There's a small lobby on the ground floor, from which you take an elevator up to the 7th floor, where reception, the lounge, and the restaurant are located. The quality of the build is hugely apparent everywhere, with top notch materials that provide a very, very elegant and handsome look. Light is used incredible well, with louvered blinds and translucent shades creating a warm glow that reflects off the perfectly smooth and burnished marble of the floors and the dull sheen of the wall treatments. I arrived well before check-in time, but was shown shortly to my room, an entry-level room #504.

Room

The quality of the design and materials continues in the room, with a very simple but effective electronic remote for controlling climate, lighting, drapes, etc. The entry-level rooms are not huge, but neither are they cramped -- they are just fine for a single traveler, but I would definitely go up a category if you're traveling with someone else. The floors are smooth, polished dark wood, the wall treatments appear to be silk, the bed linens and pillows superb, and the towels in the bathroom are the most plush and comfortable I've ever used (I'm wondering if they sell them in Armani Home). Wireless is free, the minibar is free, and contains multiple waters, juices, nuts, and crackers. The bathroom is nearly the same dimension of the room, liberally covered with the most subtle and tasteful shade of marble that gives it a very handsome, modern, and monumental feel. The floor has radiant heating, the multiple towel racks are all heated, and the sound from the TV in the bedroom can be channeled in. The toiletries are Armani Prive; bizarrely, the shampoo/bath gel are the same product in the same bottle. Room 504 is well positioned, high in the hotel, with a view directly facing onto a baroque church facade's steeples, with the duomo spire off to the right, so if you want an entry level room, it's a good one to request. So far, so good. For the first day, I thought, this is my new home in Milan. But by the second day, some minor, but steady, infelicities in the room design began to appear, and the just-ok service made me think longingly of the Park Hyatt, which is second only to the two Istanbul Four Seasons and the FS Park Lane for providing, consistently, the best service I've experienced at a city hotel in Europe.

Dining

The restaurant, for example, seemed surprised that I wanted to have lunch there one day -- even though they were only 25% full. I felt the staff were not warm or welcoming. And the food was good, but not great.

Spa

The spa occupies the 8th floor, where there is a very decent fitness center with windows overlooking the city, and a spa lounge with comfortable reclined seating and a really terrific corridor of individual sauna and steam cabins -- so much preferable to sharing one larger one with other guests. The vitality pool was cordoned off and was out of order -- too bad, as it looked really terrific. My treatment, a standard massage, was ok, but not stellar.

Service

The service at the Armani is fine -- but very typical of what you get in most American and European city hotel -- responsive to requests, but slightly inept or uncertain, and never proactive. Perhaps this is due to the newness of the hotel, and will change over time. And in the room, I found the way the air conditioning flowed within the room to be a bit uncomfortable -- somehow blowing down right on the head of the bed. And there are so many glowing panels along the walls of the room that it was distracting at nighttime when trying to go to sleep -- the panels are bright enought to illuminate the room significantly. Minor infelicities, as I said, but still, not ideal. But I love the generosity of the free wireless and free minibar, and won't stay at the Four Seasons Milan until there's similar generosity (and refurbished accommodation). For now, I'll be torn between Armani and Park Hyatt, with Park Hyatt when I want superb, nurturing, proactive service, and Armani when I want really well appointed, high quality rooms.