Hilton Garden Inn Florence Novoli

Nice property, albeit a bit of a hike from the Centro Storico. The cab ride here was about 11 Euro from Santa Maria Novella so it was a fair distance. However the hotel is very modern and comfortable. The staff all speak English so the wife was able to communicate without issue. They are also able to assist in providing tickets for the local bus which stops a block away for 1.3 Euro each which are a steal and the bus only takes about 15 minutes to get to the historic district. They had a pretty good lounge and restaurant area with some outdoor seating as well and the prices were reasonable considering the city. There is also a huge park across the street that is well lit and safe. Worth staying in if you do not mind being a bit further from the action.

Arrived around 8:30 PM on a Saturday night after a long day of tourism and train rides. Andrea at the front desk spoke terrific English and called a nearby restaurant to secure us a table. He was so very helpful. Oh the hotel is very nice as well with a nice buffet breakfast.

This hotel has lots of potential but needs a major renovation, the restaurant menu/quality and the service need to be improved. This hotel caters to large tour groups so be aware of how inconvenient that can be such as during check in or during morning breakfast rush hour. The gym is not great. The Hilton metropole which is another hotel in the outskirts of Florence is a bit nicer and has a much better gym. The next quality of this gym is that it is near a shopping center complex which has the upscale virgin gym, grocery store and some mid to lower end clothing and electronics stores. The center also has some restaurants but these restaurants are terrible for Italy standards. Pros: Near a big shopping center with a range of stores from grocery, restaurants to a gym Rooms are a good size and layout is fine Cons: Needs major renovation of the hotel, restaurant and definitely the rooms and gym Service is low quality Food quality from breakfast through dinner needs improvements

We spent three comfortable nights here with no issues. The hotel is in a quiet residential neighborhood that has a small shopping/dining plaza adjacent. It's also a short walk to the San Donato tram station [hidden link that will take you to either the airport or to downtown Florence. As a Hilton Diamond, my breakfast was included in my room rate. You can expect scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, a massive assortment of breads and pastries, cereals, yogurt, fresh fruit, sliced meats and cheeses, some salad stuff and a machine that makes a pretty decent Americano. We dined in the restaurant one evening and Giorgio did a good job of hustling around and ensuring dirty dishes were cleared and refreshing drinks. The room has a hot water kettle with coffee and tea packets, milk and sugar. Mini fridge had the requisite two bottles of water but they were not refreshed each day when the room was cleaned. There is also a small safe, wifi and a large flat panel television. Fitness center on the third floor and a bar in the lobby. With the door and window closed, there was no noise from outside. [Review 16981 overall 186 in Italy 497 of 2022.

This hotel itself is not bad. It's outside of Florence city center but it is still convenient because the light rail is just 5 mins walk away, and it takes about 20 mins to get to downtown. There is a big co-op supermarket nearby and also places to have coffee. However, my experience here is a horrible one. We accidentally forgot to take our newly bought not-cheap painting while in Florence when checking out. We realized a day later and called back. The staff answered the phone was very rude, insisting on we writing an e mail to the hotel to be able to help us. I guess taking a note and write things down is not a practice in this hotel. We did what we were told, and a day later was answered by painting not found. I don't know about you, but to me, booking a well known chain hotel, is to have a good service. And when hiccups like this happen, you would aspect the hotel will help you with a satisfactory result. I guess that's wishful thinking in this place. Don't left anything behind in this place if you stay here, because for some unknown reason, to will never see it back!