Masseria Le Mandorle

A lovely and intimate stay in Salento. The rooms are spacious and comfortable, the children really enjoyed the basketball court and swimming pool. A delicious breakfast each morning. Really enjoyed the afternoon apertivo around the pool watching the sunset.

Unfortunately Masseria Le Mandorle was the lowlight to our trip to Puglia, having also stayed in three similarly priced but significantly better hotels. Our main issues were: - When we arrived the place was completely shut up, even though we’d communicated about what time we were arriving. Took 5 mins even to find any staff. Even the chairs on the restaurant tables were all upturned. Felt unwelcoming and like we weren’t supposed to be there. - Room very basically decorated. No toiletries in the bathroom. When we had an (admittedly unseasonal) rainstorm the windows leaked and we had a huge puddle on the floor. The staff showed no interest in helping (or apologising) - we had to mop with our towels. - Staff couldn’t care less that we were there. Gave us no helpful info, e.g. the fact that they run a shuttle bus to their sister hotel, Castillo Ugento, even though they were aware we were going there for supper as they had booked it - we ended up walking. On a side note, the sister restaurant - Il Tempo Nuovo - is pretentious, overpriced and just not very good, apart from the service (nice) and pastry chef (excellent). The most expensive and the worst meal we had on our whole trip. - When the rainstorm broke two out of the three umbrellas at the pool, they tried to fix them but then gave up and said that there was nothing they could do. No spares or attempt to buy more - even the following day, and staff got cross at us when we tried to open up the umbrellas. - Hotel itself is not in a nice location. On the outskirts of a very underwhelming town with absolutely nothing worth visiting there. We could not understand why there were two five star hotels in the town. Mandorle is next to a field with the overwhelming smell of manure drifting across for most of the day. - Only eight sun loungers for a hotel with c. 12 rooms, and where the pool is also available to guests at Castillo Ugento, which doesn't have a pool - so if the hotel is full you won't have a chance of getting one. The prices of drinks at the pool were pretty exorbitant for what it was - 15EUR for a spritz. - One of the toilets near the pool was quite frankly revolting (see photo). The positives: - They were helpful in booking restaurants for us in advance when we were told that their restaurant had a fault and wouldn’t be open. - Breakfast was delicious and very generous. The hotel and its staff seriously need to get their act together if they want to continue to market themselves as five stars - we thought they were more like a three star hotel. We will absolutely not be returning.

Surprisingly the Masseria is situated in the middle of a residential area - took us a minute to realise we had arrived . It’s like a little Oasis of style once inside the walls . The rooms are beautiful , great quality finishes and linens - we had our own roof terrace . The pool is fabulous , great gym and full size tennis court . The team are all friendly altho service can be a bit hit and miss - probably more of a post covid shortage of experienced people that will rectify with time . We ate dinner both evenings in the sister property Castello Ugento which was good . Also took the 2 hour gelato making course in the castle cookery school which was amazing and highly recommended .