Ellea Resort — Hotel in San Michele Salentino

The outside area was good, the pool was lovely even though there was a lot of wasps living in a broken lampost lying on the floor right next to it, its wires sort of-ish covered with a plastic bucket (ideal with young kids). The inside was a pain, the kitchen is barely functioning, if you turn the oven on the ceiling light goes out. The power cuts out all the time and there's no way to get it back up and running unless you contact the hosts who has to do it for you on their switch board, so we were without power for nearly 12 hours on one occasion, with 2 children. There was 1 toilet roll for a family of four for a week, no cleaning products to keep the place clean unless you purchase these yourself, which we did. There is just enough kitchen items to get by. Be prepared to get stuck in the toilet for extended periods of time as the lock is faulty. The aircon in the living area pours out water if you just turn it on. If you have the oven and the aircon on at the same time the whole place will trip out. I even got a small electric shock from the pool one evening when trying to save an insect. Our sunloungers were removed from the property for 2 days of our 7 day stay while we were out. You will also have cats on the table licking plates and cups and trying to get at your food while you eat. And the bins...! We arrived to a page of strict rules and very confusing instructions on waste disposal. Turns out you have to drive to a tip in the town to get rid of your rubbish, on certain days within certain time windows becasue they won't always take it from the end of the drive. Fine. But this isn't stated before arrival (thinkinging about those without a car), also that your security deposit will be affected if you do not comply. We did, but it would not have been enough.||BE AWARE you pay a security deposit of 250 euros on arrival. We left the place immaculate, washed the beach towels, tea towels and table cloth, hung them up to dry, got up 2 hours early at 5am before we left and the kids were awake, to give a final scrub, sweep and clean, both inside and outside and net the pool. Left lots of useful items for the hosts/next people and was thanked by the host for looking after the house so well and for being respectful. However when it was time to recieve the security deposit back there was suddenly a problem and things were broken, sunloungers were damaged, and the bins were an issue. We had taken the upmost care over the course of the week to look after the property so this was incredibly upsetting to recieve this message. Even with photos showing otherwise, and even though I thought we had a fairly good relationship with the hosts over the course of our stay as we had kept them updated throughout, they were not accepting that we were not at fault. It was extremely upsetting and stressful and really put a downer on the whole experience. We do not go away often so it was meant to be a very special occasion for us so we splashed out on renting this place. Evenutally our deposit came back with a deduction.||We felt they came across as unfriendly, we felt like a nusiance to them, and that they have little care for their guests and their holiday experience. Sadly,...

I was there twice with friends, enjoying first the spring and then the beginning of the summer. The atmosphere was so laid-back! confortably laying at the poolside in the morning and then enjoying a ride in the countryside, in the afternoon. I highly appreciated the kindness of the owner as well: both respectful of the privacy, and very helpful by giving advice about activities and...

Not far from Beautiful Ostuni, heading towards the south west coast is quite San Michelle Salentino with olive groves lining the roads. Ellea resort is a perfect stop to gather energy, swim in the pool and experience life without the tourists. the small city itself, is Quite new and doesn't posess a lot of old world charm, but Oh...