Hotel degli Aranci

This was one of the hotels we stayed in during our 2 weeks in Italy. We chose hotels that were at least 4 star rated. I am not really sure how this one slipped through that rating. The room was the smallest we have ever stayed in. The location wasn't great either. Between the late night car alarms going off and the garbage trucks picking up the dumpster outside our ground floor window, it wasn't very peaceful. The breakfast was OK, but I wouldn't waste my money on dinner at the hotel restaurant again. When we next return to Rome, we will find other accommodations.

Not the treatment I expected for a 4 stars hotel Pros Rooms are really nice, specious and well decorated. Cons Really bad experience considering we didn’t have our beds blankets changed (we left the room for 2 hours, so apparently there is no communication within the staff). They have a sign saying “we are green, if you leave the towels on the rack we will not change them”. We did it, but they changed they. This makes me wonder if they are only greenwashing. I booked this place because they said there is a gym, but when arrived this was not accessible and no communication was made. They told us only there, and they offered to find a gym to go where I should have paid. Finally, during breakfast we had to chase after the waiters just to have a coffee. It seemed we were like unwanted guests. Overall bad experience and absolutely not valuable for the money paid by far!

I have read the glowing reviews from other patrons on Hotel Degli. It has further emphasized my suspicion that we were given subpar treatment and accommodation. I wondered why. I kept my disappointments from my family initially because I didn’t want to spoil or negatively influence the great experiences of our Italian trip thus far. Our Venice and Florence visits were excellent. 1. We arrived at Hotel degli Aranci after an epicurean meal at Osmosi in Montepulciano. The vestibule of Degli is small. It might fit 5 adults but that would be a stretch. There were 13 of us with luggage. To ease the congestion, my son picked up his bag and walked up about 4 steps to a mezzanine floor. THAT MAN at the front desk yelled at my son repeatedly. It was unnerving. 2. We handed our passports to him as he requested. We gave them in order. Family by family. (My husband and I were given our room number and key so we left.) I heard this from one of my daughters. That man rearranged the documents and had to be corrected several times. I can only guess. We are a multiracial family. He kept putting our daughter-in-law’s passport with a son-in-law, who aren’t married. Both are white. 3. No help with luggage offered. My son helped us instead. 4. I was curious where the rest of my family was billeted so I went down to inquire. That man didn’t even look up to say, “May I help you?” I had to get his attention. I asked what rooms he assigned my family to. He pointed to the outside buildings and said, “There and there.” I was appalled. They misrepresented themselves. Those weren’t the rooms on the brochure they sent my travel agent. Had I known my family would be lodged there, I would not have chosen this hotel. I repeated my question. He repeated, “There and there. You can go yourself.” I didn’t want to knock on the wrong doors. He grudgingly gave me the numbers. That’s when I took pictures. 5. We could not make the in-house telephone work so we requested help. His instructions didn’t make sense. He wasn’t helpful. I even messaged my travel agent in the US to help us explain. We instead used our phone data to communicate with each other. 6. I needed more shower gel the next day. What a hotel staff handed my husband was shampoo gel. Not a problem I thought. I called the front desk and let THAT MAN know the error. He sent an equally rude person to give the correct gel. The uniformed staff handed me the bottle and turned and left while I was in mid-sentence. Bastos. What hotel staff does that? 7. One evening I asked my first daughter to get us a sandwich. We were too tired to go out. She needed a knife to cut the sandwiches. Apparently that was a mortal sin. She and her husband were given attitude by that same man at the front desk. Was it beneath him to give us a knife? 8. On the last night, my first daughter finally confessed how rudely they had been treated. Since they were outside the main hotel, she and her husband had no place to sit down and decompress. They went to the back garden, where breakfast was served each day. Another mortal sin. That man berated them. Even followed them to their hallway. My daughter finally had had it and told me. 9. I went down to get that man’s name. I tried to control my temper, which at that point, boiled over. He started to say his name but changed his mind and DEMANDED, “Why you want my name?” I told him I have had enough of his rude behavior and would be reporting him. He covered his nameplate and said, “No.” We exchanged raised voices. He threatened to call the police on me. I replied I will report him to the US Embassy. He flinched a little. 10. I turned to go to my daughter and her husband to let them know I will be reporting that man. He followed me and loudly knocked on my daughter and her husband’s door. For what reason, I didn’t know. They weren’t there. They were at our grandsons’ room at the time. 11. That was when I reported the incidents to the local travel agent’s What’s App number. THAT MAN needs to be trained to treat ALL patrons- white, black, or brown with respect.

Reception staff are nice. On arrival, I enquired about the gym and was told it would be closed until next week which wasn’t mentioned anywhere online - annoying as it’s one of the reasons I booked. Room is smaller than expected but very clean. Bathroom was also very clean and modern. No bathrobe or slippers provided which is surprising for 4 star. Breakfast was nice with a mixture of cooked foods, pastries, healthy fruits and grains. On check out, I tried to sit in the lobby with my suitcase while awaiting my transfer and was ushered out as they’d just mopped. Staff members didn’t offer my anywhere to wait and just expected me to stand for 1 hour? I eventually sat on the stairs and nobody made any effort to make me comfortable. Disappointing end to the stay.

I enjoyed my stay here! The hotel was beautiful and very clean. The staff were also extremely kind and helpful. I was a little nervous about the area being far from city center but it's actually in a very cute neighborhood with lots of cute restaurants! We really enjoyed exploring the area, and there's a train nearby that was very convenient to use. The complimentary breakfast wasn't the best breakfast that I've ever had but I was very content with it, there were lots of options and it was nice to have a free breakfast every morning. The only thing I didn't love was that our room was not in the main building. We were in like a small adjacent building in the courtyard, which would have been fine, but we were near the entrance/exit to maintenance/housekeeping, and they woke us up every morning around 8am. They would talk outside our window and were just generally loud coming and going.

Not the treatment I expected for a 4 stars hotel Pros Rooms are really nice, specious and well decorated. Cons Really bad experience considering we didn’t have our beds blankets changed (we left the room for 2 hours, so apparently there is no communication within the staff). They have a sign saying “we are green, if you leave the towels on the rack we will not change them”. We did it, but they changed they. This makes me wonder if they are only greenwashing. I booked this place because they said there is a gym, but when arrived this was not accessible and no communication was made. They told us only there, and they offered to find a gym to go where I should have paid. Finally, during breakfast we had to chase after the waiters just to have a coffee. It seemed we were like unwanted guests. Overall bad experience and absolutely not valuable for the money paid by far!

This was one of the hotels we stayed in during our 2 weeks in Italy. We chose hotels that were at least 4 star rated. I am not really sure how this one slipped through that rating. The room was the smallest we have ever stayed in. The location wasn't great either. Between the late night car alarms going off and the garbage trucks picking up the dumpster outside our ground floor window, it wasn't very peaceful. The breakfast was OK, but I wouldn't waste my money on dinner at the hotel restaurant again. When we next return to Rome, we will find other accommodations.