Have you heard of these hotels?

Nope --- but that means absolutely nothing. Rick makes no attempt to be comprehensive. He finds a few hotels that he likes and meets his standards. There are lots of hotels that are just a good as his recommendations. Most areas are reasonably safe. As to walking distances, that varies with people so use google maps to check distances.

I second what Frank said - Rick could not possibly review all the hotels in the places he visits let alone recommend some. However, we go to Europe every summer and take a RS tour during that month and have always stayed in places that he has recommended since we are in the area of the tour and have never been disappointed. Again, after 8 RS tours we are on the same wave length.

You can find reviews of many hotels on tripadvisor.com. If you don't find these hotels on that site you will find many other options, with reviews, that fit your criteria. Good luck with your search.

Not to disparage Travel agents, but many have not been to the hotel, or even the location that they are booking you in. They usually will book you in chains that will pay them the highest commission.

I second Lise's recomendations. Check out any place that the TA has reccomended on Trip Advisor, and at the same time check out the Trip Advisor recomendations for good hotels. If we don't use a RS pic, we often find the hotel we want based on Trip Advisor client reccomendations.

If you look at the King Rome on Trip Advisor you will see that 57% of the people that stayed there will not reccomend it.

Another good thing to do, no matter what place you book, is to check it out on Google maps. Get the actual adress and see where it is located. Then turn on the "street view" option, and go up and down the streets, and look at the neighborhood. If is is on a major street you know that there may be a good chance of noise.

I second Steves post,, I haven't used a TAs hotel recommendation for at least the last 10 years,, unless they themselves had stayed there. They recommend hotels that pay them commision usually,, and they are often the larger less more boring ones if you ask me.
I would also not worry about not using a Rick listed hotel,, he only lists a few,, and there are hundreds. I always book my own hotels ,, online, and by just doing some online research. I ask on forums like this one( there are many others ) for personal recommendations. I state my budget ( in euros) and my priorities( close to sights, must have a/c in summer, small rooms are fine, 2 or 3 stars) . I also always read up the reviews on tripadivsor.com,, and I have even contacted some of the reviewers to ask about a specific point in their review,, ( ie,, when they say room was noisey, did they mean street noise or neighboring room noises etc). I also alway just google the hotel name and read the reviews on other sites. I read as many as possible. I look for general concensus, and don't get hung up on a single bad review , or one where the complaints seem stupid to me( pillow were square not rectangular etc)

I have booked myself and my family and friends into at least a dozen different places in Rome, London, Paris, etc,, and I have been satisfied with all my choices .

Start googling those hotels and reading reviews.

Decide you your budget and must haves,, ( air conditioing, elevators, central location, size of bedding, restuarant on premise etc etc.)

Most hotel rooms in Europe will be smaller then North America. Not all hotels have elevators, bars, or restaurants( many don't ,, but do serve breakfasts).

To answer you specific questions, all are in safe neighborhoods but only the Lombardia in Florence is within walking distance of the train station. All are in the city center except the Tessin in Munich. It's out near Schloss Nymphenburg, and would require a tram or S-bahn ride to reach the sights and the train station.