Hotel Villa Maya

I booked this hotel as a special birthday present for my husband who has always wanted to visit Italy. I was impressed by the beautiful pictures and the stunning food shown on Instagram. Plus the location was ideal and I wanted something traditionally Italian rather than a big chain hotel. It is brilliantly situated for exploring Tuscany and you are within a maximum of an hours drive to visit pretty much anywhere of note in the area. We had a hire car and went to Pisa (20 mins), Lucca (40 mins), Florence (60 mins) and Viareggio (45 mins). Parking on site and the hotel was very easy to find. It is a very traditional building with lovely original furniture and decor. Our room was upstairs in the main house and plenty big enough with a large balcony. The bathroom was basic but did the job. Bed was comfy. The gardens are lovely with some beautiful views out over the Tuscan countryside. Unfortunately we only got to use the pool area once as we wanted to get out and about lots but it was a nice area with plenty of different seating and the pool was clean and well maintained. Negatives: unfortunately there were a few which did diminish our initial positive opinion of the hotel on first arrival. Bar - there was meant to be a bar but it appeared shut during our whole stay and was not mentioned to us. Air Con - although our room had air con as advertised it was an old style unit in corner of room which was noisy and could well be a problem for people who are light sleepers. Noise - we also found it to be quite noisy until late at night and again very early in the mornings. I think this is probably due to the age and layout of the building however again worth noting if you want quiet sleep. The reception/foyer is very echoey so we could hear the front door and other doors banging and people speaking in reception from our room. On 2 of our 3 nights a neighbouring room also had their TV on very loud until well after midnight, again this could be heard through the walls. Same issue with doors in the morning along with being able to hear people outside in the garden meaning we were awoken before 7 everyday, not what we personally want when on holiday. Restaurant - this unfortunately was our biggest disappointment of our stay, possibly since we are big foodies and were really looking forward to it. I had found the chef on Instagram and spent weeks before our visit enjoying the amazing food pictures in anticipation. I had also messaged the hotel to book a table in advance and informed them that it was my husbands birthday so a special visit. On entry to the restaurant we were the only ones there except for a single man already seated. We had to wait a considerable amount of time before a lady appeared and showed us to our table. The restaurant looked beautiful on entry (see photo) however our table had not been set to the same standard as the back of the room tables and was missing things like the napkin rings etc. and the table mats were d