Park Palace Hotel

I would first acknowledge that everyone’s expectations are different, and indeed we all look for different things when booking an hotel. So please don’t write this hotel off just because of my experience. I booked a hotel the was within an easy walk of Florence, which it is, and was affordable relative to other hotels and had car parking. I suppose it was the car parking on site that made me book it and the price- £560 for two nights B&B plus £15 a night for parking. When we arrived I sensed it wasn’t going to be great. The building has that ancient, bordering on run down feel to it. And there used to be the balance - if somewhere looks rustic but is well Maintained and functional that’s great . But if it’s just rustic because it’s received no attention or maintenance for decades then that’s not acceptable to me. Crucially we booked at air conditioned room and the breaking point for me was the 1970s aircon unit that struggled to circulate air and certainly didn’t cool it. The staff tried to convince me it was working but after an hour it was clear the unit was just blowing hot air around the room and everyone had to concede that fact. The one positive was that the hotel didn’t argue when I asked for a refund - the negative being that I had to find a hotel for two nights in Florence after 6pm. For me I would avoid park palace like the plague but if you like run down faulty towers type experiences then this place is for you

This is a case of how one's perceptions of a place are colored by the initial interactions and impressions. Upon arriving by taxi, the place looks lovely, an old villa set in the hills, a terrace overlooks a tree framed pool. Entering the foyer, everything looks old and romantic, I generally like this sort of thing. Upon introducing ourselves at the desk we were brusquely told that our room was not ready and to go and have a drink, the room would be ready in 30 minutes. OK, no problem, we go and sit on the lovely veranda and have a drink. 45 minutes later, nothing. My partner approaches the desk where yet another lady rudely tells her to go back to the veranda and wait...ugh...here we go. I approach some of the other people sitting around, most of the others are also waiting to be checked in, everyone has a slightly different impression of when check in time is supposed to be. After almost an hour and a half of sitting around with nobody approaching us (the waiter also disappears, I presume in fear of being asked what on earth was going on) I approach the desk, a number of guests are standing around looking bewildered as the lady on the desk sets about passively aggressively making the hotels problems the fault of the guests. How dare we turn up on time! Much eyerolling ensues, anyway it seems our room is now ready. We are ushered into a dark, old room which looks nothing like the room in the photo, are we being punished for asking if our room was ready? A small TV sits eight miles from the bed, one window overlooks an overgrown wasteland behind the hotel. 4 stars? Nope. The fridge contains an empty packet of nuts. To be fair, the rest of the say was uneventful, other staff were more pleasant to deal with, but this place could do so much better. The settling is fantastic, the building itself is nice but the rooms need refurbishing and the staff could do with a little training. Not worth the money they are currently charging.