Abbazia San Faustino Residenza d'Epoca

We had booked five nights half board at this hotel to celebrate our Golden Wedding Anniversary and my wife's birthday based upon previous reviews and details on the hotel's website, unfortunately the stay did not turn out as we had anticipated. The drive to the hotel, which is in a really rural setting ,was fine twisting and turning with wonderful views but then the unmade road started. It was over a mile or so long and was very badly rutted and potholed, particularly in the steep sections - not good news for a car with sports suspension and the danger of a puncture was always imminent - not a good start. We had kindly been upgraded to suite and were offered a choice of two but neither were really what we had expected from the website pictures - the furniture was antique but very tired, windows and shutters didn't fit properly, lighting levels were very dim and there was a distinct lack of suitable power points to charge devices etc. The bathroom in the suite we chose was very small and a bit smelly and the shower cabinet was tiny so you could hardly turn around in it plus it took fifteen minutes for the water to run just warm and then the water went under the ill fitting door and started flooding the bathroom. We went down for dinner to discover that we were the only guests in residence so there was not much ambience in the dining room and the menu had limited choices (as some dishes were not available) and only one dessert was on offer for the whole of our stay. We were expecting 'rustic' Umbrian dishes but the food was really only just passable and poorly presented, not at all like the pictures on the website - very disappointing. The next morning I spoke to the on-site manager (using Google Translate to overcome the language difficulties) and we were offered a move to another suite which was better as it actually had two bathrooms with modern walk-in shower units which worked well enough with actual hot water but being on two levels we had a great deal of difficulty moving suitcases up a very narrow spiral staircase. Breakfast was limited as we were the only people there although it did improve when more people came to stay at the hotel but the dinner menu never changed and after three nights we had we had run out of dishes which we would have chosen. On an interesting note, the on-site handyman, who tried to do something to improve our original shower unit, also appeared to be the chef! So certainly not a four star hotel and certainly not four star service - our room was never serviced, cups and saucers from our first night never collected and wet towels never changed. After three nights we decided we had had enough, made our excuses and checked out after paying for a partial stay and incurring a €150 'penalty' for early check out. So the moral of the story is to check out all the hotel reviews (on reflection most of the good ones were from guests who had been at weddings here which they obviously do well) and don't always believe t

La struttura non è proprio facilmente raggiungibile e ci sono alcuni tratti di strada sterrata, ma il contesto è strepitoso. Sarebbe ideale per chi, come noi, desidera trascorrere alcuni giorni in completo relax... Estremamente curato il recupero dell'abbazia e una grande piscina immersa nel verde. Lettini e ombrelloni non sono sufficienti per tutti gli ospiti e molti sono rimasti sotto il sole cocente di ferragosto. Negli alloggi non c'è l'aria condizionata e questo può essere un vero problema nelle giornate particolarmente calde. La nostra suite presentava qualche difetto (soprattutto il bagno e le zanzariere appoggiate dall'esterno alla finestra). La nota veramente negativa, però, è il ristorante: siamo arrivati alle 14, digiuni, e abbiamo chiesto la possibilità di avere un panino... ci è ststo riferito che la cucina chiude alle 14 e abbiamo dovuto attendere, digiuni, le 20. Non è presente nessun punto ristoro nelle vicinanze né un distributore di bevande. Il ristorante, poi, si è rivelato una gran delusione per il servizio approssimativo (per esrmpio alla richiesta di un po' di pane da parte di un commensale è stato dato il cestello prelevato dal tavolo di chi lo aveva lasciato a fine pasto). Per il pranzo di ferragosto sono state annunciate insalatone e panini ma è stato offerto un miserissimo buffet. Io ho iniziato a stare male nel pomeriggio di ferragosto e la mia compagna dal giorno dopo; la gastroenterite è durata una settimana e sebbene non si possa stabilire con certezza un nesso causale, è molto probabile che vi sia. Abbiamo speso 430 euro per 3 giorni. Purtroppo non posso consigliare questa struttura, nonostante l'estrema cortesia della signora alla reception.

Una bella struttura immersa nella più piena quiete dei colli Umbri. Stanze carine ma troppo calde (siamo capitati in giornate caldissime per carità ma senza condizionatore era davvero insopportabile stare in camera). Cibo top sia colazione che cena e servizio al ristorante ottimo. Peccato per non avere un bar in zona piscina e poco personale non efficiente a servire sia aperitivi che altro. Troppi insetti (non credo sia stata fatta disinfestazione) in zona piscina; vespe, pappataci, zanzare davvero troppe e fastidiose. Aggiustate queste piccole cose credo diventerebbe top tutto! Bravi!