they don't have hotels in either Florence or Rome.:( IIRC, last year they had Westin Excelsior for both Florence and Rome.

My preference obviously is to book the luxury cat 6 hotels but the absence of Florence and Rome hotel options for the Europe Holiday award makes it difficult for me as I won't have enough points.

Im wondering about the cat 3 hotels in either Florence or Rome.

In Florence, has anyone here have any recommendations? I see that Sheraton Firenze is a Category 3 but it appears to be some distance from the town. Or is it? How does it compare with Westin or Grand Excelsior? I have never been to Florence and don't know with regards to convenience (transport, sightseeing, food)

In Rome, besides the Westin, Eden, and St. Regis there is the Sheraton Roma, Sheraton Golf Parco, and the Four Points. How are these 3 in terms of convenience for 2 adult tourists with 2 pre-teens in tow? I'm worried that these 3 properties are too far from the city center and don't want to spend too much time or money for transportation.

Another question- how long is the train from Florence to Rome? Can I just stay in Rome and do a day trip to Florence via train or should I plan on staying Florence for at least 1 night?

HI-
I'm trying to book a Europe holiday Paris, Florence, Rome for a family of 4 this coming July/Aug using my points. Already tried the European Holiday Award option unfortunately it seems that they don't have hotels in either Florence or Rome.:( IIRC, last year they had Westin Excelsior for both Florence and Rome.

My preference obviously is to book the luxury cat 6 hotels but the absence of Florence and Rome hotel options for the Europe Holiday award makes it difficult for me as I won't have enough points.

Im wondering about the cat 3 hotels in either Florence or Rome.

In Florence, has anyone here have any recommendations? I see that Sheraton Firenze is a Category 3 but it appears to be some distance from the town. Or is it? How does it compare with Westin or Grand Excelsior? I have never been to Florence and don't know with regards to convenience (transport, sightseeing, food)

In Rome, besides the Westin, Eden, and St. Regis there is the Sheraton Roma, Sheraton Golf Parco, and the Four Points. How are these 3 in terms of convenience for 2 adult tourists with 2 pre-teens in tow? I'm worried that these 3 properties are too far from the city center and don't want to spend too much time or money for transportation.

Another question- how long is the train from Florence to Rome? Can I just stay in Rome and do a day trip to Florence via train or should I plan on staying Florence for at least 1 night?


The Sheraton Roma has goten some good reviews on Flyertalk. Do a search for it and you'll see a variety of posts. Of note it's between the airport and the city so there is a shuttle running to both. To the city it's about every hour and free, but the airport is about 5 euros I think. Of note, there doesnt seem to be as many restaurants in the area of the hotel to walk so dinner amy have to be either taken in the hotel restaurant or in the city before you come back - I think that hte last shuttle back is about 1130 PM but could be mistaken.

I have no experience with the Sheraton Firenze propertie but have been to Firenze multiple times and have to tell you- it's worth the visit, and please stay for longer than a day! The Eurostar does make it doable in a day (1.5 hrs) but I love the food there so much more than ROme, and don't think that it should be shortchanged. The strenght of the euro makes life very difficult for us Americans but consider expanding your options outside of SPG (sacrilegous I know).

chris

HI-
I'm trying to book a Europe holiday Paris, Florence, Rome for a family of 4 this coming July/Aug using my points. Already tried the European Holiday Award option unfortunately it seems that they don't have hotels in either Florence or Rome.:( IIRC, last year they had Westin Excelsior for both Florence and Rome.

My preference obviously is to book the luxury cat 6 hotels but the absence of Florence and Rome hotel options for the Europe Holiday award makes it difficult for me as I won't have enough points.

Im wondering about the cat 3 hotels in either Florence or Rome.

In Florence, has anyone here have any recommendations? I see that Sheraton Firenze is a Category 3 but it appears to be some distance from the town. Or is it? How does it compare with Westin or Grand Excelsior? I have never been to Florence and don't know with regards to convenience (transport, sightseeing, food)

In Rome, besides the Westin, Eden, and St. Regis there is the Sheraton Roma, Sheraton Golf Parco, and the Four Points. How are these 3 in terms of convenience for 2 adult tourists with 2 pre-teens in tow? I'm worried that these 3 properties are too far from the city center and don't want to spend too much time or money for transportation.

Another question- how long is the train from Florence to Rome? Can I just stay in Rome and do a day trip to Florence via train or should I plan on staying Florence for at least 1 night?

Are there no rooms available under the European Holiday Plan or are the hotels not included? I have booked two rooms for a 7 night stay in Rome (3 nights), Florence (2), and Venice (2) using this promotion for May of this year. I am staying at Westins in all 3 cities.

Are there no rooms available under the European Holiday Plan or are the hotels not included? I have booked two rooms for a 7 night stay in Rome (3 nights), Florence (2), and Venice (2) using this promotion for May of this year. I am staying at Westins in all 3 cities.

Rome & Florence properties are no longer in the list of properties for the European Holiday Plan, see posts 18 and on: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=389042&page=2

I do believe rooms are still available for award booking just not via the European Holiday promo

Sheraton Firenze is far outside the city, it's practical to visit The Mall but there is basically nothing around (nice landscape though, which will be lost on teenagers I expect).
Other Firenze have jumped to Cat 6. so they are not involved in the Inspirationnal Award anymore. By all means go there. They are facing each other just by the Arno (the river).
The Sheraton Roma is a good hotel in a nondescript area (basically a motorway near the airport). The shuttle is free to go to the center and back, but of course you won't have the possibility to rest during the day because the hotel is too far.
The best Cat 6 Roma hotels option is IMHO the Eden. Be prepared to spend a fortune though.

I hope this helps,
E

...... shuttle is free to go to the center and back, but of course you won't have the possibility to rest during the day because the hotel is too far.
The best Cat 6 Roma hotels option is IMHO the Eden. Be prepared to spend a fortune though.

I hope this helps,
E

it helps, thx
the rest during the day is an important consideration for my family
but, so is spending a fortune...
need to find that balance somehow.

My wife and me were facing a similar conundrum with our belated honeymoon next month. Stay in the two Sheratons outside of the city (Florence and Rome) or pay more to stay in the city in nicer digs.

The two Westin Excelsiors win out for us (possibly Eden in Rome, last minute decision on that one). The fact is that while you can take a shuttle into the city, if your intent is to visit the city, it's not the most convenient means. Convenience wins out on that one for us. Also, reading some fairly recent reviews on TripAdvisor tended to steer me away from the Sheraton Firenze, although I have heard some good about it as well, from a friend too.

The same can be said for the Sheraton Roma, although if I were to stay at a lower-grade hotel in Rome, not central, I'd go with the Hilton Cavalieri. The rooms there are huge.

Cheers,

Adrian

I would agree with Chris Wu that you really should make Florence more than a day-trip; it's one of the most incredible cities in the world. And I wouldn't stay at the Sheraton Firenze; way too far out to be able to enjoy the city's ambience.

Hotels in both places are very expensive, and the weak dollar against the Euro makes it worse. Still, you're not going to enjoy or get a sense of either place if you're staying far out. If you don't have enough *pts, or can't get awards at the SPG properties in both, I would use the pts. you do have to be at a well-located SPG property in one of them. For the other, I'd search other hotels or perhaps rent an apartment? Many properties in both cities now do 3-day minimum rentals. Or, save Rome for a later trip, and combine Florence with a less-expensive city, like Siena or Bologna?

It's hard to have a bad time anywhere in Italy, and you want a reason to go back!

I would agree with Chris Wu that you really should make Florence more than a day-trip; it's one of the most incredible cities in the world. And I wouldn't stay at the Sheraton Firenze; way too far out to be able to enjoy the city's ambience.

Thx to all so far-
We are definitely going to stay in Florence more than 1 night. Based on the award flight I was just able to book
LAX-CDG
Paris, 2 nights
CDG-FLR
Florence, 3 nights
train Florence to Rome, 3 nights
fly back to LAX, FCO-AMS-LAX

Sheraton Firenze is now just a back-up, Not sure if i'll have enough points for basically 6 nights for Rome/Florence each as knowing Italy, i'll probably need 2 rooms for us 4.

....In Florence, has anyone here have any recommendations? I see that Sheraton Firenze is a Category 3 but it appears to be some distance from the town. Or is it? How does it compare with Westin or Grand Excelsior? I have never been to Florence and don't know with regards to convenience (transport, sightseeing, food)

In Rome, besides the Westin, Eden, and St. Regis there is the Sheraton Roma, Sheraton Golf Parco, and the Four Points. How are these 3 in terms of convenience for 2 adult tourists with 2 pre-teens in tow? I'm worried that these 3 properties are too far from the city center and don't want to spend too much time or money for transportation....


I have stayed 2 nights at Sheraton Florence in 2006. This hotel is next to the autostrada and not nice. They have a shuttle to city center.

In Rome I stayed several nights at Parco di Medici, also near autostrada, also with a shuttle to the city center. I got a nice large room facing the golf course. I liked the hotel and would go back any time. There are actually 2 hotel buildings. I was in the one which was *NOT* closed for renovation in 2006.
Have fun!

While staying at the Sheraton Roma, we used the metro to get back and forth to the city when we didn't feel like waiting for the bus to pick us up. The metro stop is a short walk from the hotel. Metro is cheap, and very user friendly. Agree with everyone else that there is nothing else to do within walking distance of the hotel. However, we just went into town in the morning and stayed there all day (obviously plenty to do) and came back to hotel after dinner.
Another plus for Sheraton Roma is that is it much closer to the airport than the CAT 6's if you are paying for a taxi.

drnp

Sheraton Firenze near Autostrada is a bargain-especially if you are traveling on the Autostrada.

Hi,
I'm at the Excelsior in Rome right now. If you are considering $$ here are a few pointers:
-The Borghese Gardens/Park is about a 1 minute walk (free/pretty). The Villa Borghese contains some fantastic art work (Bernini and other masters) for around 5 euro/person. I would recommend the head set as it narrates the tour and that is another 5 euro
-Today we took a bus to the Colloseo, walked back to the Excelsior past the Trevi Fountain (alot of good sites in walking distance if you enjoy walking)
-We found a great grocery store underground at the top of the street (2 blocks away), right before the gardens (on the left side of the street when walking towards the gardens) Wine, tomatoes, basil, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil and balsamic was around 18 Euro, for dinner we will walk to the gardens and bring our "picnic"
-Very reasonably priced restaurant for this area is about 2 blocks from the hotel. Piccolo Mondo Osteria Romana is on via Aurora 39. Most other restaurants were 10-15% higher.
-Sometimes the easiest way to see the lay of the land is the tourist bus (yeah, I know...) but we tried one yesterday and it was a giant rip off. They said the price included a red and blue line but they would only honor it on one line. When the bus finally came for the archology sites they wouldn't seat us because they wanted to keep vacant seats. We waited for the next bus 40 minutes later to find out that they were going to take it out of service because it wasn't running well. The next bus would be another 40 minutes. This was the Roma 110 open bus (the red double decker bus). Avoid it like the plague.

From what I've read - if they are now the same category - the St. Regis in Rome is a lot nicer than the Westin!

We stayed at the Westins in Rome, Florence and Venice last Thanksgiving using points and they were all fantastic. We booked 2 rooms for a family of 4 and were give a suite and large connecting room at both Rome and Florence. They were both in excellent locations with very helpful concierges. I would like to stay at all 3 properties again in the near future.

From what I've read - if they are now the same category - the St. Regis in Rome is a lot nicer than the Westin!

Can't decide between these 2 properties. I will need 2 rooms for the 4 of us apparently. I doubt I'll get an upgrade as I've lost my Platinum privileges, and may not be even able to make gold by the time I'm in Rome. I have enough points for 2 rooms for 2 nights and will have to pay for 2 rooms for 1 night.

From searching here, it seems Westin has a better location - close to Spanish steps. Since upgradability is not a deciding factor, is the Westin location truly better than St. Regis'? I'll probably spend a lot of time walking but do want to minimize walking to get to the sights. Would prefer a location close to the spanish steps, cafe's, pizzerias, etc.

which one do you folks recommend. can anyone who has been to both of these properties give some insight?

So we are hopefully heading to Italy for a couple of nights and we werent sure where to stay. I hope you FTs can help me in making the right decision:

ROME: Our options are between the Sheraton Roma Hotel and the Sheraton Golf Parco. The Roma seems pretty good even though its a drop out of the city but it is right near the train so that would work out well for us. How good are they with upgrades though, it would be nice to get a decent room.

Now the Sheraton Golf seems that there is no access to the trains so that cant be good but on the other hand they have golf. The real question: is the golf and outdoor pool open now in Dec.

Florence Does anyone have a real review on Sheraton Firenze, I need some idea if its half decent.

Thanks everyone

I stayed at the Sheraton Firenze last week using points. The hotel is away from the city center and there is nothing around it. I would not use as a sightseeing base. I thought the room was fine but my brother thought the bed was hard. No coffee in room and I had trouble getting a single cup from the bar and restaurant the next day. Is it half decent? Yes, it is but a half decent room that is far from the historic district and transportation will cost you. We were able to use the free shuttle to get to the main train station downtown for our sightseeing so that helped. If I had paid to stay, I would have chosen someplace in town. Even for free, you need to add in taxi plus hotel meals and free quickly escalates to big dollars. Also we couldn't adjust the heat so most of the family was too hot in the room at night. I'm always cold and even I was kind of warm.

I stayed at the Sheraton Firenze last week using points. The hotel is away from the city center and there is nothing around it. I would not use as a sightseeing base. I thought the room was fine but my brother thought the bed was hard. No coffee in room and I had trouble getting a single cup from the bar and restaurant the next day. Is it half decent? Yes, it is but a half decent room that is far from the historic district and transportation will cost you. We were able to use the free shuttle to get to the main train station downtown for our sightseeing so that helped. If I had paid to stay, I would have chosen someplace in town. Even for free, you need to add in taxi plus hotel meals and free quickly escalates to big dollars. Also we couldn't adjust the heat so most of the family was too hot in the room at night. I'm always cold and even I was kind of warm.
So you dont have a great review. How often was the shuttle?

I stayed at the Sheraton Firenze this past May. The hotel is outside of the city, but there is a shuttle that provides free transportation and drops off at the train station. It seems like it ran something like 3-4 times in the morning, and 3-4 times in the afternoon/evening. So something like every 1-2 hours. It is a gray shuttle bus with Sheraton Firenze clearly marked on the side.

The hotel itself is certainly an older hotel. I was pretty happy to stay there, because I spent my first two nights in Firenze in a hostel, and then stayed at the Sheraton on points the next two nights. When compared against another hotel, however, it seems like it is more of a stop for tour groups. The rooms etc were all fine, probably very nice 10 years ago, but not kept up particularly well. The service was very good, and at the time I was a regular old SPG member, not even gold.

Overall, I thought the hotel was fine, as long as you're not expecting a luxury stay. I wouldn't try to use this hotel and the shuttle service if you wanted to go back and forth between the sights of Florence and the hotel multiple times during the day. If you use it as a place to sleep at night, and then spend the whole day in Florence (or on a day trip to Siena, which was great!), then it works just fine. Make sure you eat plenty of gelato-Florence has the best anywhere in Italy!

I just found a copy of the shuttle bus schedule that the hotel had emailed me. Departures from the Sheraton to the central train station are at 830, 930, 1030, 1130, 1530, 1800, 2000, and 2100, and the trip a little less than 30 minutes, I believe. I think there is just one shuttle, so the trips from the station to the Sheraton leave at 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1630, 1900, 2030, and 2130. Hope that helps.

We also have individual threads on these properties as well as this comparison/discussion thread. I'll give the links so you can include them in your research:

Florence - Sheraton Florence (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=419239)
Rome - Sheraton (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=540206)
Rome - Sheraton Golf Parco De' Medici (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=169778)