Relais Santa Croce by Baglioni Hotels

We spent months planning our Tuscany + Rome trip to Italy and researched at least a dozen hotels in Florence before selecting. We chose the Relais Santa Croce for our two night stay over Easter weekend 2024. We arrived ahead of the standard checkin time and were pleased that our room was unexpectedly ready for us. The staff were all very welcoming and accommodating. On initial impression, our room (211) seemed fantastic. It was spacious and well appointed. We were shown the thermostat controls (which are a bit dated) and told that "auto" was best; however, it was not at all made clear that air conditioning is only available in certain months due to government regulations (be sure to check before your stay). That evening, we noticed that despite setting the temperature to 18C (~68F), the display continued to read 25C (~82F). We never felt any air circulating at all... no fan, no A/C. Given that temps outside were a good 20-30 degrees cooler, we were shocked that the room remained so hot. Desperate to cool off, we opened the large windows not realizing that in addition to the cool air, we were also inviting in both an extraordinary amount of street noise and mosquitos. Until well after 2am, we were serenaded by car horns, emergency vehicles, motorbikes and loud voices from the busy street below. Given temps were in the 40s/50sF at night we hadn't expected a mosquito problem would prevent us from enjoying the fresh air. Our sleep, which had been thwarted by heat, was now also disrupted by buzzing and biting. In addition to challenges with regulating the room temperature, we also had problems with the toilet gurgling and not reliably flushing. The next morning, we complained. From a 5-star hotel, one expects better. In fact, we spent a single night in Florence the week before and had equally impressive accommodations, and the same problems with noise and mosquitos, for half the price. Had we known we were in for more of the same, we would not have opted for this higher priced option. In response to our complaint, the hotel did agree to move us to another room for our second night - this room was on a higher floor and overlooked a courtyard instead of the street; however, it was smaller and we still couldn't open the window due to the bugs. We requested a free-standing fan, which was provided along with a plug-in bug repellent. These items could have been furnished in our original room allowing us to enjoy the spaciousness of that room and not having the inconvenience of moving rooms during such a brief stay, but this was not suggested. For the inconvenience of a lost night of sleep and a room change, the hotel refused to make any accommodation on the room rate, though they did remove some minor incidental fees. On the up side, the included breakfast (buffet style) was very good; the location was convenient and the service was exceptional across the board (doormen, servers, reception) - there were even nice touches like champagne in the room. If stayi

The hotel is small but they treat the guests like family and are very accommodating. It is a very special place. My only complaint is the breakfast which is included is not what I have seen at other 5 star hotels in Europe. Every thing else is 5-6 stars

Husband had made a real effort to find something nice. But it wasn’t really very nice. Breakfast service was really poor especially for gluten free. Reception rude and told my husband he should have “said something” which we had several times. Furnishings in rooms not very comfortable. Not bed side reading light so you couldn’t read a book at bed time. Oh and by the way first time I posted a negative review the hotel succeeded in having it removed. Not sure why that is. Can only speculate.

Beautiful and elegant property in a perfect location in Santa Croce. Even during the crowded season we could still find plenty of restaurants nearby. But the staff at the hotel are the highlight, specially the lady at the bar and restaurant ( breakfast and lunch ). She was above and beyond helpful and welcoming.

My wife Tecla and I wanted to recognize the magnificent effort and outstanding result regarding the organizing and managing the wedding reception and dinner at the Baglioni Relais Santa Croce hotel. In addition we want to recognize the superior performance of Ilaria Lucetti, the Business Development/Events manager, who took personal charge of our event and identified and influenced several external service provides, e.g. music and flowers. We could not imagine a better result or working relationship between ourselves and Ilaria and her team, including Giulia Manfroni the dining room manager. The restaurant worked with us to create a menu particular to our tastes and executed it flawlessly. We are forever grateful to Ilaria and the Hotel Baglioni Relais Santa Croce for making our wedding a dream come true. Grazie!

We had an outstanding 10 night stay at the Relais Santa Croce. The accommodations were beautiful and clean. Yet the highlight is definitely the gracious and welcoming staff! Everyone made us feel at home each day. The Breakfast was delicious and we looked forward to each morning. Can't beat the location - easy walk to everything you want to see, yet at the same time off the tourist route. Very authentic part of town. And winter is an outstanding time to visit. The concierge arranged several private tours for us and each was terrific.

This hotel had a high degree of old world class. Large common rooms with high ceilings. The biggest issue we had was the over heated rooms. Since we were on the second floor I only opened the window before dinner as it was too much street noise to sleep. We both asked maintenance to put down the heat. They came to the rooms but said they could not because the air conditioning was turned off for the season. i just wanted them to turn off the heat. They were unable to do that. My son asked about a gym at front desk. They referred him to a gym a few block away. Turns out this gym was not attached to the hotel and you had to pay extra. Upon leaving. I brought my own bags down to lobby since the taxi was waiting. It took more than five -10 minutes to get my son's bags down stair. Unfortunately I got sick on the second day we were there. Was drinking a lot of water and asked if they could send up some more water and ice (since the room was warm). They came to the room but charged me 10 euros for a bottle of water and ice. The rooms shower was behind the door of the bathroom so hard to get into and hard to use due to the plastic bench in the shower stall. Lights over sink were so dark it was hard to see. Breakfast was included but only had very runny eggs. I am gluten free. They had some pre- packaged items that were gluten free that I used. On very good items was my son left his backpack in the taxi when we arrived. Thanks god I saved the receipt. The front desk tracked the taxi down and had them drop it off with 15 minutes.

There was absolutely nothing we did not like! Being able to live in a 15th century Palazzo for several days was wonderful. It was further suported by exceptional concierge experiences especially from Denisa & Anna's genuinely thoughtful and professional suggestions & uncompromisingly follow-through. Best experience ever and I have been to Italy more than 50 times at top hotels, but this was the absolutely the best experience ever. Your business model is greatly needed keep expanding.

This hotel used to be a palace for a nobleman and his family and it has been converted into an amazing hotel. You can see the grandeur of the home in the main rooms and the bedrooms are lovely. The location of the hotel, for us, is excellent. It is about a 15 minute walk from the main sights of Florence, so it's a little bit quieter. But, it is right next door to the famous Santa Croce Basilica where Michelangelo, Galileo and others are buried. So I love the location. The staff is amazing - kind, helpful and they seem to like each other and the guests. It's a beautifully run hotel, where the whole team seem to be in sync. If you can, sign up for one of their offered "experiences". One year we took a master class from a world-rated "mixologist" at Locale. This year we took a private cooking class from Scuola di Cuisine with a wonderful chef. She worked us, taught us, for 2.5 hours and then lead us to a lovely private dining room and served us what we had worked so hard to make. This is a "must stay - favorite hotel" on our list.