Stayed here a several ocasions. Hotel staff is outstanding. Rooms are great and so is the food.
It is located are the Arno River and is easily with in walk distance of most the the key sight seeing stops in the city

This was our second trip to Florence in less then one year and once again, our stay at the St Regis Florence was magnificent! Our suite, the hotel and the staff were incredible in every way. We dined on the balcony every morning overlooking the Arno as the weather was perfect. The fresco’s, décor and furnishings in our suite were spectacular and well done. Our Butler’s were the best as well as the Concierge team as they helped us with our needs like our 2nd truffle hunt, wineries and restaurant reservations and all of the recommendations were far above our expectations.
Kelly and I travel extensively for both business and pleasure and The St Regis Florence has become our favorite hotel in Europe. We want to thank the entire staff of the St. Regis for their hospitality and we look forward to our next visit.
Gary Mazurek Plano, TX

The Grand Hotel in Florence was part of the Luxury Collection. At least in Italy, and elsewhere in Europe, the Luxury Collectiom hotels each have (or had) their own personality. As if they were a loose collection of highly individual hotels.the Gritti in Venice, the Imperial in Vienna, etc., the Goldiner Hirsch in Salzburg ....al luxury collection hotels. Now the Grand has been re branded as a St Regis, part of a tightly branded group of hotels that cater to a different clientele. I loved the one-off sense that the Grand was jut the perfect exquisite, luxury but slightly sleepy hotel, beditting the singular character of Florence. Ot was an unself-conscious but beautiful hotel that happened to be covered with murals or soaring ceilings with collections of antique furnishings, set out in an old fashioned, bu truly well-suited way.
The Grand Hotel on gorgeous Piazza Ognissanti was one of this traveler's life's great pleasures. It was the essence of Florence. It was elegant and quiet and dreamy. Old, and palatial but a bit dusty. It was a true palazzo. The front office really ran the hotel. It wasn't a rigidly organized notch in a company's belt. The St. Regis sucked the originality and the flow and ebb of Florentine life out of the hotel with its uniform and garish "improvements." If, as a guest, innthenpast, if you got to the hotel, and one of the huge rooms facing the Piazza as well as the Arno was free, you would wearily walk up the grand main staircase and the door was flung open to reveal an impossibly huge room with 15 foot ceilings and a terrace or two, were yours to enjoy. As a steady customer, I was always treated in such a manner. When the hotel was crowded, we still got a huge deluxe room, with an enormous green velvet canopy overlooking the Arno for a fair price. Frescos on the wall, of course and a weird little dressing room all added to the charm that said "Italia," " Firenze."
The breakfast room was modest, but a delicious spread was included every morning.
The hideous Westin, across the aquare, that had already been subjected to the branding of its grand corporate owners, was no longer a special spot in Florence, but a convention or tour group hotel...noisy, turbulent and terribly commercial.
But the New St. Regis has ruined and homogenized a treasure. The rooms all have the same cornets above the bed. A new,mirrarional insignia isneverywhere. The categories and prices have been codified and the prices are high! They building has been renovated beyond recognition. I don't believe special top of the line baths even go In this hotel. Sure, room service was a laugh and the TV and pay per view were abysmal. But the new hotel has taken and the Grand and ruined it. Not every hotel,lends itself to some corporate idea of polish and "bespoke" whatever. Whatever St. Regis is selling, at this hotel, is a travesty because the real product, that is The Grand, has been obscured as much as possible.
Of course most guests seem to love it.. It is safe and everything matches. And the St. Regis logo is everywhere. and it's expensive and has fancy everything.
My heart is broken that an old, elegant original has been described as gaudy and compared to other hotels in the St. Regis chain. Garish, ersatz and another one of a kind swallowed by a chain.

We only had the priveledge of staying at the St. Regis in Florence for one night traveling through Italy, but it was a wonderful experience. We were greeted by the bell staff and valet immediately pulling into the driveway. The doorman was welcoming and attentive. Sitting at a desk in a beautiful library setting, we found check-in to be very easy and low key. We had two rooms for our party of four and were pleasantly surprised how large the rooms and bathrooms were. They were grand! From the canopy bed to the marble bathroom with the tv in the mirror...it exceeded our expectations. The only complaint I had is that the room was on one of the lower floors and I heard street noise. I am a light sleeper and it did interupt my sleep, but not my husbands. The concierge did a fabulous job recommending a wonderful restaurant for dinner. The buffet breakfast was a treat with many options.
The location was perfect. The hotel is centrally located to most of the tourist sites we wanted to visit. We turned our car in to the rental company that was literally right around the corner. (Europcar) The train station was also very close.
For our future trips to Florence, we will happily plan on returning the St. Regis.