Castel Monastero

We hadn???t visited Tuscany before and found it difficult to find a hotel outside of Florence that we thought would really deliver what we were looking for, we thought from the website Castel Monastero was it, but were overall disappointed. The remote location was tranquil and much of the surrounding area stunningly beautiful. The hotel was smaller than it appears on the website, particularly the courtyard area, we booked a prestige room expecting something a bit special, what we got was a room poorly laid out and lacking any real charm. Staff were polite and courteous but overall not making your stay special, the room was often cleaned late in the day and there was always a feeling that they knew you had to travel to get anything yourself so anything you requested was at a price, the Spa at ???40 Euros a day per person was a complete rip off. The room had no outside space and due to being an old Monastery was dark inside, not much can be done about this, but an outside space could have easily been created. We ate twice in the restaurant, normally there are two, but COVID reduced this to one, we understand the reasons, but no one told this before we turned up! The restaurant that served us was poor, the food was bland but at prices you would expect far better. When we ate out the standard was far higher and much better value. It is difficult to know how much of the failings we experienced were down to COVID and how much was just how it was, probably somewhere in the middle. However this is not a 5 star hotel, it has 5 star prices but the overall experience is well below this. After our stay we travelled to Lake Garda and stayed at Hotel Fasano (also reviewed) where our faith was restored, this is a gem and they understand the importance of the customer, Castel Monastero did not.

We booked a deluxe room for three nights. When we arrived there was no one around and we had too look for the reception which was very underwhelming. We were shown to a dark gloomy room with a step up to the bathroom which we found really dangerous during the night. In addition the bed was right next the french window and the guests sunbathing down below could see into our bed.! We asked for next category up, they showed us a suite, but it was gloomy and 200 euros more per night so we stayed in this miserable small room. There were no tea or coffee making facilities in the room and the tiniest bottles of water left at night, with no welcome amenity on arrival apart from a glass of prosecco at the bar. We don't like prosecco and asked could we swap for wine. There was nearly world war 3! The young waiter took the wine order but the young bar manager told us we could not do it as the wine cost more! The is when we are paying 490 euros per night!! We asked for actual manager, and he relented and gave us a small quantity of wine each. The pool was average, guests very close together. The senior waiter came round at 12.30 an threw the lunch menus on the tables around the pool saying 'this is the menu'! Really rude. We had eaten lunch on the first day and we had caeser salads which were very dry and tasteless. No bottled water offered to guests at the pool, nor anyone offering any pleasantries such as fruit or even putting towels out for us. Dinner at restaurant was very nice . Breakfast was average. Breakfast was included in the room rate, however they wanted an extra 10 euros for eggs! Outrageous at those room rates. This place is also in the middle of nowhere so difficult to find anywhere to eat outside. There are many many beautiful places to stay at half this price who offer wonderful small touches at no charge. How this place is rated as 5 star is beyond us. We have travelled to hundreds of places to stay including old castles such as this, at lesser rates but offering much more.