bigjim

I agree wholeheartedly. The OP certainly implied that he thought that the front desk was wrong, that he was entitled to free breakfast, and that he was frustrated - all because he thought that Platinum with SPG has the same benefits as Diamond with Hilton (although, I'm assuming that the OP doesn't read those T&Cs either.)

DallasBill

William... I think you mean umbrage. ^

cattle

The problem is that many here have encountered hotels that don't want to give a benefit that is in the T&C and tell us NO anyways (room upgrades are a great example in this forum). It just helps to know what you are entitled to before asking

mauld

Wow, since when do 'all the European paid rates' include breakfast!! The only ones I've seen are when I book a 'breakfast included' rate. If it doesn't say so on the web site/reservation, I've never been offered it at any of my stays in London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Amsterdam, Naples etc--- unless booked that way originally.

Starwood Lurker

Yep. That was the word I was looking for, but I guess being close doesn't count except in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

bigjim

Hey William,

You know I wasn't giving you a hard time. I honestly didn't know what your original non-word meant - and wouldn't know now what the intended word meant if you guys hadn't explained it to me.

My learned item for the day comes from FlyerTalk.

Starwood Lurker

No problem. I didn't take umbrage to your questions either.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

subdawg

Just returned from a stay here, here is the shuttle bus schedule. The bus is very punctual, I was very impressed (unlike the 4 Points Roma).

From hotel to Ponte Vecchio, Duomo, & train station:

8:30am
9:30
10:30
11:30
15:30
18:00
20:00
21:00

From Station SMN to hotel:
9:00am
10:00
11:00
12:00
16:30
19:00
20:30
21:30

Note: no shuttles to or from airport.

marlin

Thanks Subdawg! Could you elaborate on the hotel. Any and all comments appreciated, I know they have been covered a bit here but such a recent stay--DO TELL.

subdawg

No problem! The hotel itself is a Cat 1 for a reason...a bit outdated and the service wasn't the greatest (the front desk guy hung up on me & was very rude to me). However, given the fact that we were out all day, we just needed a place to stay. We were U/G'd to a junior suite and rec'd a nice big fruit basket. We were impressed with the punctuality of the shuttle bus, and the times worked fairly well with our schedule.

For those that plan on spending some time in the hotel (besides sleeping), this may not be your best bet. No fitness center and the pool is only open in the summers.

Hope that helps!

andyr

I'd agree with most of the comments above, except we got luckier with the front desk - everyone was very friendly and professional each time we interacted with them.

We were here last January, 4 days at the Grand in Firenze and 2 days here to do some local day trips. Not much to do at the hotel itself, kind of dated as noted above, but reasonable, and the shuttle was indeed punctual.

If you were visiting Firenze itself, it is an option for a place to stay, but obviously less convenient than being in the city proper. However, it is quite a bit cheaper, and a reasonable choice for a place to sleep.

--- Andy R.

dodo_2k

When we were there this summer, the bus guy was a bit too punctual ... one of the guests was in the bus and his wife was a bit late, and the driver kept trying to leave every minute or so, till she arrived 5 minutes later.


One issue to remember is that while dropping off they let you get off at the goldsmith bridge (Ponte' d' Vecchio?) and the station, but on the return they only let you get up at the station. ... Makes no sense, since they are dropping off people anyway, and we just boarded the bus on the return ... but the driver showed his displeasure via scowls.

THe front desk staff was very mixed (poles apart) in their treatment. We got upgraded to a nice suite when we arrived, by a very nice guy who spoke English with an American accent. The next two days, there were different, more Italian sounding, folk at the front desk, who could not care less about guests waiting in line.

The people in the restaurant OTOH where nice.

marlin

Subdawg-
How long does the shuttle take to get downtown. How much for a cab after dinner? This is a really affordable hotel (read: free) for my family on points this summer. I have to get two rooms with the kids.

I like the idea of the pool-relaxing in the afternoon. Was it a decent size? There are no photos on the website.

Can you rent a car from the hotel to get around Tuscany? More details !

Thanks

subdawg

marlin-

It only takes about 20 min to get from the hotel to downtown (if you get off on the first stop). We never took a cab ride, but we heard from the hotel that it would be ~20-25 euros to go back to the hotel.

We never looked at the pool, as it was closed, and we didn't spend too much time at the hotel (just to sleep). Honestly, I wouldn't imagine it to be a super nice pool, probably just a basic oval pool. Just a guess though.

As far as renting a car at the hotel, I do not believe there is a rental location onsite...but you could probably rent from downtown. However, I would check whichever car rental to make sure. I didn't see any rental car information on the counters, but that should be double-checked. Or you can rent a car from the airport, since the hotel does not provide transportation to/from the airport.

Hope that helps!

honu

Most of the rental car offices are in the Borgo Ognissanti area, very close to the Excelsior and the Westin, and walking distance from the main railway station. In the past, I found the best deals with Avis (using discount codes provided here on FT). I once booked with Thrifty as well, and I had a horrible experience because they tend to overbook at the Firenze city location, so they didn't have any car available for me. In any case, book ahead of time and bring a printout of your confirmation, and expect to see a bunch of new charges pop up all over the place anyway (but if you have a copy of your confirmation, it might be easier to bring the price back down to where it should be).