Ugolino Hotel Reviews

Golfing in Tuscany, offered by www mastergolf it.

My wife and I were interested because of the offer of 6 nights in a 4* hotel plus 4 green fees, breakfast and lunches at the indicated golf courses.

Let me first get the positive things out of the way:

The golf courses we played at (Ugolino Golf COurse, Poggio di Medici, Montecatini and La Pavoniere) were very nice courses and there were no problems with the tee-times, everything was in order, except for the fact that the distances to the golf courses were (more than) double the distances given on the site.
Keep that in mind when booking tee-times as the rush hour traffic around Firenze can be brutal.

Tuscany is a nice area, even in the beginning of October when we were there.

The warning I want to give is the following:

Mastergolf is offering this package deal with a 4* hotel included (Ugolino Golf Hotel). 2 Days before our departure we got the directions to the hotel (from my confirmation email):

---------begin included text-----------
Here is the precise address + telephone number and driving directions to
the Ugolino Golf Hotel:

THE ADDRESS:

VIA CHIANTIGIANA, 379
50015 BAGNO A RIPOLI (FIRENZE)
TELEPHONE: 0039 055 643164

The place is located at 800 metres from the Ugolino Golf Club.

How to get there:
from Firenze airport or Pisa airport (OR IF YOU ARE COMING WITH THE CAR
FROM GERMANY) get the AUTOSTRADA A1 - our main italian motorway -
direction ROMA.

Exit at FIRENZE SUD.

Follow the directions to GREVE.

After about 2 kilometres, you reach the village of GRASSINA.

After passing through Grassina, 3 more kilometres and you'll find the
place on your left, it will be written - Podere Casanova -.

Take the private drive-way lined with trees.

Welcome! You are arrived.

---------end included text------------

The thing to note here is the mentioning of ";Podere Casanova";. A ";podere"; is nothing more than a BandB, which we found out when we got there!!! (more info at www tuscany net/bbchianti/)

Granted, a nice BandB, but without the amenities you can expect from a 4* hotel, like a normal restaurant, a bar, phone in your room, etc.

When I complained about this I was told, that the Podere Casanove would change its name to the aforementioned Ugolino Golf Hotel and already had the state's accreditation for a 4* hotel.
They had been too busy to change the actual name on the hotel, stationary, build a restaurant, a bar, etc.... and Master Golf was more or less blaming them for the rip-off.

I also was the only person who had ever compalined about this. Duhhhh! The English couple in the room next to us called Master Golf 2 days before I did with exactly the same complaints!!! as we found out one day after I called myself.

(I must add one thing, though, and that is that the owners and staff of Podere Casanova were very friedly and helpful, it was not their fault.)

PRICING
The price of the package is EURO 675 per head. When I book a package tour I expect a package discount, but nothing was more beside the reality :-(

When I do a fast calculation (which I only did AFTER I found out the truth, unfortunately), using the published prices from the BandB and the golf courses, then the result is interesting, to say the least:

For the BandB, the price is EURO 90 per double room in October (EURO 120 per night in high season), i.e. EURO 45 per head. Multiplied by 6 nights, that's EURO 270 pp.

The green fees without hotel discount are EURO 60 per course, with the exception of the Poggio di Medici, which costs EURO 80. This brings the total amount for green fees to EURO 260.

When we couldn't have a lunch at one of the golf courses, because we were too late, we were told that the voucher for lunch had a value of EURO 10 per person. For 4 lunches this means the value is EURO 40 in the package.

When you add this all up, I come to EURO 570....., a difference of EURO 105 and NOT to MY benefit....

When I confronted Master Golf with these facts, I was told that I could expect to pay something extra for the reservation ";work"; they had to do.

Bottom line: if you want to earn EURO 210 for 2 people, by spending 15 minutes of your time sending emails to the individual courses and Podere Casanova, you'll have a nice package and a nice sum for at least 3 nice dinners in Tuscany.

CONCLUSION
Do not book with Master Golf, contact the courses and hotel yourself (http://golf bookings org/golf/circolo-golf-dell-ugolino en.html will give you a host of options in the same area) and save yourself money and a lot of aggravation.