The Excelsior, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Florence

An excellent blend of luxury and modernity. The hotel has arguably the beat location in Florence next to the st Regis, on a square by the river. Beautiful 700 year old building and excellent rooms. Service is fantastic - alessio and the entire concierge desk are remarkably kind, helpful, and hospitable. Would recommend to anyone.

The Excelsior Fabulous staff, very attentive and responsive to needs. We stayed in a corner room with windows that opened to small balconies overlooking the river. Each evening, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset as we stood on the balcony. The ceilings are so high in the room that it makes it feel even more spacious. The closet has multiple hangers as well as a shoe brush, shoe horn and cleaning cloth. The bathroom offers very nice Italian bath products as well as items one may have left at home: Q-tips, emery board, shower caps. The bathroom even has a bidet. The bed is so very very comfortable. The room has multiple areas of storage with furnishings that are both beautiful and functional with drawers. I really can’t speak enough of how beautiful and comfortable the room and the hotel are! We ate dinner at the rooftop restaurant the first night we arrived, and everything was beyond delicious! Even the bread service with the homemade focaccia, unbelievably beautiful fresh tomatoes, and mozzarella was so good. I had the spaghetti with clams, and my husband enjoyed the lobster pasta. We also had the fabulously delicious Eleanora cocktail. The view is unbelievable from this vantage point. Another evening, we went to the rooftop just to enjoy a cocktail and the view. A special recognition to: -Naomi, front desk manager, for fabulous customer service and follow up. Naomi, Ed and I did enjoy different types of lasagna in Bologna! -Emanuele, creator of The Eleanora, our favorite drink at the upstairs bar, who was a joy to speak with and who offered great customer service -Massimo, head concierge, we first met upon arrival and who was such a great representative of the brand. Massimo, I have attached a picture of our time in the Dolomites! -Stefano, one of the fabulous front desk and concierge representatives, escorted us to our room and told us all about the hotel. He would greet us warmly every time we saw him afterward. Ed and I hope to return soon to this fabulous place!

I originally did not intend to publish a public review of this hotel. However, after filling out a Marriott survey about my experience at the hotel, I received a very strange email from this hotel that was both highly combative and confrontational. This really soured my overall perspective of our stay even more and has motivated me to write out this review. I found my stay at the Excelsior to be frustrating and deeply disappointing across both soft and hard product. We were traveling to get married in Italy and spent the night before moving to our wedding hotel at the Excelsior hoping it would be special. It was also part of my wife’s combined birthday and honeymoon trip as her birthday was one week after our stay. Unfortunately, we felt very unwelcome from the start. Perhaps this is because we redeemed our Bonvoy Brilliant award to book this stay. From our perspective, this was no different than us paying $650 for the hotel night as that was the annual fee on the card we paid to receive the night. The hotel clearly did not feel this way and repeatedly reminded us that we were booked on an award stay. When we asked the Bonvoy team if the Excelsior could do anything special for our stay and my Bonvoy Titanium status, they told the Bonvoy team that they would not provide anything as a matter of policy. To be fair, upon checking in they did allow us to choose from a selection of 3 standard base rooms with different views. We selected one of these options but this brings me to my frustrations with the hotel’s aging hard product. The rooms are simply not maintained well with stains and scuffs littered throughout the property. While sometimes wear and tear can add depth and character to a room (see the St. Regis Florence across the street), the state of our Excelsior room left us with questions about overall cleanliness. This was especially true for the bathroom which was both extremely small and, frankly, dirty. The most positive aspect of this hotel is its incredible location. It is truly in the heart of the city. However, the same can be said for a myriad of other properties including the St. Regis across the street which also participates in Marriott Bonvoy. We stayed at that hotel previously and had a magnificent stay! I wish I had booked that hotel for this trip instead. Overall, I would never return to this property in the future. It is a shame to ever feel unwelcome at a hotel as a guest but it was particularly unfortunate to have that experience on such an important trip. I can only imagine what type of response (either public or private) this review will elicit but I am gla

We were treated with such professionalism and kindness our entire stay. A lovely young woman (maybe Hannah - she had a cute infant son who we met one night) checked us in and upgraded us automatically. She personally accompanied us to our room which had a bottle of wine and welcome note. The balcony is so lovely for watching the sunset. And I can not recommend the upstairs bar enough - breathtaking views. The concierge Beatrice emailed us before our arrival. I asked her about massage options and she arranged our appointments at the St. Regis which was perfect. The library lobby was comfortable and great for relaxing. The breakfast buffet was a great start to the day. A perfect stay!

Amazing hotel. One of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. Wonderful staff, everything is sparkling new, and the location couldn't be better! The rooftop restaurant and bars have spectacular views of the city and the Arno river! Couldn't have chosen a better hotel in the city.