Hotel Masseria Fortificata Donnaloia

This hotel is gorgeous, the terrace has amazing views, the restaurant is beautiful, the pool is great and I loved all the plants around. Also great location, the beach is five minutes away and there are great restaurants with good prices around. However for me the biggest pro of this hotel is the staff. We needed to get a PCR test and the receptionist went above and beyond to schedule this for us. It’s a pity I didn’t get his name but he was the one that welcomed us in the hotel on Sunday, July 18th. He not only managed to book us the test but got the lab to bring someone over to the hotel for it and printed all the forms for us beforehand. We could see how stressful the whole logistics were but he made sure we were enjoying our time there while he took care of it. The staff in the restaurant was also brilliant, always checking if we needed anything and bringing coffees and eggs promptly. Grazie mille a tutti!

Ambiente accogliente e confortevole personale qualificato e gentile

Myself and my family were in Puglia for my brothers wedding. I booked a 2 night stay at this hotel for myself, wife and 16-month old little boy. Regrettably, I can’t say that I had a great experience during my stay here. On the eve of the wedding my parents had arranged with the hotel for a welcome drinks reception to be served at 19.00pm. This was for approximately 40 of our close friends and family that had travelled to Puglia to attend the wedding. Shortly before this drinks reception, I stepped into my hotel room shower and as I touched the glass shower door – the glass door SPONTANEOUSLY EXPLODED, SHATTERING AND SPRAYING A MASS OF SHARP SHARDS OF GLASS EVERYWHERE. I sustained several cuts to my hands, legs, feet etc. In fact, I was surrounded by so much glass, I was unable to step out of the shower. It was fortunate that my wife was in the bedroom as she was able to summon urgent help. A close member of my family removed the baby from the hotel room and went to the reception desk. UNBELIEVEABLY and WITHOUT ANY EXAGGERATION within 15 MINUTES from the incident occurring and WHILST I WAS STILL STRANDED in the shower, surrounded by inches of sharp shards of glass (and our 40 guests were arriving and assembling in the hotel courtyard for the drinks reception) – The total FOCUS and PRIORITY of the hotels reception was to PREPARE and PRESENT AN INVOICE WHICH DEMANDED A PAYMENT of 550 euro’s. This demand for 550 euros was to cover the replacement cost of the shattered glass shower door and was presented to my parents and without me having even the most very basic or relevant information about the shower glass i.e. • I had no clue as to how old the shower door was nor when it had been fitted? • Whether the door had been properly maintained? • If the glass had sustained any previous damage? • Whether the glass was compliant, conforming with the relevant required safety and building standards? Given the urgency and severity of the situation – no First Aider attended the hotel room to provide any assessment, assistance or advice. The only member of staff to enter the hotel room at the time of the incident was the hotel porter. After the incident and using tweezers, my wife removed approximately 30 shards of glass which were imbedded in my hands, legs and feet. That evening, the hotel was fully booked, so we could not be relocated to an alternative hotel room. In view of this, I was ASSURED that whilst we were out of the room arrangements would be made for our hotel room to be thoroughly and spotlessly cleaned. Several hours later, I returned to the hotel room only to find that a shower curtain had been erected in place of the glass door – which implied that the hotel considered it safe to use the bathing facilities in the room. On close inspection I could see that there were still numerous small splinters of glass scattered in the bathroom, shower and in the bedroom. This served to demonstrate an absolute and total disregard for my personal wellbeing, that of my immediate family in particular the safety of my 16 month old little boy. NOT ONCE DID ANY MEMBER OF THE HOTEL STAFF SPEAK DIRECTLY WITH ME TO FIND OUT HOW I WAS, WHAT OR HOW THIS INCIDENT HAPPENED. The following morning, we checked out of the hotel as we had previously planned to do. About 3 days later, I first started to feel unwell. On the 4th day, I sought advice from a local pharmacy in Savelletri as one of the cuts to my hands started to look infected. On the 5th day the symptoms became significantly worse, so much so, I attended the local hospital in Monopoli and was prescribed medication. All the while during this period and at this same time the hotel was still INSISTENT and DEMANDING full payment of the 550 euros for the shattered glass door. A few days after this, I returned home. Unfortunately, during the flight, I felt extremely unwell. The flight crew made arrangements for a paramedic and ambulance to meet the airplane on landing. I was assessed and transferred directly from the airplane (by ambulance) to the nearest hospital to the airport (which was located some distance from my home) I was initially admitted to this airport hospital for 5 nights before transferring to a hospital nearer to my home where I was admitted for a further night and 2 days. During this time, I received treatment for suspected SEPSIS. All these pictures were taken after the room had been ‘spotlessly cleaned’!

Our hotel room was old fashioned, the fixtures and fittings were basic, old and looked very well used. The standard of cleanliness was poor - particularly in the bathroom and not up to the standards you could reasonably expect from a 5* hotel. The shower cubical was so small. That if you accidently dropped the soap whilst showering, it would be near-on impossible to pick the soap back up. So much so, that on one of the mornings my husband was taking a shower when the glass shower door suddenly came off it’s track. The situation could have been extremely serious and we urgently had to summon help to reposition the shower door back onto it’s rail. This hotel stay was a disappointment and represented poor value for money; it did not provide the quality of furnishings nor most importantly the guest experience that you would expect from a genuine 5* hotel.

Not the quiet oasis you might initially imagine Booked this hotel with my wife and 3 small children in July for 5 nights. The hotel location is a little remote and is set in the quiet, peaceful, Puglian countryside. That said, you could assume that the hotel would be a quiet oasis – well, you would be wrong. On 3 of the nights we were there and without any advance courtesy warning or any consideration given to the ‘paying’ hotel guests. It became evident that this hotel caters for lots of small private parties – we returned to our hotel room only to find huge music systems being set up directly outside our hotel room – which resulted in us having to endure loud music blaring out to the early hours of the morning. The hotel needs to think more seriously about it's guests when agreeing to such events. Given that this is a people orientated business - the staff were generally unfriendly, they never smiled and left you with the impression that they didn’t want you there.

We booked to stay at this ‘supposedly’ 5* Massaria for 6 nights.  I very much regret staying there for that long. Our hotel room was small, cramped and very dark. Much of the space taken up by old, dated furniture – leaving very little room to move around and making the room feel claustrophobic. The air conditioning in our room was noisy and ineffective - in peak summer the room was hot and made sleeping uncomfortable. Breakfast was generally not too bad. Although, it was irritating to be asked every morning whether we would be eating in the hotel restaurant later that evening? Initially, we ate at the hotel restaurant on 2 separate evenings. On both these occasions we generally had a good experience and were satisfied with the quality and portion size of the food. Given that these previous dining experiences had gone well – regrettably, I made arrangements for us all to eat in the hotel restaurant for a 3rd evening. On this 3rd occasion, I wanted to host a very ‘special dinner’ which was to cater for 20 members of family, all of whom were similarly guests staying at this hotel.  As we were a large party, during the afternoon, I took the time to speak directly with the reception staff and with the Chef. The Chef and I agreed a set menu and fixed price which would cater for the adults and children in my party. I selected a choice of dishes that we had EATEN PREVIOUSLY at the same hotel and had all liked.   When we sat down for dinner, it was apparent that there was some confusion – with approximately 12 other hotel guests seated on 2 of the other tables. Seemingly, that evening these guests had also wanted to eat at the hotel restaurant. Despite asserting that they had reserved their table at breakfast - it was evident that they had not been catered for by the hotel restaurant. Everyone that ate at the hotel restaurant that evening was offered the same meal - which I had pre-agreed with the Chef earlier that afternoon. When our food was served - the adult choice and portion size was shockingly a 1/3 of the size that it should have been, it was in effect a ‘children’s portion’. I can only assume that the kitchen must have had to ‘stretch’ the meal. To make matters even worse, we were told that the choice of children’s meal previously agreed with the Chef was unavailable!  Despite all of this, at the end of the meal, I was presented with a bill which was based on the original agreed fixed price. In effect, taking me/us all for absolute and complete mugs! Enough to say, that what was supposed to have been a special diner that evening turned out to be a complete disaster; I was left humiliated, badly let down and completely embarrassed. The fact that the waiter had the audacity to present the original bill for payment - serves only to reinforce that the hotel staff were completely DEVOID OF ANY BASIC UNDERSTANDING, there was NO CARE nor any APPRECIATION of the situation. After strongly complaining an adjustment to the bill was agreed.. all of which was very little consolation and unforgivable.

We stayed at the hotel for five nights to attend a family wedding in a nearby hotel which coincidentally was also a five star. The difference being it really did live up to its five star rating. The Masseria Donnaloia appeared to be about to go under. On the positive side, the rooms were clean and cleaning staff great. The pool area was ok too. However, the service in the dining room was just appalling. The gardens were very neglected with plants in split plastic pots just dying. Would say it is probably just about a two star hotel and can only assume it reached its five star status due to having a spa.

Struttura affascinante ed accogliente ( fine settembre). Consigliata.

Tipica masseria nascosta in un Uliveto. Tramonti ed Albe da fiaba Unica pecca piscina troppo piccola e wi-fi malfunzionante per il resto se uno vuole godere di un soggiorno rilassante e di ottima cucina Questo è il posto ideale

Let me preface this review by stating that the actual grounds, rooms, pool, and food are very good. The one thing that is holding this place back is the service. There is no "going that extra mile", no "the customer should be happy", no "smiling", and not even an acknowledgement that you are around. This place needs to re-evaluate its service model. I, for one, would likely not return.