Le Chalet del Pollino — Hotel in Rotonda

Unfortunately we didn't enjoy our stay much. Things started a little poorly when the owner got annoyed with us booking online (because it was cheaper), rather than direct; presumably because he didn't want to pay the website commission fees. Despite advertising a kitchen for guests to use, when we arrived we discovered that is couldn't be used - even to make a cup of tea or coffee - without paying an extra daily charge. In the lounge and room, there were numerous hand written rules and instructions on what not to do, it all felt quite passive aggressive - it was hard to relax as a result. 'Breakfast' was a single coffee (you had to pay for another) and a few cheap biscuits and cake out of a packet. Despite paying another extra charge of €10 per night for our dog to stay (which is fine and was agreed beforehand), the owners dog wandered around the property freely, entering our room, even after the dogs got into a minor fight. This meant we couldn't even relaxed out on the balcony or common area, as the owners dog kept trying to enter our room multiple times. Finally, we had discussed before booking with the owner charging our electric vehicle overnight as the area is quite rural, and had agreed a price per KwH of electricity used. When we came to check out, surprise surprise, the owner now insisted on a price almost twice what we had both agreed before. All in all, it was a really disappointing stay, we didn't feel very welcomed, didn't relax and left feeling slightly ripped off.

Edit: I think the owner's weird all-caps shouty reply, ranting about how Italian people are better than British, probably tells you everything you need to know. Oh, and the review where he was verbally abusive to an Italian guest because they mentioned the bed was a little hard...

We spent a delightful 2 nights here as part of our 2 week road trip. This chaley=t style house suited us perfectly, our hostess Luciana was the nicest and most helpful person. Fortunately she speaks good French which enabled us to communicate quite well despite our lack of Italian.||The bed room was fairly small but very well equipped, excellent bathroom. Breakfast was a very pleasant experience with Luciana preparing everything for us and serving us, she even managed English tea!||10 minutes down the road, Rotonda is small but full of life. We enjoyed strolling round the narrow streets and climbing to the top of the old town hill for the fantastic views. Make sure you visit the natural history museum and see the elephant, incredible! ||We also took a drive up the mountain, so peaceful with plenty of wildlife/birds and flowers.||Luciana recommended a restaurant a short walk from the Chalet, Agriturismo Calivino, be warned they don't open till 8pm. Interesting selection of local dishes and a nice wine.||This was a delightful stopover for us,...

We had a very bad experience with the owner of this place. |We have made a reservation through Booking.com a day before our arrival and received a confirmation number ||Apparently the owner accepted a latter reservation through the phone and when we arrived in a late afternoon in the middle of Eastern vacation, we realized that we have no room since the hotel was full. |Instead of canceling the later reservation, he decided to cancel ours by sending us an email in Italian which we do not understand ||The owner suggested an alternative room in another with a single bed (for 2 people). ||It took us an additional hour to find another room and luckily we actually found the last room in town after driving back and forth ||This is not an...