Myself and a friend booked the venue to celebrate our 30th birthdays with a group of friends, we had in mind a wedding style dinner for one of the evenings, which is why we chose this venue because the description details catering for weddings and any type of party or celebration.
Unfortunately we were extremely disappointed when 9 days before we were due to arrive (we booked 6 months in advance), the host contacted us after not replying to us for quite some time, to tell us that they would no longer host our final dinner. There was a group of 25 of us, so to find an alternative was difficult, but this is besides the point really, as we did not want another dinner out in a restaurant, we wanted something more intimate with caterers at the villa, the exact thing the Airbnb listing describes. The host cancelling the dinner was not given with much of an apology either. This was the main reason we booked the villa, and the host didn’t really seem to care, had we actually been a wedding party perhaps they would have taken it more seriously, which is a shame as we are paying guests just like any other.
The host lists that they will sort transport for large groups. In the same message cancelling the dinner, the host said we should just organise mini vans to drive ourselves around instead. She mentioned that it was august and lots of Italian people will be on holiday so the taxi companies wouldn’t agree to it. We had to push back so that the host would eventually help us book the taxis, and the taxis themselves were completely fine - even with it being august.
We had also pre-arranged late check out from the villa, which was agreed. Taxis had been booked to leave on the Monday throughout the day, it was also a public holiday so the taxis were difficult to book in the first place. We received a text from the owners around 5:30pm Sunday afternoon to say they were cancelling the late check-out as they had just taken a booking from the Monday. This is totally unacceptable to let us know with such late notice. The host also took it upon themselves to contact taxi companies we had booked and cancelled our cars herself. Part of hosting such a large group and taking such a large amount of money for the stay includes the customer care side of hosting. For a venue that sleeps that many people I would suggest not taking bookings to check in the same day you have another group checking out, especially when you have agreed late check out, it left the worst possible lasting impression of our hosts.
All of the above had a very negative impact on our trip, which was such a shame because the villa itself is beautiful. It catered for our needs, we were able to cook breakfast, relax in the grounds, and the sleeping arrangements for most of us exceeded expectations (a few of the beds could have been better but for 23 or so guests I would not expect perfect sleeping for all).
The pool however could certainly do with maintenance and better upkeep/cleaning, or replacing altogether.
The location is great, we easily got to Rome, the beach, and a vineyard, so had a full and enjoyable weekend despite the shortfalls of the hosts.
I would recommend going to the villa because of the size, condition, and location , but would advise being extremely direct with exactly what you would like from the hosts/your trip and having them agree to organise these things straight away. We thought that them organising at a later date would be fine because we booked so far in advance, but when it came to it they did not deliver. My honest opinion is that they didn’t want us to stay (because it was August and a public holiday) and wanted us to cancel the booking our end rather than have a bad score on their Airbnb for cancelling from their side.