Farmhouse Il Macchione — Hotel in Unione dei Comuni Valdichiana Senese

I'm only posting this here because booking.com moderated my original, entirely objective review.

Agriturismo Il Macchione enjoys a stunning setting with beautiful views. The rooms are clean, spacious, and the beds are comfortable. The location is also very convenient for exploring Pienza and surrounds. The pool is large, deep, and well-maintained.

Unfortunately, the experience was marred by the attitude of the proprietor, which would prevent me from returning or recommending the place.

A few hours after arriving, I received a rather curt phone call from Francesco, whose wife had shown us to the wrong room - which was only realised when other guests arrived. We had to re-pack, wake our two-year-old, and move room. Mistakes can happen, and I appreciate could be stressful to deal with, but he was onsite and could have just had the interaction in person rather than by phone. The focus of said call being that we were only paying for a certain room thus need to move... rather than an apology for the mixup and a polite request to move. I subsequently saw that he greeted the new guests (the rooms were adjacent) but didn't see fit to put his head around our door to either greet us, apologise nor thank us for moving.

Breakfast was managed via a form guests had to fill out in advance — a little unusual but not a major issue. That said, on our first morning we were told there wasn’t space for us to eat and that we’d need to have breakfast in our room. After the mix-up the evening prior this felt like a bit of a kick while we were down!

The advertised laundry service was another surprise. It turned out that they use a local laundrette, and then charge guests 20 EUR per kilo of laundry. In the end, we just did the laundry ourselves directly at the laundrette.

The day after we checked out, I received a WhatsApp message from Francesco asking me to pay for some prosecco, beer, and water we had taken from the fridge. I was surprised, as these items weren’t labelled with prices (like all the bottles of wine in the room were)— so we assumed they were complimentary. This seemed like a fair assumption, with precedence, given our previous host in the area had included a couple of bottles of wine as a welcome gift — which I had thanked the hostess for and had not been charged. Plus, these drinks weren’t restocked during our stay, reinforcing the impression that they were complimentary.

At checkout, we had not been asked whether we had consumed anything (and to our mind we didn't owe anything above the room charge), so it’s not as if I tried to avoid payment. Regardless, I said I’d pay on receipt of an itemised invoice — which I only requested because I’d been told we’d had both prosecco and white wine (we had not had the latter). The invoice was later sent, I paid it promptly via the provided payment link, and then simply pointed out that inconsistent labeling had caused the confusion.

Then came the bizarre response that supposedly in 25 years of business this had never happened and that I was “milking it” — despite having literally just paid the additional bill. I don’t understand what prompted the rudeness and I have never once “milked” a hotel, B&B, restaurant or otherwise. It's a real pity as, if things had been handled differently, this would have been an enjoyable stay. Perhaps if we had met in person at the beginning of our stay, Francesco might have been less quick to accuse me of dishonesty or trying to "cheat the structure" as he did in a...

Wir haben im Oktober 2020 unsere Hochzeitsreise über Venedig, Florenz, Siena und Pienza geplant. Wir sind nach 6 Tagen kurz vor Siena im Hotel beide an Grippe erkrankt und haben uns entschieden unseren Urlaub abzubrechen und im Frühjahr 2022 fortzusetzen. Mit unserer Erkältung war das für andere Hotelgäste in der aktuellen Coronazeit nicht zumutbar. Das Hotel in dem wir waren, war so nett und hat für uns im Agriturismo II Macchione angerufen und erklärt, dass wir schon in der Toskana ( ca. 20 km vor Siena ) sind aber aufgrund der Erkrankung die Reise abbrechen müssen, aber im Frühjahr diese fortsetzen wollen. Uns wurde eine telefonische Umbuchung angeboten. Wir sollten aber die Buchung bei booking.com erst einmal stornieren und würden dann die Möglichkeit eines Ersatztermines bekommen. Zuhause angekommen haben die Buchung storniert aber keinen Ersatz angeboten bekommen. Wir haben 4 x versucht Kontakt über verschiedene Mailadressen mit dem Agriturismo II Macchione aufzunehmen. Keine Reaktion! Auch hat booking.com (die wir dann eingeschaltet haben) ebenfalls keinerlei Antworten erhalten. Telefonisch wurde booking.com immer abgewiesen und Kommunikation per Mail verwiesen. Man hat denen sogar beim letzten Telefonat einfach das Telefon aufgelegt. ca. 3 Wochen später kam dann endlich eine Antwort. Man konnte das Zimmer nicht weiterverkaufen und deshalb behält man die gesamte Summe der Buchung ein. Wir haben dann nochmal geschrieben, dass wir keine Rückerstattung des Betrages möchten, sondern lediglich eine neue Buchung im Frühjahr 2022 für die Fortsetzung unserer Hochzeitsreise. Bis heute keine Reaktion mehr. Unsere Buchung ist auch 4 Tage vor Antritt nicht mehr kostenfrei stornierbar gewesen! Über die Unterkunft können wir nichts aussagen, da wir ja nicht dort waren. Eigentlich haben sie einen guten Internet Auftritt und auch sehr gute Bewertungen, dass sie das eigentlich nicht nötig haben müssten! Wir sind sehr enttäuscht über das Verhalten.

Abbiamo programmato la nostra luna di miele a Venezia, Firenze, Siena e Pienza nell'ottobre 2020. Dopo 6 giorni appena prima di Siena in hotel, entrambi abbiamo preso l'influenza e abbiamo deciso di interrompere la nostra vacanza e continuare nella primavera del 2022. Con il nostro raffreddore, era irragionevole per gli altri ospiti dell'hotel nell'attuale periodo Corona. L'hotel in cui abbiamo alloggiato era molto carino e ci ha chiamato l'Agriturismo II Macchione e ci ha spiegato che eravamo già in Toscana (a circa 20 km da Siena) ma abbiamo dovuto interrompere il viaggio a causa della malattia, ma questo in primavera vuole Continua. Ci è stato offerto di riprenotare per telefono. Ma dovremmo prima cancellare la prenotazione su booking.com e poi ci sarebbe data la possibilità di una data alternativa. Quando siamo arrivati ​​a casa, abbiamo cancellato la prenotazione ma non ci è stato offerto un sostituto. Abbiamo provato 4 volte a contattare l'Agriturismo II Macchione tramite indirizzi email diversi. Nessuna reazione! Anche Booking.com (che poi abbiamo attivato) non ha ricevuto alcuna risposta. Booking.com è sempre stato rifiutato per telefono e la comunicazione via e-mail è stata rifiutata. Hai appena riattaccato il telefono per loro durante l'ultima telefonata. Circa 3 settimane dopo ho finalmente ricevuto una risposta. La camera non può essere rivenduta e pertanto viene trattenuto l'intero importo della prenotazione. Abbiamo poi scritto nuovamente che non vogliamo il rimborso della cifra, ma solo una nuova prenotazione nella primavera del 2022 per il proseguimento della nostra luna di miele. Nessuna reazione più a questo giorno. La nostra prenotazione non può più essere cancellata gratuitamente 4 giorni prima dell'inizio dell'evento!

Non possiamo dire nulla sull'alloggio dato che non c'eravamo. In realtà, hanno una buona presenza su Internet e anche ottime recensioni che non devono avere davvero! Siamo molto delusi dal...

Absolutely spectacular! We were only going to be in the Tuscan countryside for 3 days and we were trying to decide whether to stay in Siena (a city) or Pienza (a small town). I found this place on booking.com so we decided to give the small town a shot. We are so beyond happy we made this decision.

Pienza itself is very tiny and cute and you cannot drive through the town. The farmhouse is located about 1.5 miles outside of town so you can drive to it as it is set off a little road with a STUNNING view! We only booked a room and a bathroom, but the also have packages where you can book a kitchen. Very cute accommodations with comfortable bed.

The owner Francesco was very friendly and extremely helpful, giving us tips on places to check out in town ( I recommend Sette di Vino for dinner). They also make their own oil and wine, both of which are spectacular! Additionally, the owner set us up with a wine tour. Lastly, the breakfast was wonderful...