In this hotel the origins of the bathrooms in the Amigo (see Review Archive), from the same design source, are evident. Until recently the Amigo bathrooms were quite my favourite hotel bathrooms, and the bathrooms here are almost as good. However the space constraints in both these hotels have led to many of the rooms having the shower over the bath, something that I now consider unacceptable in a five star hotel.

Where there is space separate showers have been provided and certainly the shower units are powerful, but inevitably any shower over a bath is a compromise over what is desirable. It is notable that in all the Rocco Forte hotels the bathrooms contain a bidet as well as the normal facilities, something again that appears to be outside the experience of many designers (where do they wash their feet?). With three new build hotels under construction it will be interesting to see how Olga Polizzi evolves the bathroom design, and whether more space is given to what is becoming one of the most important areas for hotels to differentiate their rooms from the domestic experience.

Although this hotel is a relatively new hotel, it is interesting how the speed of change in technology is affecting the appearance of the rooms, particlarly where the high quality CRT TV's look old fashioned. The hotel has two computers available for guest to log onto the web, comfortably housed within the business area in the basement. Even though February is the hotels – indeed Florence’s - quietest month, there were still occasionally queues to use them. It was interesting to look in the memory and see where guests had been going. Apart from looking at home newspapers, sports results, and booking onward hotel reservations or flights, most had actually been researching local attractions, museum ticketing and the like – surely room here for someone to produce a dedicated computer service for hotels? Or should we just rely on the hotels Concierge service?

The business area is in the basement of the hotel but has not escaped the wit of the designer, with a relief of a small boy being placed on the wall outside the gents, an adult arm coming across his head finger pointing to the door to the men’s room. In the toilets the use of marble is supplemented by funky plaster mirrors, the contrapunto created being very successful and visually rich.