Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort & Spa

Room Quality: Rooms are described as spacious, clean, and well-appointed, often featuring balconies with breathtaking views. Despite some mentions of outdated decor, the comfort of beds and amenities provided are appreciated by guests.

The hotel is located near Barga in Garfagnana, a very beautiful and less crowded part of Tuscany. The surroundings are truly stunning. The restaurants (outside the hotel) are great. However, the hotel itself was somewhat underwhelming. The rooms felt rather small. The outdoor pool is lovely but opens a bit late in the day. Unfortunately, the spa was quite disappointing. On top of the room rate, there’s a resort fee charged even if you don’t use the spa facilities. Understood that it is a resort but the total charge didn't feel justified. Overall, the hotel services fell short of expectations, and the front desk staff were not very helpful (for example when asked to book a restaurant). To conclude, there is room for improvement in such a nice setting!

To explore the northern part of Tuscany and to have a resort to relax & rejuvenate, this hotel is a very good option. It is located about an hour from Lucca and easy to reach by car (onsite parking is free of charge). The outdoor pool area is nice, with extensive views of the valley. If you like to have a swim before breakfast, you will the need to use the indoor pool (the outdoor pool opens at 9.30 am). Both pools are half Olympic and the pool areas are well maintained and very clean. This also refers to the hotel overall. The biggest plus is the quality of the cuisine as well as the friendliness of the staff in the restaurant. I enjoyed all three dinners; special thanks to Alessia and Joseline. There is one point you need to be aware of when choosing your room category: I booked an executive room (which is the third highest room category). Nevertheless the room was basically facing a wall, making the room very dark. You couldn’t sleep with the door open or spend some time on the balcony, cause there was a constant noise from the ventilation system which was located on the side of the hotel the room is facing. When I asked to change the room after check in (offering to pay for an upgrade), the three members of the staff at the reception on the evening of my arrival were very helpful. They tried to find a solution and explained that they were just waiting for the approval from the manager on duty. Well to cut a long a story short, during my whole stay I never received a final answer to my request - every time I asked at the reception I was told that the request was still pending with the approval of the manager.