When we started doing research for a hotel to stay in Tuscany for a friend's wedding, we found tripadvisor.com to be the one with most reviews. Relais La Fattoria was recommended by a friend, however we couldn't find any recent reviews about this place. So now we decided to write one after our return to the States. One criteria for us is the close proximity to the wedding location (10-15 minutes drive) and we also wanted a hotel, not a villa where we have to cook and clean after ourselves (at least for this trip). Relais La Fattoria was a pleasant surprise. Everything just fits the bill. All the staff we dealt with were super friendly and professional. One of our luggage was left behind in Dublin during the flight connection, our receptionist was so nice that she called the airline and followed up for us. We got our luggage delivered to the hotel the next day (thank goodness, otherwise we would have to wear t-shirt to the wedding). It's also a scenic drive up the hill to this place, but totally worth it! We highly recommend getting a room with the lake view!

With trepidation I booked a two night stay at this wonderful hotel with my in laws particularly after reading some of the reviews on trip advisor.

Well I should not have wasted a worry. The hotel is wonderful, the setting amazing and the food and service incredible.

From the time we checked in the staff were attentive, pleasant and kind, our rooms were well appointed and on our first night we enjoyed a gastronomic meal under the moonlight on the terrace served by one of the best waiters I have ever experienced - everything he did to make our meal special was a joy. Breakfasts were great too.

All in all one of the most memorable stays in Italy and we will ALL be going back

An awful experience in a could be great location.
The position is great but service is non existent, rooms are outdated, swimming pool is more a plunge pool and not clean, breakfast is very basic and the people working there are absolutely useless and never SMILING.
All in all try to avoid it.
We stayed only 2 nites and then moved.
ciao

This is a beautifully located hotel with 4 major problems. (1) On arrival we found our room ( #30) was situated on the same floor as the owners' flat and could only be accessed by lift. This needed a "penthouse only" key. That meant we had to go to the room together and if one of us wished to go up alone we had to devise a scheme of alerting the other to throw the key out of a window or we had to go up together and the night owl had to take the key away (leaving door unlocked in case of fire), (2) The floor on which we were apparently had no fire escape and certainly no plan or signage indicating where to go in an emergency. On enquiry we were told that we could find a stairway through the owners' flat! Stlll no plan or sign after three days.(3) No air conditioning. This meant trying to sleep with the window open. Impossible with loud music from village, mad Ducati drivers buzzing the roads around the hotel, barking dogs and the arrival of construction workers at 6a.m. (4) There is a serious shortage of staff. They appeared (reception apart) to be four in number and under pressure. This led to service being unacceptably slow and unsmiling. (one hour for a first dinner course to arrive, 20 minutes for a dessert) no attempt to refill empty self service baskets at breakfast One waitress was just surly. There is no real bar service. If you can find someone prepared to take an order for a beer it will take five to ten minutes to arrive.