Hotel Degli Aranci

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.

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.