Castello Di Leonina Relais — Hotel in Asciano

I feel almost sad giving such a bad review given how beautiful the estate is as such. The view is breathtaking, the Castello is a real treasure and the pool offers cooling refreshment with a brillant view. Also, breakfast was very good and the staff was friendly (with one notable exception). So why only 2 stars?

First of all, the "basic" issues:

Broken safe Broken AC Wifi didn't work for 1/3 of our stay Flickering lights in the room Wasps in the room that apparently crawled through the roof into our bathroom (about 15 in three days) Power outlets that almost came out with the plug every time Almost entirely calcified shower head

Honestly, given the beauty of the place, I don't know if all that alone would have deterred me from returning. However, the receptionist was something else. I don't think I have ever been treated this way by staff in any hotel.

When we arrived , the receptionist told us that the AC was broken. This had not been mentioned in an email I received earlier the same day asking for our time of arrival. They claimed they had still tried to fix it at the time and that it would be fixed on Monday (we arrived on Saturday). No mention was made of it on Monday and I have since seen from other reviews that it had been broken for weeks already.

The receptionist said we could see the room and then decide whether we wanted to stay despite the lack of AC. If not, it would be "ok" for them if we left. It was "our choice" and they wanted to be "correct". I pointed out that it was 7pm on a Saturday and we had no other place to stay. She then explained that we could "google" something. The room was nice but - as it was right under the roof - truly very warm without AC. However, we didn't see an alternative. She then told us that she had "tried" to give us a junior suite to make up for the broken AC. Whether she actually did, remained unclear. The room did indeed have an old sofa in addition to the bed but - looking at the fotos online - had no resemblance with what is shown as a junior suite. So I honestly cannot tell whether it was.

When we returned to the reception desk, the receptionist took my credit card, wrote down the credit card information and told me she would now charge the amount. I objected since I had paid in advance already.

She immediately became very rude and denied vehemently that we had paid already and even that we had booked via a platform. She insisted time and time again that we booked via their webpage. Mind you, I had all booking confirmations in hand. Finally, she told us that we had to leave if she couldn't charge the credit card.

I then called the customer service of the booking platform who promised to look into it and get back to me. In the meantime, the quarrel continued. However, the receptionist suddenly changed her attitude radically and told us to put our things in the room and "relax". All would be resolved and she wouldn't charge anything just now.

Once we were carrying in our bags, she stopped us and proclaimed that all had been resolved. The credit card she wanted to charge was never mine to begin with (but apparently the travel agent's) - which of course I couldn't know. All in all, it was thus a problem she first created and then "solved", accusing us of not knowing about our own booking and threatening to throw us out in the process (that took more than an hour). While she subsequently tried hard to be nice, no apology was ever uttered. Upon Check-Out, drinks we had had at the bar (EUR 24) were not charged though because of "the AC and Wifi". However, we had also never made use of the complimentary "welcome drinks" since they could only be taken between 4pm and 6pm.

In the three days we were there, I witnessed the same receptionist have arguments with three other guests with one French man even storming out yelling "Putain!". So it was not a one-off. Also, when we mentioned the wasp issue to her we were informed that this was "because we are in the countryside".

It really is a shame but we will certainly not...

What a shame. A beautiful place and such a beautiful region. But the customer service was deplorable for a reason that seems common to the comments I have read below, namely one person.

I called on the day of our arrival to let them know what time we expected to arrive, and that's when the team told me that the air conditioning hadn't been working for a few days. Unable to change at the last minute—especially for a hotel of this standard—we came anyway.

Upon arrival, to avoid the heat upstairs (room in the tower), they suggested we sleep downstairs on a sofa bed. Given the price of the room ($250 per night), we politely declined to sleep on a sofa bed. They changed our room and gave us a small fan—so far, so good, but the sofa bed suggestion gave us pause.

We stayed for the two days originally planned (€250 per night = €500) and had to sleep with the windows wide open (the fan was completely ineffective), frequently awakened by mosquitoes or staff coming and going under our windows early in the morning.

On the first day, I asked if it was possible to use a washing machine (the equivalent of a normal washing machine at home), and I was told yes. Very well. At the end of our stay, we were presented with the bill for this machine: €160! (For example, a pair of pants was charged at $20—I should point out that we were only given the prices once the service had been provided, on a handwritten and dubious invoice). When I shared my disbelief and incomprehension with the manager, she responded with condescension and contempt, saying, “That's how it is in big hotels, sir.”

Incidentally, I think I recognize the same person from some of the comments below. When she told me she would agree to a $25 discount “for the socks,” I would have almost laughed with her if she hadn't been so smug towards me.

When I asked her if there would be any compensation for the lack of air conditioning, she simply said, “No, you were warned in advance and accepted the room knowing this.” I pointed out that I was the one who had called at noon on the day of our arrival, but she turned a deaf ear.

In the end, despite the obvious charms of this place, its view, its restaurant, and the vast majority of its staff, I strongly advise against staying here due to a clear lack of consideration and quality in customer service.

What “grand hotel” makes no commercial gesture when it is unable to provide air conditioning in the middle of summer/heatwave?

What “grand hotel” charges €160 for laundry without informing the customer of the price of this service in advance? And above all, what grand hotel hires a manager who has no sense of customer relations and allows herself to be condescending?

I strongly advise the manager of this establishment to quickly part ways with this person if he/she wants to provide customer service worthy...

Based on our experience, we unfortunately don’t have many good things to say about the Castello Di Leonina. We had booked the classic room which was 250€ per night on average, which I consider a rather steep price. However, there were several major problems with our room called "Bruco": 1) the room was located in a separate building across the street, not in the castle 2) it was a souterrain room with no view at all (despite advertised differently) and slightly claustrophobic 3) wifi didn’t work in the room 4) this is by far the worst one: humidity in the room was super high and there was a strong smell of mold and several moldy stains on the walls, especially in the bathroom. Being souterrain without any mosquito nets it was not possible to sleep with the windows open to at least try to get some fresh air - definitely not the room you'd want to sleep in, especially not for that price and with the expectation of staying in a romantic castle in Tuscany. The whole building (which was tiny anyway) was heavily air conditioned - probably an attempt to suppress the smell.

Of course, there is always the WHAT and the HOW, and a lot can be turned around when handled with the right care. The situation with our room wasn’t handled professionally unfortunately - when we complained about the room, we were offered an upgrade after the first night, or a cancellation with the possibility of an unspecified refund which they would only be able to specify after the weekend. Based on that they wanted us to take a decision and when we argued that an unguaranteed refund was a high risk for us as customers, the lady at the reception desk took an arrogant attitude and told us something along the lines of „we are a reputable hotel“ and this is why we should „trust them that they will find the best solution for the refund“. Furthermore she said that "all our rooms are beautiful", so we weren't really fond of an upgrade. However, the refund, as another staff member kindly checked out in the meantime, would have been 50%, although they had offered us an unbearable room. Thank you, but no thank you. Despite our anger, we took the option of an upgrade after the first (horrible) night to the junior suite which was a decent room, but I still wouldn't recommend it from a value for money point of view.

Generally speaking, service varied a lot between the individual staff members. I would like to highlight that some staff members were very professional, friendly and helpful, while others were not and some behavior was definitely unprofessional and/or not what I expect for such a facility.

Be aware that when you book the classic room, you might end up in the room I am...