Masseria Panareo — Restaurant in Otranto

Positives first. Impressive reconstruction of a historic building. Landscaped grounds in a beautiful landscape. Pleasant room with outside space. Supper and breakfast were fine. |Less positive. We stayed here as part of an Inntravel walking package. Arrived after a long hike. The reception staff could not have done less to be welcoming. Not a smile, nothing. Other travellers informed us that they were given no assistance to take heavy bags down a flight of stairs. A feeling as if no one was quite good enough for the place. |The bar area was very small. Four people sitting in a sofa in from of a (lovely) fire, all immersed in their phones/laptops. We asked where else there was to sit and were pointed to some cushions next to the fire. We took our drinks back to our room... No price lists offered. Why? ||Our room was fine, if a bit dark - probably nice in the heat of the summer. |At dinner, everyone had been asked to order their food in advance and while the food is fine ( not special) and the dining space impressive - the system makes it feel a bit like school dinners. Having said that our waitress was lovely - the first friendly face we had encountered since our arrival.||Breakfast was ok but compared to other hotels on our trip, nothing special. Again the female waiting staff were friendlier than those on reception.||The language used in Masserio Panareo publicity is ridiculously over the top and bears no relation to how it feels to be a guest here. There is absolutely no way we would choose to stay here...

The air conditioning in the room did not work while we stayed there in the hottest part of the summer.

At least, the air conditioning worked but blew warm wind instead of cold wind. After reporting we were told that this was normal and that the air conditioning worked normally.

On top of this, the air conditioning does not work for a large part of the morning / early afternoon under the guise that the cleaners are cleaning the rooms. This is also not entirely correct. The cleaners always came late in the afternoon. This made the room structurally a sauna.

Furthermore, the accommodation is far too expensive for what you get. There are no Masseria vibes here at all.

As a reaction to the owners reply: We fully understand that we have to keep the windows closed for the air conditioning to work. You give this response to all reviews that indicate that the air conditioning is lousy. In a last attempt to protect new travelers from this terrible room, another response.

Yes, technically the airconditioning works. However, an airconditioning is supose to cool the room. This was absolutely not the case since it only blows warm air. The room was at all time a sauna. In the morning, during the day and during the night. It was a hell trying to sleep in that room. Maybe other rooms are better but this room was hotter than...

Beware that you need a car to access the property, which is in the literal middle of nowhere. We needed to pre-order dinner 2-3 hours in advance if we wanted to eat in house from a fixed menu. There were no continental choices on the menu, therefore both me and my partner decided to only choose and pre-order one "starter" each and no main course. Two different staff members both assured us that we wouldn't have to pay for the full meal in that case. Regardless I noticed on my credit card statement that they've charged us for the two full 3 course meals. Shame because otherwise the food was good. Wonderful, secluded masseria in nature. It is located in a very relaxing setting, great place to disconnect from the world.The room was comfortable and there was enough space. We had both a bathtub and a shower which was nice. Even though we could not control the heating (only the A/C that did not put out any warm air) the temperature ended up being fine for the night. There is a tennis court and a swimming pool (which is weather dependant, still closed in April). The local wine is fantastic and I definitely recommend...