Castel Monastero

This hotel is isolated - not in a town or anything you can walk to. Room: Our room looked nothing like the ones in the photos on their web or their official trip advisor. I understand that all of the rooms are different, but the furniture in ours was quite tired and run down. The overall design was cumbersome and the bathroom was treacherous. It was down a few steps from the bed to the bathroom and the slate floor made it treacherous if it had even the smallest water. Same for the shower/bath, it was slippery and water pressure was mediocre. Most interesting was no soundproofing at all. You can hear the people in the room next to you breathing/sighing. Staff: the pool bar staff was great. The front desk was fine sometimes and very unhelpful other times. The restaurant staff was good but certainly not enough staff for the restaurant and it led to long waits. housekeeping was dismal. When we checked in one of the robes tied up for use had makeup from a prior guest. The toiletries in the bathroom were also 90% gone and clearly not replaced from the prior guest. And our water glasses were not replaced in the 4 days we were there. Housekeeping is dismal. It was by far the worst part of our stay. Overall I think they run it very lean for staff and that leads to mixed service, I would not recommend. I would definitely stay elsewhere.

On my honeymoon across most of Italy, I had my highest expectations for our stay at Castel Monastero. I now refer to it as Castel Disappointment. This was the most expensive hotel we stayed in during our 2 week vacation, but also the worst one of them all. I don’t even know where to being, but I’ll Start with the good: Rooms are big, courtyard area of hotel very pretty, nice pool area, and located in beautiful Tuscany. That’s about it. Prepare to be trapped and price gouged for everything you want or need to do here. The food-sucks. This hotel had the highest priced food in all of Italy and it was the worst Tasting. I had a comparable dish in Ambra which was a 1/4 of the price and twice the size. The waitress at Cantina, recommended a pasta dish, but no amount of salt or grated cheese could remotely save this dish. My entree, consisted of 5 meatballs in a bowl For 34 euro, no pasta, No veggies etc. Olive Garden would’ve been a better tasting Italian dish than this ripoff from cantina. 25 euro for an old fashioned, or Aperol spritz; I Went to a Michelin Star restaurant in Rome and didn’t pay more than 15. The complimentary breakfast was mediocre. The previous 2 hotels we stayed at in Sorrento and Rome, for Half the price, had a much better complimentary breakfast. Now the worst part of our stay: The hotel arranged excursions for us and dinner reservations. We did this wonderful vineyard tour. The hotel arranged for a driver to get us there and back. The vineyard tour was worth every penny at 60 euro per person. The van proceeds to drop us off at the hotel and informs Is that it would be 600,00 euro for the ride…completely ruined our day and our experience at the vineyard. We also needed transportation to our dinner reservation in Ambra which was not even a 10 minute drive away. The hotel informed us they could provide a taxi for 85 euro one way, and then 85 euro to return. So my 10 minute drive to dinner would cost me three times the price of my meal. The staff at the restaurant in Ambra was so baffled by the hotels taxi service that the waitress ended up driving us back to the hotel. In 24 hours at the resort, I spent 1000 euro on transportation to and from The hotel. This is not a 5 star resort, it’s maybe a 4 start but with little amenities, but it’s priced like it’s the worlds best 5 star resort. We ended up Checking out early, eating the cost, and returning to Florence because it was cheaper To find a new hotel and things to do in Florence then be captive to the hotel and their taxi/car service companies in order to do anything. Also, this hotel offers almost nothing to do. None of the packages or excursions or rentals are on site. You get a pool, tennis court, and comp breakfast…that is it. No water, no mini fridge, no iron. The internet pictures are deceiving, the property is much much smaller than it appears. Didn’t ruin my honeymoon, but definitely soured a couple days it that we won’t be able to get back. Avoid this place at all costs, unless they greatly lower the price or offer more amenities.

Beautiful hotel but they have overpriced their food and drink menus. €25 for a Gin and Tonic is ridiculous given what you are already spending for the hotel rooms. Their restaurant and dining menus are very limited. €30 for a basic burger and fries!?!! No salads at all on the lunch menu and when we did order a green salad for dinner it was literally a plate of romaine lettuce. Just lettuce!!! Beware that the drink service at the pool bar is very slow. It’s not the staff it’s the set up. When you order wine they have to walk across the property to go to the restaurant to get the wine and then come back. It makes no sense. The hotel bar service before dinner was dreadfully slow and poorly trained. It’s a shame as the staff are all so friendly and nice but the management and set up needs some tweaks to make your stay better. There is no coffee or tea in your room so getting a coffee when you wake up is a bit of an ordeal. They need to review their service in order to call themselves a leading hotel of the world and review their prices so you don’t feel like you’re being hosed at every turn.