We stayed at the Hotel Privilege for 3 nights in the middle of July, based on the reviews we had read on Tripadvisor. We were not disappointed and I would recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Florence.

The room was the largest we had in Italy, and we chose the room with two twin beds. They were long and extremely comfortable... after staying at 3 other hotels with harder mattresses, the nice mattresses were a welcome relief. The room was clean and very quiet (I'm very picky about this so I had requested, and we were given, a room that faced the courtyard). The air conditioning was plentiful (very important in the summer) versus other hotels that controlled how low you could set the temperature or only allowed A/C after a certain hour. The bathroom was also larger than all of the others we experienced, including the shower stall. The TV was larger, too -- I would guess about 27" to 32".

The staff was very friendly. They helped me change a restaurant reservation without my even asking them to make the call, gave us directions, and answered all our questions. They were knowledgable and helpful, and their English was good.

The breakfast was the most impressive we'd seen during our trip, including (but not limited to) plenty of fresh fruit, rolls, croissants, dry cereal, meat, and my favorite, smoked salmon. The orange juice and coffee were good.

The hotel is in a great location on the Arno, a 5 minute walk to Santa Croce and 10 minutes to the Ponte Vecchio. One of our favorite restaurants was La Giostra (recommended also by the staff). I would recommend eating indoors -- the ambience is quite nice (we ate in the room on the left, if you are facing the entrances). If you are weird about salt, stay away from the veal ossobucco... it was a bit salty... but everything else was great. Keep in mind they do not offer wine by the glass, so be prepared to order a bottle or choose something else to drink.

We took the train to Siena one day, and it was a pretty easy and inexpensive trip. If you do this, I would recommend walking from the train station in Siena to the sights (Duomo, Piazza del Campo). It's about a 15 - 20 minute walk, and whereas you can take the bus, it's a bit confusing as to where to get off, and not many people speak English.

Side note: I would not recommend Italy in the summer. I've heard August is bad because many shops are closed for vacation, but July is very hot and humid. We found Florence to be less humid than Rome or the coastal town in Southern Italy we visited, but it was still quite hot.