This was an extremely disappointing booking.
It was supposed to be a premium listing, but I would highly discourage people to go there. It's the first time in my life that i write a bad review, but it's worth it.
- Communication: The host insisted that we not use Airbnb to communicate. Everything was via private numbers, which was terrible because the host only wrote and spoke Italian. Not a single word of english. It was a struggle to communicate for basic things.
- Animals: There were so many animals on the farm, which wasn't clear in the listing. There were 2 cats, 2 dogs trapped in a small area outside that were barking and 2 horses. At some point, a Pitbull was at our house for whole day, which was super scary because we couldn't have it leave.
- Outside payments: Despite Airbnb's support team telling us that we should never pay anything outside of the platform, the host threatened to not let us come to the villa 3 days before the travel date if we didn't pay via bank transfer. Worst, he actually wanted cash, which I outright refused.
- Security deposit: I thought the concept of Airbnb was that it we didn't need to pay security deposit, especially not outside of the platform. I told the host that airbnb said we should use the resolution center for that, but they just didn't care and ignored our request.
- Astronomical cleaning fees. The cleaning fees were €500, which of course was managed outside of airbnb's platform. No choice.
- Energy costs excluded: Gaz and Electricity costs were not included in the Airbnb price. For 10 days & 9 people, the host ended up charging us €600! Of course, as it was also managed outside of airbnb, we just couldn't dispute that and get our money back. Airbnb should not let hosts charge energy cost outside the platform.
- Roads: The roads to get there are terrible and we almost broke our car twice. This was never communicated.
- Isolated: The roads are so bad, that it takes anywhere between 40-90 minutes to get to the city. This wasn't clear on the listing.
- House Dilapidated: The whole house is badly maintained. So many things were not working. The gym equipment was not working. The pool was falling apart. The internal jacuzzi never worked. And many other things I can't remember.
- Forest Fires: There were multiple days where we saw fires around the house, which was scary, dangerous and smelling terrible.
- Bad internet: We went there as a company retreat to work, and we could barely get a decent connection.
- No cell coverage: Depending on your network company, most of us could not get any cell network
- Not real airbnb host. This listing was managed by a 3-rd party agency. The agency does not follow the rules and guidelines of airbnb. I've never seen a listing on airbnb where you have to pay a Security deposit, extra charges for cleaning fees, gaz and electricity, let alone outside of the airbnb platform.
- Made up charges: The host charged an extra €100 for allegedly breaking the jacuzzi. Not only did the jacuzzi never worked, we have no way to dispute that claim.
All in all, this listing should NOT be on airbnb. It hurts the experience to have agencies list properties like this with some many outside payment.