Toscana Charme Resort — Hotel in Pisa

This hotel claims to be 5* but it is anything but that. I would put this at a 3* as it lacks basic services that any other 4 to 5 star hotel would provide.||-Room Experience|The hotel room was fairly clean upon arrival however, when we tried to start the AC in the room it was switched off, and could only be turned on if you called reception. The good things about the rooms were that they were modern, appealing looking and the bathroom had plenty of lighting and space. The shower was also good. As far as it goes for the toiletries and shower gels provided I wouldn't get your hopes up and would recommend bringing your own or alternatively, walking 10 mins down the road to the Conad/pharmacy to buy your products.||-Room service experience:|The room service staff were always kind and friendly and they ensured that the room was always kept clean and comfortable. New towels were given every day, however on one occasion all the new towels we received had random brown stains on them. This being said it's not the service staffs fault and it's just something that happened to us.||-Lobby/Reception staff experience:|Not much to say here, I felt as thought the lobby was well kept and clean, nothing grand or over the top and the reception staff were kind and provided help when necessary. However, no complementary water in the reception which you would expect from a 5* hotel, but they provided candies and biscuits.||-Dining Experience:|This is where they major problem was. We booked bed and breakfast. However, the breakfast we had was nothing that we would have imagined for a 5* hotel. There were only 3 hot food options (scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausages) which were brought out in ceramic dishes which weren't put under heated lamps resulting in the ONLY hot food going cold. This "hot" food came out in small quantities and ran out fairly quickly. This meant people would be sat waiting for 15 to 20 mins just for a fresh batch to come out, only for that to finish quickly too. Other than that, there were only approx 4 fruit options, yoghurts, a lot of sugary pastries, cold cuts/cheese and a toaster that didn't work. However this wasn't the only restocking issue. There were never any spoons available if you chose to eat yoghurt/cereal and milk. The only way we figured we could get a small spoon was by ordering a coffee which came with a spoon. Hot breakfast was actually available but you had to pay for it which counters the whole point of booking bed and breakfast. The menu items for lunch or dinner lacked variety as well, they didn't really cater for different ethnicities, backgrounds or dietary needs. For example if savoury breakfast items ran out and you had diabetes, your only option would be sugary pastries, alternatively, if your religious background prohibited beef/pork/shellfish, there was only 2 vegetarian options for meals. Overall, it you are expecting a full English breakfast or more hot options, you won't find it here. The only good thing was they made the coffee fresh.||-Location experience:|If you're looking for something far away from the hustle and bustle of your busy life then you may enjoy the location of this hotel as it's quite far out and also has a beach. However, one thing to note is that a taxi to Pisa can cost you anywhere from €55 to €70 and the same applies on the way back (so €100+ for the total journey). The hotel staff can call a taxi for you but the taxi fare starts on their journey to pick you up. This means that usually there is already €25 to €32 already on the meter. And this can become quite expensive. If you exit the hotel and turn right and walk approx 10 mins there is a small shopping centre with a grocery store, pharmacy, and restaurants/bars. And we found this quite handy especially with the limitations on food options.||-General experience:|The hotel doesn't provide guests with free water or a water refill station. Which is a common denominator in most hotels as they do provide you with water. Due to this we ended up going to the grocery store to buy bottles of water. Luckily they weren't expensive there and we managed to stay hydrated in the humid heat. Additionally this hotel owns a beach, yet they charge for the sun beds. Again, usually in hotels this is an service which is complementary and you don't have to pay for them. Most of the sun beds were empty as noone paid for them as they charged such a high price for it. We stayed by the pool where the benches were free. Or alternatively put the towels provided on the sand/went back and forth from the pool to the beach and back.||Overall, this hotel had it's pros and cons but for me I think the negatives outweighed the positives as although they did provide many things, the basic amenities weren't there. The fresh coffee and sweets provided at reception were nice, but really what we needed was water and proper food which I think is the main necessity on a holiday in a...

BEWARE: this is not just an underperforming five-star hotel, it is just an outright scam. Let's see why.

service: every single member of the staff is completely unprepared to deal with guests. The only exception is the guy at the terrace bar. During lunch, I once tried to order a main course and the waitress responded "people usually just go to the kitchen and ask for their dishes themselves, but if you really insist I can do that for you". One evening, around 10PM, I called the reception to request room service and I was responded that they don't provide room service and that I could go up to the terrace bar and bring a drink to my room on my own. Not providing room service is a blatant violation of five-star requirements

food: for breakfast you get a buffet of very low quality stuff. A couple examples follow. If you want "scrambled eggs" you can find a container of creepy yellow goo that is either overcooked (as in stone-hard) or undercooked (like watery). Same for the bacon, there are some undercooked slices that are like boiled and some unchewable leathery slices. I called in advance to let the hotel know that my girlfriend needs gluten-free alternatives and they stated they would have provided them. However, there was no trace of gluten-free items at the breakfast buffet except for fruit, ham and chickpeas. A member of staff proposed some industrially bagged very low quality gluten free bread. Uh, they also have unpeeled cucumber slices. Tons of them.

infrastructure: the room was ridiculously small and completely different from the one I booked through their website. They added the least they could to comply with five-star requirements (e.g. there was a small boiler in a corner of our wardrobe so that you can't complain you have no boiler). There were no bedside tables, so you had to use the bed headboard as a table. The "gym" is ridiculous: it's a 5 by 5 meters room with a couple of treadmills and no bench nor weights.

hygiene: the rooms are dirty, the stairs are dirty, the hallways are dirty, the whole place is dirty. When we arrived our wardrobe stank. A friend of mine found a dead cockroach in her room, told it to a member of the cleaning staff who responded with fear and removed it only when she insisted. Terrace tables are covered in mould on the corners. In 10 days there, I have never seen anyone cleaning common areas like stairs and hallways and you could see the dirt piling up day by day. We also found someone else's clipped nail on the floor of our room

"extras": if you want to park there, they are going to charge a stunning 18€ a day for an outdoor parking. Access to the beach is going to cost you an additional 25 to 65 euros a day for two beach beds. They even request a 5€ deposit to borrow you a beach towel.

swimming pool: the pool is swarming with kids that constantly scream, jump in the water, run around throw balls and whatnot. Around 4 PM they have some kind of annoying "dance" with high-volume music that won't let you even speak to the people around you. Not the place to go for relaxation.

terrace bar: this could be a nice place to spend the night, still, every day from 7 PM to closing time they have "live music", which is just this guy singing cheesy music (the same songs every day) to a backing track. Also in this case, the volume is so high you can't even read a book or talk to a friend

Still, in case you made the mistake to book a stay at this unacceptable place and after reading all this you still plan to go, here are a couple advices: you can park on a square in front of the hotel for a more affordable 4€ a day. If you don't pay that parking, you are going to get a 40€ fine, which is still cheaper than paying the hotel parking for 3 days. there are other beach bathhouses close to the hotel, some are cheaper than the one the hotel runs never have either lunch or dinner at the hotel, there are a lot of way better and cheaper restaurants close...

I booked into this hotel with my family in July of this year. We had booked in for two nights and were looking forward to the break in this " 5 star " hotel . But unfortunately for us it was far from a five star experience. Firstly reception staff are unfriendly ,rude and disinterested. Our room was on the ground floor which was spacious and comfortable but lacking in any kind of decor. It was clinical, white, bland as was all the hotel through out . Unfortunately for us every time we took a shower in our ensuite water poured from under the shower door all over the floor and out into our bedroom destroying one of our suitcases . The hose also from the bidet was leaking so every time we used the toilet we were sloshing around in water. We reported this to reception staff and they said they would have someone sort it out. Unfortunately it was never dealt with so we spent the entire weekend packing towels around the shower door and bathroom door to stop the flooding every time we took a shower. With four people in a room that was a lot of showers .We reported it numerous time but we were just rudely dismissed. |When we were checking out I complained again about how tarnished our stay was having to deal with this mess continuously . I asked for some form of refund or goodwill gesture but was told as I booked and paid for with Booking.com that they could not issue a refund there and then. But would contact them on Monday and email me regarding the complaint. In the meantime I asked for a refund of beach chair costs as some kind of gesture and it was given to me very reluctantly I may add. Needless to say I didn't receive any email. So I had to make numerous attempts to get in contact with the hotel once I got home . Eventually they replied but they were rude and unhelpful . I made a complaint to Booking.com also and they were in full agreement that some form of refund should be issued. They also tried to make contact with the hotel on numerous occasions but the the hotel would not respond . Their lack of contact and communication with both I and Booking.com speaks volumes !! Their customer service is so poor and they have a lot to learn from other 5 star hotels as to how guests should be treated. We spent our hard earned money on our stay here. Think twice before you book this hotel. You will be charged 5 star rates for a 2/3...