A really sucky hotel. staffs are not helpfull at all, breakfast sucks. really hard beds. no internet access in your room. only one computer available on their so called business center. this is not a 4 star at all. No 24 hour maid service. lots of mosquitoes. Bad room service.LAZY AND RUDE STAFFS.
good location though

We stayed at Degli Orafi for three days in June.

I have not had a chance to check the hotel rating system in Italy, but the hotel shows 4-stars in front of the building and on its web site. I usually select 5-star hotels since we usually travel only once or twice a year, but I decided to try Degli Orafi because of the location and I could not find 5-star hotels in top 50 at TripAdvisor for the dates I was looking for while Degli Orafi had great reviews.

The hotel is at Ponte Vecchio and Uffizi was just a minute walk. It is a little bit of a walk to the Duomo especially when it is 85F-90F in June in Florence. As a first time traveller, I was looking at hotels like Grand Hotel and Excelsior, but you have to be ready to walk a lot if you decide to stay there and visit the Duomo, Galleria dell'Accademia, etc.

For a family of three including a teenager, we reserved a triple room, but the room was smallish compared with other rooms at 5-star hotels we stayed in Siena and Venice and had little space left after with the extra bed in place. We switched to an apartment room in the new tower for 100 euro more. The apartment was on a high floor, duplex and was clean and very spacious. However, they must have made some mistake when they built this apartment tower. As some other reviewers mentioned, you can hear the voice and the television from the adjascent apartment so clearly and loudly (you can hear what they are saying though every word) that if your neighbors are talking or watching TV, there is NO WAY you can sleep. The first night we could not sleep until our neighbors stopped talking around 1:30am. I was ready to switch rooms again or check out, but luckily for us, there was no one staying in the next apartment on the second night and the neighbors went to bed early on third night. It looks like apartments numbers like 41 & 51 may not have adjacent apartments, and may not have this problem. You should be very careful if you are interested in reserving an apartment at this hotel. The main bathroom in the apartment also lacked any space to put things on. Finally, the room had ample closets but no chest/drawers.

Water bottles are free, which is nice. Internet is only available at the lobby, which is very inconvenient when you are accustomed to be able to check travel schedule, etc. in your room.

In general, the staff were professional and helpful. However, the concierge could not help with Uffizi reservation saying making a reservation was impossible for the next two days. We decided to stand in line at 8am, and after 45 minutes, we were in. I recommend making a reservation before you come to Florence.

We only went to the bar during the day time, but the view was nice. The libary was also quiet and cozy.

The concierge recommended and booked us restaurants for all three nights. Every restaurant was decent, but Club Culinario Toscano da Osvaldo was more sophisticated among the three and we really enjoyed the meal there. Ristorante Buca Mario was another one, which was very good but was much bigger, crowded and service was a little slow at times due to big groups. I definitely recommend trying both of them, but especiallay Osvaldo. You cannot easily find the type of Italian food served at these restaurants in NY. Osteria dei Baroncelli was close by, and served basic but decent meal, and the price was much cheaper. The breakfast at the hotel was pretty basic, but the dining room was gorgeous.

Overall, Degli Orafi was a very decent hotel and I think it deserves its 4-star rating, but frankly I would advise against staying in an apartment despite the space.

We booked in to the Degli Orafi for a treat on our last night in Italy and upon return to Florence (we kicked off trip with two nights at the Globus Hotel before heading to Lake Trasimeno and San Gimignano)

We had already visited the hotel the week before to ask that they make dinner reservations for us for the night of our stay, they booked us into the best steak restaurant in town (in the end we arrived a little later at the hotel than expected , cancelled our reservation and headed to a place we'd eaten at on our first night)

So to hotel

Reception: Staff helpful, reception not large or very impressive. In fact walking to the lift I thought 'oh no' due to tacky posters on the walls etc.
However upon arrival on our floor we could see it was a bit grander!

Rooms

We had what I imagine was a bog standard double: small perfectly formed, good bathroom, loads of towels and a good supply of toiletries , sewing kit etc - a bit of a rarity in italy.
Only problem with room (apart from no view!) was no power sockets - could only find one in bathroom , not so convenient for charging PC.
Nice touch was the sleepshirts on the bed.


Location - what can I say, everything on door step, including great deli if you need a pack lunch etc.
Top tip - book tickets for the galleries in advance - queues horrific

Hotel roof bar - when I think about my week in italy (a wet week in May) I would not trade the hour spent on the roof bar when we arrived at the hotel , sitting in the last of the days sun, sipping a glass of prosecco and munching on the nibbles provided . The roof terrace is tiny - 5 tables each seating 4 max, but it has views out over the Arno in one direction and views of the town hall, doumo and hills in the other. Priceless

Likewise our nightcap on the roof terrace was picture perfect too, and surprisingly only 2 other tables taken.

On the day of our departure we were scheduled to get a 4pm train so had breakfast in the amazing breakfast room, it was really nice, although not quite the 'american breakfast' i'd been expecting - I wanted pancakes and waffles! but a great start to the day for us. We then went for a walk across the river and up to the Piazzele Michelangiolo as had missed that when we arrived due to bad weather. We then decided to return to the hotel, used our vouchers for the free drink at the roof top bar (you must put drinks on your room - no cash, so once you've checked out not supposed to go back up!) and soaked up our final views of florence before heading away.

Overall, the hotel, well the views, were worth every penny and it did feel like a real treat, however important to bear in mind you are paying through the nose for the location and views (which are perfect) our bog standard room was clean and comfy but not super luxurious.

BAd point _ we had room 107 which is very close to the breakfast room - even closer to the kitchen - which meant being woken up very early with the sounds of the preparation etc luckily we wanted to wake early but maybe not that early.. something to consider.

Overall a night at the defli orafi should be something everyone does in florence - even if it means living 'cheap style' for the day -eating pizza on the go , and avoiding the boutiques.
The peace and the views from that roof terrace were to die for, not to mention the jealous looks from all the people walking along when you walk into the hotel!

We chose this hotel after spending (too) many hours looking for options. The reason for the stay was a surprise break for my mother's 70th birthday. The whole experience was excellent. Our room was a standard double on the side of the hotel but we asked for, and were given, a complimentary upgrade, for the old lady who got a junior suite overlooking the Arno. There was also complimentary 'champagne' in her room on the day of her birthday.

The reception staff could not have done more to be helpful, although we arranged tours etc. via the booking website. The restaurants they recommended were all very good (but don't bother with the trattoria just up the road - which they did not recommend).

The rooms were clean and comfortable with linen/towels changed daily with similarly regular re-stocking of the minibar. Breakfast was extensive and the breakfast room very impressive.

I travel regularly for business and, while not in the super-luxury bracket, this hotel more than served its purpose and we would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone wanting comfort and convenience.

Pros: location, location, location.
Cons: lift broke down for a day (but there are two) and the beds are a little firm. The bar has a great view but is quite expensive. Lack of a restaurant can be irritating but the bar does snacks.

But for the price and location, it takes some beating. Do yourself a favour and stay there. You are unlikely to be disappointed unless you are unreasonably demanding, in which case you should pay (a lot) more and stay somewhere else. Any reasonable person will love this hotel.