Villa Tolomei Hotel & Resort — Hotel in Florence

Review of Villa Tolomei in Florence

I recently had the opportunity to stay at Villa Tolomei in Florence. Despite its stunning location and breathtaking views, my overall experience was significantly below the standard expected of a five-star establishment.

Positive Aspects

Beautiful Hotel with Amazing Location and Views: The hotel's setting is truly magnificent, offering incredible panoramic views of Florence. The surrounding gardens and the pool area are aesthetically pleasing and well-maintained.

Lunch by the Pool: The lunch served at the pool was delightful and offered good value for money. The poolside bartender stood out as the only friendly staff member, consistently providing service with a smile.

Negative Aspects

Mold on the Air Conditioner: Unfortunately, there was mold on the air conditioner in our room, which is both unpleasant and a potential health concern.

Dirty Remote Control: The television remote control was notably dirty, indicating a lack of thorough cleaning.

Grimy Shower: The shower in our room was not clean, which is unacceptable for any hotel, especially a five-star establishment.

Heartless Check-In: The check-in process was impersonal and lacked the warmth and professionalism expected from a luxury hotel.

Very Poor Service with Unfriendly Staff: Overall, the service was highly disappointing, with most staff members displaying unfriendliness and a lack of accommodation.

Dirty Wine Glasses: The wine glasses provided were dirty, reflecting poor hygiene standards.

Ultra Poor Buffet Dinner: The buffet dinner was extremely unsatisfactory. For €70, there were only three main courses and a few amuse-bouches, all of which were of very low quality.

Unexplained Wine Selection: Despite multiple inquiries, we never received an explanation of the wine selection, which was frustrating.

Ignored Complaints: After the first night, we communicated our concerns to the reception, but they were barely addressed.

Breakfast Quality: While the breakfast selection and quality were good, the staff were unmotivated and the service did not meet five-star standards.

Melting Ice Cream: The ice cream served was half-melted and tasted old, yet it was priced at €15.

Grubby Fitness Center: The fitness center was dirty and outdated, showing clear signs of neglect.

Partially Unhygienic Pool Area: The pool area, although beautiful, had some hygiene issues, such as old band-aids being left around.

Unresponsive Check-Out: Despite communicating our issues politely, we were not asked about our stay during check-out. When we showed photos of the issues to the reception, they simply informed the housekeeping staff without any further response.

Conclusion: As an experienced traveler who values quality, I was deeply disappointed with my stay at Villa Tolomei. Despite its beautiful location, this was the worst experience I have ever had at a luxury hotel. The stunning setting and pleasant poolside lunch do not compensate for the numerous service and hygiene issues. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone seeking a true...

Where do I even begin with this horrible place?

We viewed the hotel in Nov 2023 as we were looking for a place to host our wedding welcome party and also looking for a hotel to stay in for the wedding weekend. We were met with lovely people and promised so many things that unfortunately never happened. We booked our welcome party for 24th May 2024, and we were in contact with the head of events for months. About 1 month before the event we were getting worried as we hadn’t heard anything from the hotel and were wondering when to send the final payment. The events coordinator only then told us she no longer worked there and that a new person, Rosi had all of our info. I had a call with Rosi and all was fine until just 2 WEEKS before our event they informed us that they would not be honoring the contract that we signed for the F&B deal for our welcome party, and they wanted us to pay an extra 50euro for each bottle of wine consumed for a party of over 100 people! (keep in mind they make their own wine, and had it listed for 35euro on their website at the time. We had booked an all-inclusive party package, a set price per person for all food and free-flow drinks for 4 hours). They refused to negotiate at all, and encouraged us to cancel the event, which was so strange, and insisted they would refund us. As it is not easy to find an event space for over 100 people in Florence on such short notice we did not want to cancel, but in the end, they ultimately left us no choice. They said this was due to “new management” and even complained to us and got us involved in their internal issues. All the while this “new management” refused to speak to us!! The entire thing was SO UNPROFESSIONAL and left us scrambling for a new venue only 2 weeks before our wedding!!! However, while they refunded us for the event, they refused to refund our rooms that I and 20+ other guests pre-paid for!! So we were left with no choice but to stay there where the food and beverage prices were completely extortionate. On the morning of my wedding, I asked for 7 wine glasses to be brought to the room so we could enjoy the champagne we brought with us and they charged me 25 Euro for empty glasses!!! The owner, Antonio whom we met was so incredibly rude, only giving us our refund AFTER we checked out of the hotel, and we had to ask them for the refund they promised us so many times before we ever received it. Now, they are holding our wedding guest book hostage, refusing to send it to us, as it was accidentally left behind. It is now mid-July and they will not send it to me, no matter how many times I ask. I contacted Rosi so many times only to be told TODAY, that she no longer works there either! The entire team at Villa Tolomei has been incredibly difficult to deal with ever since the new owner, Antonio took over. Before his joining the hotel staff was lovely. It’s clear he only wants money from the guests. It is such a shame, as the property is beautiful. I would never recommend anyone to stay here or host an...

My wife and I spent 4 nights at Villa Tolomei at the end of September, beginning of October and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We was blessed with exceptional weather for this time of year with temperatures breaking 30 degrees everyday and not a cloud in the sky. Upon arrival we was given our key to room 37 which is a large room in a building just next to the main reception, it was a large bedroom with a huge separate bathroom, which in all honesty, whilst clean, tidy, functional and with free toiletries, the space could have been better utilised, no complaints with either the bathroom or the bedroom though. As the hotel is on a hilltop outside of the resort, it is a 15-20 Euro taxi ride into Florence unless you want to walk up and down the steep road which takes about 30-40 mins depending on your own personal circumstance but given this, we had the most stunning view of Florence from the back of our room, the swimming pool and the restaurant. The swimming pool is perfect, don't listen to the moans about the odd tile needing replacing etc, it is a great size, the sunbeds are great and you receive free use of towels. On top of this, Daniel, pool man by the summer, bellboy in the winter, will look after your every needs, with beer (8 euros a bottle) and wine (free it seems around the pool) a plenty. As I said, we was lucky with the weather and also, the pool heating had been turned on the previous week as well. Breakfast in the hotel was very good, lots of choice, be that fruit juices, fruit, cold meats and cheeses, pastries, and hot food including bacon and eggs, plus I enjoyed a couple of lattes each morning which was a bonus, honestly I am not doing it justice. We ate in Florence for the first three nights of our stay, which I had booked in advance having done my TripAdvisor research and we was not disappointed with any of our meals. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the dinner in the restaurant at the hotel on our last night. We chose to eat in the restaurant as it was my wife's Birthday and our 30th Wedding Anniversary and without going into detail, the meal was the worse meal we had out of our four evening meals and the most expensive by far, almost double the other restaurants, and given there are hundreds of restaurants in Florence, I would suggest you do your homework before choosing where to eat. Florence is absolutely beautiful with so much to see and so much to do and everybody in Florence is very helpful and very pleasant, it was even a pleasure to shop in the markets and I am not a shopper at the best of times. My only real moan is that whilst the restaurant in the hotel recognised my wife's birthday by putting a candle in her desert, that was it, very underwhelming and quiet sad really, such a shame. That aside, I would definitely recommend Villa Tolomei and we will definitely stay there again in the future as we will definitely be coming back...