I just stayed at the Hilton Metropole in Jan 08 as a HHonors Gold and have very mixed feelings;

Check-in - great; friendly; upgraded to Exec Floor Room at weekend.

Room - "style over function" sums it up - bed was comfy and huge but the rest of the room was a bit of a mess; chairs are impossible to sit in comfortably-a token gesture really. The glass-framed four poster (really) was so easy to bump into late at night; The sliding shutters seperating the bedroom were - well, odd really; Shower pressure was miserable; Internet access was patchy (wired too). No iron/ironing board - on request told "go to ironing room" - eh? is this a HI Express?? I never got the iron and was told the other option was dry cleaning - OK - except it was not available at weekends - useful.

Lounge - staff were great and recommended excellent restaurants - marvellous; food at breakfast was dreadful; ok patries; no bread or toaster; very limited fruit (not replenished); truly awful machine coffee - in Italy!!; poor indeed! Other lounge snacks OK; Soft drinks OK but otherwise cheap (awful)white+red wine and beer. No spirits;
We asked if we could breakfast in the main restaurant and were told this was fine (by Exec Floor staff) only to be told (at the buffet by the Manager - in front of other guests) that we were not entitled to this breakfast but "just this once" they would waive the fee. Left hand and right hand not knowing what the other was doing. Unacceptable.

Shuttle - OK except it doesn't run at certain times - late evening etc. Also not at 11am Mondays - guess when I needed it following check-out - sat there waiting and was ignored by staff - only upon checking with them were we told "didn't you read the (very small) notice"...oh dear.

Check-out - Awful -really didn't want to hear any negative feedback -pretty much in denial!

Basically, the hotel sits in a part of Florence that you wouldn't bother with unless staying at the hotel (that's OK as we knew that) but knowing what we know now, we would absolutely choose another hotel AND in the city centre location. The only really bad Hilton stay I can remember in recent times. Shame.