Hotel Vecchio Asilo — Hotel in San Gimignano

We were booked by our travel agent. This was a 3 day stop on a 2 week vacation to Italy. Our driver picked us up in Florence. When we arrived in at the Hotel the clerk behind the front desk greeted us. While we were checking in he told us he was leaving at 4:00 and that the hotel would be closed at that time, We would be given access codes to get in and out until he returns at 8:00 am the following morning. He took us down to the room. The room was a lot smaller and older than we expected and it had a very bad Oder. He gave us telephone numbers to call in case of an emergency.

We were hungry and asked where we could get lunch. He informed us that the Winery that owns this hotel has a restaurant and was just down the road and it was a short walk. Well, that day it happened to be raining fairly hard so he gave us umbrellas and sent us on our way. We walked down the road for about 5 minutes in the pouring rain and could not find the winery so returned to the front desk and told the clerk that we could not find the winery. He said Oh it's about a kilometer down the road would you like me to call the shuttle? (why didn't he do that from the beginning)? Shortly the shuttle showed up driven by one of the owners of the winery. Instead of taking us to the restaurant at the winery he took us to another restaurant that the winery owned . He took the scenic route to show us his town the entire time telling us how they have the best wine in the Tuscany. He dropped us at the Restaurant and said he would be back in an hour to pick us up. The food at the restaurant was authentic Italian food and was quite good. Before we got out of the car he told us that one of the other drivers would be picking us up for dinner at the winery and wine tasting. We where to be ready for pick up at 5 minutes to 6. After finishing up our lunch a different driver came to pick us up. It was another one of the owners of the winery. He drove us around again pitching their wines and that after wine tasting we could buy wine from them and ship to the US, He dropped us at the hotel and we went back to the smelly room. We attempted to watch TV but it did not work. We called the desk clerk back to the room to fix it, but unfortunately he could not get it to work. My wife said she did not feel comfortable being the only one in the Hotel with no staff or services. His comment was "I only work here." We were at the front door at 5 minutes to 6 as instructed. Nobody showed up. after waiting 30 minutes we called the number left to us by the clerk. And we could not get the phone to connect reach anyone at the winery on the emergency number. We were hungry, stranded at an empty hotel with out phone service. We ended up calling our travel agent back in the states and had them call the winery to remind them to pick us up for dinner. 20 minutes later the shuttle showed up. When we arrived at the winery they gave us a complementary bottle of wine for forgetting about us. We had dinner there and tasted 8 different types of wine. After dinner came the sales pitch with a price booklet. My wife told them we don't drink much wine and that we wouldn't be buying anything they seemed disappointed and called the shuttle for take us back to the empty hotel. The next day we checked out 2 days early and went on to Siena. Keep in mind you need a car at this hotel, but would be better off...

Many months ago I booked our stay at the Hotel Torciano for three nights in the northern portion of our trip to Tuscany. It seemed perfect. We’re not interested in city stays, so we planned on saying outside the cities. The reviews were strong, with only one negative experience noted due to some water problem. |As we were getting in our car for San Gimignano I received a call from the hotel where I was informed that they had a water problem and had to move us (two couples) to another hotel. Of course they needed my permission to charge the remainder of our bill, so as to pay the other hotel. I’m not sure how that need for early payment became my problem. She sent an address and said a driver would meet us in front our hotel to take us to our wine tasting that evening.|This hotel is in the center of San Gimignano, which I accept might be nice for some, but not us. We are awakened by dogs barking in other guest’s rooms. There is cigarette smoke wafting up the stairs and down the hall. We now have daily parking fees for a parking lot outside of town. |As we waited for a driver, as instructed, he was quite late. It turns out he is not able to drive in the town so we had to find the right portal to meet him. |Awakened by dogs I decided to look up how much this hotel would have cost. Our price for Hotel Torciano was $213 per room per night. This hotel room costs $131 per night!|We asked the staff at the Torciano wine tasting and they indicated that the hotel was completely full. They were not aware of water issues. When pressed a bit we were met with blank stares. |Why not offer us a choice of agriturismo hotels outside of town, if indeed there is a water problem? Why do they need full payment when our “new” hotel is significantly less than what we paid? Then the dogs, smokers and parking.|If you are tempted to stay here, I recommend you think about how you will actually ensure that you do indeed stay there, and how you might control what were to happen to your trip if, say there was something like a water problem at the last minute. Yes, at this point I’m cynical. Sorry for that. ||PS - I do need to add that while I have read mixed reviews on the Torciano wine tasting, ours was quite nice. We enjoyed the wines and were hosted by a wonderful, knowledgeable and fun hostess. Our time with her is worth a star, even if it is only associated...

I am very conflicted by my experience with this hotel. My wife and I scheduled a two night stay, as well as other activities at their winery, Torciano. We received a text message the day before while we were hiking cinque terre that there was water damage limiting their capacity. They wanted us to move to their partner hotel, the Hotel Semifonte for the first night. We didn't have service but we assumed it would be a comparable accommodation because they said it was right down the road from the winery. However when we got there, it was basically a motel next to a car dealership 10 min away. We paid 200 euros for that night to stay in a nice tuscan vineyard bed and breakfast and got stuck in a 70 euro/night hotel. When we tried to address this with customer service, all that we asked was to be refunded for the difference in what we paid for and what we received. It took weeks of going back and forth with phone calls and emails for them to give us a 30 euro voucher to their store. We were very disappointed by their unwillingness to be the least bit reasonable, because 130 euros is no small thing. We enjoyed the night we had at Vecchio Asilo, but the experience was sullied by what I consider to be underhanded or at the very least...