Locanda in Tuscany — Hotel in Unione dei Comuni Amiata Val d'Orcia

I booked a Superior Grand Deluxe room a week in advance of arrival. I chose this room because it had “a double outside private patio fully equipped on both sides of the room”. In addition the room was 38m and had great views. But the reason I chose this room - and the reason I chose this hotel - was because of the outside space. ||||When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted with charm by the receptionist, who told us that we had been upgraded to a suite. I asked whether the suite had a terrace or outside access. She said that it did not but it was an upgrade. I explained that I had specifically booked the room I had chosen (according to the website the only one of its type) because of the outside access and therefore I was not interested in a room without that access - even if it was an upgrade. The receptionist contacted her manager, and we understood her to say in Italian that the room that we had originally booked was occupied but that we did not want to accept the upgrade. She showed us 2 other rooms. 1 was very small and quite basic with a small table and chair outside. The other room had more space outside but had a view of the car park. Neither were acceptable and I would not have booked them in the first place. The suite was a lovely room, but it was on the first floor, without outside access and not suitable for our needs. If I had wanted to book the suite I would have done so the previous week. ||||My husband spoke to the manager on the phone and asked for a refund as the hotel had not complied with their side of the contract. She said that the room description covered a range of rooms although on the website it clearly refers to 1 room and shows a picture of a patio with sunbeds. My husband found her rude and she talked over him, refusing to listen to what he had to say. The conversation turned into an argument. ||||The food and beverage manager joined us at that point. He was calm but clear that the hotel had offered us alternative rooms and therefore considered that they had discharged their duty. There would be no refund. By this stage the atmosphere was horrible. They never apologised for the change - in fact they stated that we should have been pleased that we could not have the room we had booked. There was no way that we could spend 2 days in that atmosphere and I did not want to give them anymore of my money. We left. ||||If I buy a blue jumper online, having looked at the picture and read the description I would not expect to receive a red jumper instead - even if the company think it is nicer than the one I chose in the first place. The same principle should apply to hotels. This hotel is not cheap (understatement). It claims to have the special ingredient of love in everything it does. The receptionist was charming and did her best in an impossible (for her) situation. The general manager however was rude and unpleasant. I would not recommend this to anyone. As a side note the pool is very small and there are no sun umbrellas in the gardens; the dining room was rather dark (though they may have an outside area - I did not see one). ||||We spend a lot of time in Italy - and have stayed in some lovely hotels. This, sadly, was not one. And they took our money for a room which they then appeared to sell to someone else. One of the worst experiences I have had...

We had an awful experience - you had sold our room to other guests, offered us an upgrade which didnt suit our needs because of a dog, and then refused to refund us. ||As my partner has not got a right of reply, I thought I would leave my own review and challenge some of the mistakes in Claudia’s response|You did offer us an upgrade on arrival but it became apparent almost immediately that this was because you had sold the room twice that we had reserved and paid for a week beforehand. This room was a lovely room but did not suit as we had a dog and needed outside access. |You did offer us alternative rooms with outdoor space but they were in a lower price bracket than the room we had selected. And to be clear they were disappointing rooms – one was very small but with a nice view, the other had a view over the car park. You weren’t present so perhaps this is the reason for your error – we viewed all the rooms that were offered except the one with the car park view. They were not suitable.|We never completed check-in – this is correct – I asked for a refund for the money we had paid for the room that we had selected and you had already sold. Why is this an unreasonable request – you had sold the room we had purchased? I didn’t request that you compensate me for my wasted travel expenses and time?|You point blank refused a refund. At no point did you offer an apology for selling our room. At no point did you offer the people who you had sold our room to, the upgrade that you offered us so we could use the room that we had booked and paid for. At no point did you offer us a concession for the fact that the room we had booked was no longer available because you had sold it to someone else.|So my partner’s review of your hotel is based on our experience…you resold the room we had booked a week earlier. The rooms we saw with outside space were small and without great views, the service we experienced was worse than we have ever experienced before and finally, having visited many hotels in Tuscany and Umbria, this hotel for the price was in the bottom quartile of value for money even if the service had...

We spent two nights at the beautiful Locanda In Tuscany as part of a trip for my partners 30th birthday, and could not be more impressed. Not only is this place so unbelievably special, the wonderful staff pulled out all the stops to make our stay even more memorable. Even from the get go, communication was brilliant - Maria was very friendly and helpful via email leading up to our stay.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with a warm welcome by the lovely Marco, who was super informative and helpful. We were lucky enough to stay in one of the hotels suites, which was absolutely stunning - clean, comfortable and beautifully finished.

Both evenings, we dined in Locanda’s restaurant on site, Taverna di Mozart. Not only is the setting beautiful, but on both occasions we had a delicious meal, great wine, and fantastic service from Francesco and Andrea who really looked after us during our stay. What we loved is that all of the produce is strictly Tuscan, and everything is locally sourced.

We booked a private cooking class with Locanda’s chef, Tina, which I would highly recommend. This included making our own pasta from scratch, heading into the kitchen with Tina to learn how to make the delicious sauce, and even whipping up a Tiramisu (then enjoying it all for lunch!) Tina was so informative and there were so many lovely extra touches that made this such a fantastic experience. A special shout out to Marika for capturing it all for us, and generally being so helpful and kind.

If you’re looking for a relaxing Tuscan getaway, Locanda could not be more perfect. The atmosphere and landscape is truly breathtaking and so peaceful - you’re surrounded by nothing but the hills and the sounds of the birds. We mostly chilled by the pool during our stay, but the hotel has many recommendations for activities around the Val d’Orcia area. They did book a wine tasting and tour at a local vineyard for us, which was great and very reasonable.

Overall, I can’t rave about this place enough! It was a truly magical and memorable stay that we will cherish forever. Grazie...