I just came back from 3 weeks at the California Park hotel in Forte dei Marmi. 3 weeks might seem like a lot of time to stay at a beach resort hotel; But it was NOT. Why? The very personable, nearly like family, feeling and welcome, great food, fun people, gorgeous park like grounds and large but quiet swimming pool at the hotel which is but a short stroll from the beach.
I can recommend it to all kinds of people: from families with kids to exhausted adults who need a place to recharge their batteries and have a good laugh (that was more what we were looking for).
We have been there for a few Summers and hope to return next year.

We were at the California Park with our 3 teenagers and 3 of their friends.We thoroughly enjoyed it. The rooms were nice,clean and comfortable. The pool and grounds very nice. the service and staff were excellent. California park is a rare hotel that is nicer than the website suggests. I was our first time in Forte dei Marmi but will be back next year and will stay here again.

I do travel quite a bit and when travelling to Italy as a rule of thumb I take out a star to the hotel and most of the time it is even barely worth that level; well, to my great surprise, California Park was largely worth its 4 stars.
I do not value much that service but how many times have I had to carry my luggage in my room in Italy! They typically carry your luggage from your taxi or car till the front desk and once you have checked in everybody is gone. Well in California Park, by the time I had park my car, a gentleman was there waiting to carry the luggage to the front desk and to the room!
We did not try the Hotel restaurant as we were my wife and I, for the first time in 3 years without our young children and wanted to enjoy Forte's night liife but we did use the concierge service to recommend and book restaurants for us and have always been extremely happy with their recommendations.
We did try the "Spa" and of course it is not a Leading Spa Hotel and is not pretending to be but you get what you pay for, a very relaxing 60-minutes massage; we just regretted that because of the room size we could not get the treatment together my wife and I and had to go one after the other but that was a minor issue.
We booked a superior room and my guess although I have not seen the other rooms is that it is not larger than a standard room but the difference comes with the fantastic 40 square meters (I have not measured it but that sounds like it) terrace fully equipped with elegant and cosy garden furniture with immaculate white pillows. We took advantage of that terrace and order breakfast in the room; that was truely fantastic and we really felt like home. Of course the weather was nice and I suspect that the rooms might be a little small to really enjoy a breakfast inside the room. I have read many negative comments on the breakfast and if I cannot comment on the little seats available for breakfast as we did not go down to the restaurant, I found the breakfast well furnished but here again I migt have a bias as I take continental breakfast and don't like sausages, bacon or eggs at breakfast.
With respect to the distance to the center of Forte, I have to admit that the first night my wife and I walked there but came back by taxi; it is probably just a little too far to remain a nice relaxing walk and starts to become a sporty walk. The next day we rented two bikes and there were no issues anymore to do that commute even several times a day.
I had the unfortunate occasion to try and appreciate the quality of the service of California Park Hotel. To make a long story sort, after that 2-nights stay, my wife and I were heading to a friend's wedding in the center of Tuscany and I managed at 6.00pm the day before the wedding to spot my wedding shirt with my rental bike's greasy chain; the concierge took it from me and the next morning on departure day, at 9.00am together with the in-room ordered breakfast came my shirt perfectly clean and iron. I still do not know how they did it but knows that it was not straight forward at that time of the day in such a short period of time to get it done.
I saw the swimming pool and it was large, clean and under the scrutiny of a serious life guard but I am not partiularly attracted by swimming pools while at a beach place.
I already mentioned it, the rooms are not particularly large but they are cosy and a lot of attention is paid to details with high quality materials (simply check the thickness and cotton quality of the bathroom towels).

To summarize I would say that the service and quality is outstanding and if the rooms are not particularly large, they are ey cosy and, a) anyway you do not go to Forte dei Marmi to stay in your hotel room and b) take advantage of the fantastic quiet and well taken care of garden.

The hotel is located 3 blocs away from the beach and 500 meters away from Forte downtown. You drop the car the first day and commute by bicycle during the stay. Family run business, meaning first quality service in general, excellent italian food, enormous backyard / playground for kids. Large swimming pool if not willing to go every day to the beach.