Villa Ripanera

Ciao Marta,
There isn't that much information online about the villa, likely because it has possibly been rented through agencies in the past rather than direct on the web. It is a vacation property rented as a whole villa, with 4 bedrooms (hosting 8 people) with a pool. It is connected somehow to the boutique wine making estate of Tenuta Ripanera (https://en.tenutaripanera.com/), but that website has no mention of the villa. It's possible two different branches of the family have divided up the estate and thus are two different entities now (you'll also find many wine estates do both wine and vacation apartments/accommodation here in Tuscany). From what I found, it looks gorgeous!! The TripAdvisor page on the villa says its about $900 a night, perfect for a large family or friends who want to spend time together here enjoying complete privacy.
 
Marta207 said:
Is anyone familiar w/this Villa?
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Yes. UNFORTUNATELY. An enormous warning to anyone renting this property. It has bounced from VRBO to Airbnb and likely other booking sites.
Our family of 15 booked this place two years in advance (first year we had to postpone for a year due to Covid and all our children not being vaccinated).
We were first booked our original dates, just a year forward. Then were told they were not available so we moved from early July to August (not ideal but what to do?). Were then asked to pay more money which we did.
We checked in prior to booking plane tickets for 15 people and our vehicle leases and were assured all was well so we made all those big purchases. Then days after our final payment was made, and 12 weeks prior to our trip, we were abruptly cancelled on. During the busiest travel summer in history you can guess we were not only devastated but our trip was in tatters. Trying to find a replacement villa for 15 people in a similar area with families bookending side trips to Rome, Venice and Cinque Terre proved impossible.
We were finally, after hours upon hours of inquiries and research able to find two villas we would have to move between at an enormous cost. Thousands extra we spent and packing and moving mid trip was challenging.
The worst part….we quickly found out that GREED was the reason for the cancellation. We had a good friend in a different country inquire about renting during the time we had booked. She was told it was absolutely available due to a last minute cancellation. Oh, but at a much higher price! And a suggestion to book directly so renter could also avoid the booking sites fees. GREED and a complete lack of honesty which in our family equates a complete lack on integrity.
Feel free to reach out as we have all documentation to support our story.
 
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OMG that sounds truly horrible! I am so very sorry to hear the owners of the villa behaved in this way :(
I can assure you most people here in Tuscany would not have behaved like this, but, unfortunately, there are people in this world who do not hesitate to behave like this.

I hope, in the end, you were able to salvage most of the trip at the new villas you stayed at, that your entire family had a great time regardless and in spite of the evil people in this world.
 
Lourdes said:
Jen - what site did you use to book the villa back the first time?
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We booked through VRBO. Once we were cancelled on, it was no longer there. I found it pretty quickly on Airbnb after that at a higher price.
Thankfully we found accommodation. Not what we hoped for but we did find places to stay. And a wonderful host at Villa Podere Le Rondini our first week!
We know this terrible experience is not the norm. We were in Italy 3 years ago and we all booked places this time and then, with never an issue. Its simply sad that one individual could do this to a family for a few extra dollars. We just want people to be warned about this one.
As an aside, this site has been a wonderful resource for our family. :) thank you!
 
Thanks for sharing with us, definitely the more info that is shared about a particular villa or lodging online, then it is on here and cannot be erased by the sneaky owners. They will have to live with the fact that they sought more money and gave in to greed, rather that offering an experience to everyone who stays at their villa.

It definitely is not the norm, I don't hear of these types of stories often at all, but I still appreciate knowing it happened and can happen. I am sorry it happened also because you were such a large group, it isn't as easy for you all to find something for that number of people on short notice. I am glad you managed to make it work out in the end without it completely ruining your time spent here.

I am also glad you found our site useful!! I am struggling time-wise to maintain it, but appreciation from everyone about the info drives me to keep on working on it as much as I can! So thank you for letting me know.
 
I know this is an old question/post, but I wanted to jump in to provide some positive feedback on this Villa. We just returned from staying at this location and it was amazing! The owner was highly communicative ahead of time so we were well aware of everything going on and once we got there, the caretaker Ruwanthi (I hope I am spelling that right) was so kind and helpful. The villa was spotless. The grounds were lovely, and Ruwanthi was very invested that we had an amazing stay. All 12 of us could not come up with one negative thing about this location. If you search for it and see other reviews, you can see that my experience was like just about everyone elses. The poster above has posted her same issues on other sites and that was the only negative expereince I have seen.

I talked to the owner about that review before I put down a deposit and I was confendent that that experience was a one-off. I am not taking away from that poster's experience, but I do belive it was an unfortunate exception.

I would stongly encourage others to consider saying here. I know we will go back!
 
Thank you Mary for your feedback and positive review of the villa, it is always good to hear of difference experiences and definitely hope that the experience Jen had with her family was a one-off, and possibly under different management than what is currently in place.

How did your whole time in Tuscany go? Where did you visit during your time here? It is always good to hear from others who have already done things and what they recommend.
 
maryz said:
I know this is an old question/post, but I wanted to jump in to provide some positive feedback on this Villa. We just returned from staying at this location and it was amazing! The owner was highly communicative ahead of time so we were well aware of everything going on and once we got there, the caretaker Ruwanthi (I hope I am spelling that right) was so kind and helpful. The villa was spotless. The grounds were lovely, and Ruwanthi was very invested that we had an amazing stay. All 12 of us could not come up with one negative thing about this location. If you search for it and see other reviews, you can see that my experience was like just about everyone elses. The poster above has posted her same issues on other sites and that was the only negative expereince I have seen.

I talked to the owner about that review before I put down a deposit and I was confendent that that experience was a one-off. I am not taking away from that poster's experience, but I do belive it was an unfortunate exception.

I would stongly encourage others to consider saying here. I know we will go back!
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that was truly amazing!
 
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