Plus Florence Hostel, Florence

This hostel has some great potential but my roommate and I got the shat end of the deal. Had to change rooms every morning. After first check out we asked if there was a possibility of checking in early and were told no cause guests were still there but when we asked the other girl in our room later that day the room had been empty for 2 nights. The next night we were given a room that was uncleared and dirty sheets so we had to move to another room with a broken shower, broken hair dryer and the air conditioner vent was not cleaned which caused an asthma attack. Also hostel is NOT in anyway an only young crowd, children and over 50 everywhere.

Plus Florence was great!!!

Plus Florence is technically a hostel but feels like a hotel!! The rooms were clean and the bathrooms were also clean and great. The hostel has a pool that I didn't use but looked very nice. There's also a restaurant/bar downstairs which was extremely convenient and the food was very good. There were also computers to use with internet. My only complaint was that the wifi didn't work really well but everything else was amazing! It also had a good location in the city. Would absolutely recommend this hostel to anyone heading to Florence.

Would not recommend

It's a very big hostel so it doesn't have a cosy feeling. Rooms were good enough but extremely hot because the AC was off at night! 6 for breakfast is far too much for what you get and should be included in a price 16 for a bed in 8 bed dorm. Lack of kitchen and access to a fridge force you to buy every meal and most of drinks. Bar was OK but drinks could be discounted. Staff were not particularly helpful and didn't care to make my stay any better -- the fact that both Fri and Sat

They did not manage to recruit minimum 10 people for a pub crawl speaks for itself. To sum up, you will be left with feeling that all the staff care about is squeezing as much money out of you as they can. Free WIFI should be taken off their website because Using it was literally impossible due to extremely weak signal. Definitely there are other places.

Party place

I never book ahead so i guess its my fault it was expensive, ended up mixed dorm, very nice though. The view from the roof is unreal. there are lockers but no locks. My boyfriend and I had to leave early the next morning so we went to bed early, to wake up to drunk and stumbling a-holes in our room. in the morning we found puke all over our clothes that we had hanging outside -- not from our room but from either the room upstairs or the bar above. We made a lot of noise that morning. lesson: keep our clothes inside.

Luxury

I stayed for two nights in June 2009. After staying in some pretty crappy ho(s)tels, this place was perfect. It's very close to the metro, which is very convenient when traveling, and also very close to everything. Florence is pretty small. The lobby is very well decorated and the staff is very efficient. Not necessarily personal, but I'm not going to complain. They have an indoor pool, a deck, a night club (kind of lame to stay in, but it looked pretty cool I guess). No problems here. The Rooms, I stayed in a double. It had a bunk bed where the bottom was basically queen sized, a flat screen mounted television, storage, a desk with mirror, bed lights, fully tiled and gorgeous bathroom, very clean, bad lighting though in bathroom (dont plan on doing makeup), oh and air conditioning! I also visited friend staying in a six- to eight-bed room. Kind of small, but had private bathroom and a balcony type thing. Also, we drank inside the building. Not sure on the actual rules though.

Location

Based a fifteen-minute walk away from the train station, Plus Florence Hostel is a massive, four-hundred-fifty-bed place aimed at young students who like to spend their short time in Florence with party, pool, and alcohol. Upon arrival you will feel how big the hostel is -- rooms come in all sizes, from private double to eight-bed dorms.

Long waiting times at the reception most of the day and trained friendliness put many travelers off from asking for information concerning sightseeing. No cash is taken anywhere besides reception, which also holds your passport till checkout. (Check out early when you're in a hurry, as thirty-minute waiting times are possible!)

Rooms and Bathrooms

A modern card system that gives you access to your room will not come handy when you need to charge it up for using it at the restaurant and bar. The rooms are modern and clean (as are the bathrooms), with air conditioning (if working) and flat screen TV included. There are lockers in rooms (when there are enough to go around and they are not broken) -- you need your own padlock. Bathrooms lack enough light and have no hooks, which means you have to drop your clothes on the floor.

Common Spaces

Even for Florence, this hostel is too expensive for the services offered. They charge extra for breakfast, laundry, and internet (although they give you fifteen minutes free by check in, and there is no Wi-Fi, despite offering it in June of 2008). The swimming pool, pool table, sauna, and small gym dont make up for the high prices backpackers are charged. A self-service kitchen is in the basement, but only in the kitchen you are allowed to eat your own meals (and you'll have to leave a deposit for pans, plates, and cutlery). The restaurant and bar area, located on the beautiful rooftop terrace, is reserved for not consuming or bar and restaurant customers only. The view from the terrace overlooking Florence is great, especially during sunset and night. Common areas are all around.

Due to the late closing time of the bar, you might have trouble falling asleep when having a room close to it, meaning that not only screaming drunks but also drunks herding through the hallways on their way to the rooms might keep you awake. The floors are not soundproof!

Summary

Overall, this hostel gives young people a place to stay in the so-overcrowded city of Florence. It feels more like a resort hotel with young partying students than a hostel.

Unpersonal

The Plus is a clean hostel and close to walk to from the train station. Dorms are ok and clean. Lockers either broke or not for everyone. Internet is 5 Euro for one hour (you get fifteen minutes free at check-in) which is way too much. Sleeping in the dorms, you hear every step from the people walking past your dorm. There is a TV in the dorm and an air condition. They have a terrace with a great view over florence and there is also a bar serving drinks and food. Check out is a bit of a hassle (so is check in and everything you need from the front desk) because of endless waiting. So if you want to leave and take a train, check out thirty minutes earlier, because they keep your passport, so you have to wait. There was a party going on upstairs when I stayed there and people were laughing and talking till 1:30 a.m. and singing and talking on the way to their rooms. There is a pool, laundry, and a self-service kitchen. Laundry is expensive, so is the internet. Breakfast was 3.50 Euro.

another big moneymaker

Calling from the station, I was offered a 22 8-bed dorm. The Lady on the phone said they have plenty of room. 12 minutes later I stood at the reception and the only bed they had left was a 28 4-bed dorm. "No, we had nothing cheaper!" was the word. I went there because they are offering wifi on every website and on the flyer, but there is none!! I was told that they have a pool instead, which doesn't do too well with my laptop!!! Spent the night in a 4 bed dorm but we were 5 people, one of the lower bunks is like a double bed, so couples feel free doing their mating rituals in the middle of the night. The question for the refund of 2 because of 5 roomies wasn't received too happily. The place is brand new, with flat screen TV in the rooms, but no money for enough and proper lockers (our room had 2, only one was lockable) Internet is 5Euro an hour!!! and breakfast is not included. No hooks in the bath room! 450 beds means you wait a long time at the reception and the bar upstairs means that you will not get enough sleep when your room is closer to the bar upstairs. It is one more European hostel that feels more like an expensive resort than a backpacker hostel. The location was good, the upstairs bar and roof top is great. But over all, there is a better place to stay in Florence, without 20 year old students getting noisily drunk all night and puke around! the place