Beautiful Villa With Panoramic Views near San Gimignano

Dear Pierre. I am extremely disappointed to read your review of your stay at Collinella, especially your account of my response to the odour in the bathroom which you reported to me on the second of your four day stay. I immediately responded by asking you to run the water in the affected bathroom for ten minutes as the house had been unoccupied for three weeks prior to your stay so this may have resolved the issue. As it didn’t I informed you that I would contact the condominium manager to request the attendance of an engineer which I did immediately. However as you informed me of this issue on a Saturday I informed you that I may not receive an immediate response. I did receive a response on the day that you checked out and this issue was resolved. I did not simply say ‘close the door’ as you have described. The road is 3.5km of traditional gravelled road which is common in Tuscany. It does have some short hill sections which have some bumps but to describe the entire road as a ‘rollercoaster’ is inaccurate. It is used daily by permanent residents of Collinella. I am sorry to hear that you describe noise from neighbours. You did not report this to me - if you had done so I would have contacted the owners to resolve it. I would ask anyone reading this review to read about the positive experiences of my other guests, especially the care I take in ensuring they have a wonderful stay. Regards. Steve.

Dear Guest. Thank you for your kind review. I’m so pleased to hear that you enjoyed your stay in this lovely area of Tuscany. Many thanks Steve.

Dear Guest. Thank you for your review of your stay at Collinella 14. I am sorry to hear that you were troubled by cats. They are not owned by anyone on the site but do occasionally appear. I hope they didn't spoil your stay. It sounds from your review that you found the house met your expectations and I trust you enjoyed the spectacular views. Best Wishes. Steve

Dear Guest, Thank you for your review and I am sorry to hear that your stay did not meet your expectations. I am grateful for the additional information that you sent directly to me. I was disappointed to hear about the cleanliness of the kitchen and you will recall that you informed me about this upon arrival and I offered to ask the cleaner to attend immediately to rectify the situation, however you declined that offer. My cleaner operates a high standard of cleaning so I have already raised your concerns with her. The information on my web listing does describe the location and access road - its in rural Tuscany where gravel roads are common and there are no shops or restaurants close by. However the views are amazing so are compensation for its remote location. The area is in the 'Parco Benestare' an area of 'outstanding beauty'. It's surrounded by farmland so flies do get in too but there are insect screens on most of the windows to minimise this. I am sorry to hear that you would not stay in my property again but hope that you will return to this beautiful part of Tuscany in the future.

Thank you for your review. The long access road is not uncommon in this area but I recognise it can be unfamiliar at first. I’m glad that you found the journey worthwhile for the spectacular views from the property. It’s great to hear that you had such an enjoyable stay. I have noted your comments about the air conditioning and will be discussing this with the property owners in the next weeks. Best wishes Steve

Dear Richard, Thank you for your lovely review of your stay at Collinella, your description of the amazing views and the peace and quiet of the location. I am pleased to hear that you enjoyed your stay and were able to award such a good star rating. I am also pleased to tell you that, in April this year, the road was repaired and the surface on the hill approaching Collinella was completely replaced. This will make it much more resistant to damage. I am sorry to hear that you found the kitchen/living room rather small but hope that this was compensated by the generous outdoor living space and those sensational views. Thank you for taking the time to write this review, I hope to be able to welcome you back to Collinella in the future. Very Best Wishes Steve

Thank you for your lovely 5 star review of your stay at Collinella 14. I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed the property, pool and views. It is a recognised area of outstanding natural beauty. I’m glad to hear that you were able to explore the many medieval local towns that offer many different perspectives of the local area. Hopefully you also enjoyed the wonderful local restaurants and shops. There is something for everyone! Thank you also for the feedback about the air conditioning. Your stay was during an unusually hot period. Last year we installed air conditioning in the upstairs but previous feedback from our guests indicated that it was not necessary downstairs. I will continue to monitor this during this year. Very best wishes Steve.

Dear guest. Thank you for your review and I’m pleased that you gave your stay a 4 star rating. However, I think it’s a little unfair to state that “ a lot went wrong” so I think it’s important to reassure my future guests. Firstly, the road. The road is surfaced with gravel and is quite common in Tuscany. During the winter we experience heavy rain and this does cause damage to the surface. However, each year we spend around 5000 euros to repair the damage and bring it back to good condition. We can’t do that work until the heavy rains subside which is normally April. After that the road is much better. I have now had the opportunity to check the condition and it is fair to say that of the 3 kilometres there are several potholes in a section of approximately half a kilometre and the hill sections are quite bumpy. But the majority is in reasonable condition. You may recall that I did contact you nearly a month before your arrival to advise you about the road and that there were some bumpy sections. You mentioned cows on the road. The cows roam in the fields but unless they breach the fences they should not be either on the road or on the condominium gardens. It’s highly unusual for this to happen - maybe once in 2-3 years. The cows are owned by the farmer who is responsible for them. It’s unfortunate that they ‘escaped’ during your stay. Whilst there have been no guests in the month before your stay the house was visited the day before by the housekeeper and gas engineer who undertook the annual service of the boiler and the heating system. It was working perfectly but it appears that the engineer may have switched the heating off after the service. I am sorry that the house was not warm upon your arrival and you had to switch the heating on. You may have noticed that the air conditioners have a heat function which would have provided instant heating whilst the radiators were heating up the house. I don’t understand why you say you had cold showers? You confirmed that there was hot water and I advised you that, the type of boiler is an on demand combi system so it takes a few minutes for the flow to get to the upstairs bathroom. I have guests that arrived a few days after you left and they report that both showers are working correctly with a flow of hot water. I am aware that the large arched door can leak occasionally when we encounter heavy rain and the wind blows it onto the door. It doesn’t happen often though. I trust this didn’t cause too much inconvenience. I believe overall that you enjoyed your stay and exploring the local towns and vineyards. Thank you for your feedback, I take note of your comments. Kind regards Steve

Bedankt voor uw mooie beoordeling. We zijn zo blij dat u genoten heeft van uw verblijf en dat onze accommodatie aan uw verwachtingen voldeed. Jullie waren geweldige gasten; wij verwelkomen u graag terug.