at first i inquired it's sister hotel, Hotel Annabell, but they also quoted this hotel. I picked this hotel because of the price. we stayed there for 5 nights, a triple room and private bathroom (breakfast excluded). the location was excellent, just a 3 minute walk from the train station, so we didn't have to haul our luggage a long way. there was a lift in the building (thank god!!!). the hotel staff was nice but not too helpful. we tried to ask them to help us book the tickets to Uffizi but they couldn't help us. luckily the queue outside Uffizi wasn't too long the day we went. we tried to ask them for a map but they only had ONE map left at the reception. the room was spacious... but the A/C wasn't working properly so we were super hot at night (it was quite hot in June when we went). we asked for a hair dryer but the hotel staff told us they didn't have any. on our 2nd day when we got back to our room at night, we found that the towels weren't changed so we called the reception. we were told that the towels were changed every THREE days (OMG!!!). we were shocked and asked them to give us a few fresh towels and luckily they gave us a few. on the 3rd day (morning), we had no water for almost an hour so we couldn't shower.... this was due to some construction work nearby. overall, the hotel was OKAY, mostly because of the location. i would stay there again if i visih Florence again but hopefully the A/C and supply problem will be better.

Este hotel es la caja de Pandora, me explico: Llegas y te encuentras que está en un tercer piso compartido con otro hotel, en la misma planta. Siguiente sorpresa: Quien regenta este hotel son unos chinos, por cierto bastante jóvenes de edad que si les hablas en español no te entienden, si les hablas en inglés tampoco es que entiendan mucho y si les hablas en italiano salen del paso. Luego le preguntas por cualquier información: no tienen ni idea y no saben contestarte. La habitación es de un edificio antiguo sin restaurar, la mayor sorpresa fue abrir las ventanas y el balcón y comprobar que no se podía ver a través de los cristales a causa de la cantidad de suciedad de estos. El buffet del desayuno: era penoso dado que la mantequilla la ponian en un plato de postre y a trocitos y si llegabas tarde te quedabas sin. Había una cesta pequeñita de pan que contenía fruta en pésimo estado ya que no la reponía durante días. Todo lo que ofrecían en la mesa era: cereales, leche, bollitos de pan, tostaditas envasadas, croisants, zumo y huevos duros; eso era el buffet libre. El último día no pusieron pan, les solicitamos que nos dieran pan y nos dijeron que no había a las 8 de la mañana. En fin, cada día faltaba algo diferente. Conclusión: esto me recuerda más a un hostal de mala muerte de mi país que no a un hotel de tres estrellas.

We all have experiences in accommodation that does not meet our expectations; this can be because our expectations are too high or because the establishments concerned just don't try hard enough. You will recall Basil Fawlty in the BBC's "Fawlty Towers"? Well in that superb comedy series, the hotel was mismanaged by Basil but the hotel's saving grace was Sybil (Basil's wife) who at least tried to do the right thing as far as customer service was concerned. Well, Hotel Bijou is just like Fawlty Towers except there is no Sybil; in fact, in the whole of this sorry excuse for a hotel, there was nobody who had any inkling of customer service, of being polite or, heaven forbid, pleasant to guests. Hotel Bijou's sole positive is its location; a Nathan Buckley drop punt from the train station in central Firenze (about 80 metres for non-Australian rules readers!) and close to everything you could wish for. So yes, Bijou is convenient. But this is just an accident of location over which the current owners had no control. Let me give you an example of our first negative experience at Hotel Bijou. When we arrived the Chinese receptionist had little English. She looked uncertain when we asked if she could look after our passports, given there was no safe in our room. But she did eventually hide the passports. So well did she hide them however, that when she went off duty she failed to tell others where our passports were. Hence, upon checking out, nobody could find them. The hotel does provide internet facilities but the computer is all in Chinese. After struggling for about thirty minutes and not being able to work the strange keyboard configuration, I left, to be asked to pay by the young Chinese gentleman. I reminded him of the keyboard problems and the fact that everything was in Chinese and was given the answer that the hotel catered for all nationalities, not just English speakers. I responded with this was of course fine, except that Chinese is hardly the world language (even in Italy). I also added that I had used the internet and did not mind paying for a service, but I did think the service should be for customers' benefit and this internet (and computer) was clearly there for the convenience of the Chinese family who owned the place. Add to this towels in the "bathroom" (read broom closet) were paper thin and more like tea towels with as much absorbing capacity as aluminium and a water supply that just stopped working all together on our first morning, plus a roof garden advertised as serving drinks, only did not serve drinks at all, and you will have some idea of the Hotel Bijou's customer service philosophy. Customers are a distraction the owners tolerate only. The Hotel Bijou could not dent our love of Florence or its people. If you are going to Florence, there are many places equally as central and convenient which couldn't possibly be as bad as the Bijou. Fawlty Towers, faulty plumbing, faulty attitude and customer be damned. That's Florence's Hotel Bijou. You have been warned.

This is the worst hotel I have ever stayed. The least to mention is that it's on 3rd floor of a old building, with reception desk at the same level of all rooms. This means that you are awakened every half hour by telephone rings and staff talks in night. The hotel is owned and run by Chinese who hardly speak english and barely know how to run a hotel professionally. The room is old and filthy, and even a youth hotel is much better. Go somewhere else if you don't want it to spoil your holiday.