Villa Marinella Ischia

STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS! I am not one to write negative reviews. I take "complaining" very seriously as I know there are many contributors to a negative experience and many are outside of the hosts control. This is not one of those times and I feel compelled to inform the public to beware if considering a stay here. Background: We arrived to Ischia via ferry late in the evening and during a deluge. We were greeted by the car service once at the port and we were escorted up the mountain to Villa Marinella. Upon arrival we were welcomed by Francesca who was courteous. She switched our room to a comparable room when we discovered our room had one inch deep water all over the floor from the rain. There are many little details that were missed, however I am not here to nitpick but to shows complete lack of integrity and service from the ownership. We have two children (8yo boy and 5yo girl) who were excited to use the swimming pool. Unfortunately, it was advertised that guests would get free use of the pool next door. This was a blatant lie in which we only offered 25% off coupons for the pool next door. The cost to enter the park (with the coupon discount) was going to be close to 100 euros (per day) so we realized quickly the main feature we were excited to experience was not a possibility. We checked availability to use the pool and there were no reservations left to even enter the pool area (they require a reservation for entry) for the entirety of our stay. We also were excited for the breakfast which looked really great in the photos and were underwhelmed as the photo and reality could not have been further from the same. The area to check in is in the same area as the "hangout space" in the villa. Our kids were quietly playing chess and were scolded to leave as they had guests checking in and out. We resorted to our room where we felt forced to make the decision to leave the villa and find a place with amenities for our kids. I want to take a moment to express none of the above mentioned reasons are reasons I would write this review. It was what happened next and over 6 MONTHS that caused this review. We spoke to Francesca and informed her, based on the lack of pool and common area it may be best we find alternate accommodations for the rest of our stay. Their policy - written on their website, their paperwork, and in the confirmation email - states we would forfeit 25% of our remaining balance if we end the reservation early. We confirmed this with Francesca and she assured us the remainder of our money would be returned and it was no problem. All parties were happy as it was very obvious this was not a family friendly place (especially with kids under 15) and we all agreed is wasnt the best fit. In the coming weeks, we did not receive any correspondence, final receipt, or refund. We were owed around $1,000 US and were yet to see any indication or paperwork showing we would receive the refund. We finally were able to reach the owner of the villa via email (everytime we called to ask for the owner, the response was "sure, can I let him know who is calling?" and when informed of our name it quickly changed to "I am sorry he is not here" or "he actually is off island for business and will not be back for a week" etc.) and when he responded he informed us we would not get a refund and were told this by francesca when we checked out that we were forfeiting $1,000. We called and asked to speak to Francesca (after the owner was off island) who nervously stated she did not say we would not get money back but also never said that we would (lie). After several attempts to try and work this out with the owner, hoping to come to a resolution and honestly just wanting to follow their own written policy, it was obvious they had our money and did not want to give it up. We then filed a complaint with our credit card for utilize purchase protection. We shared our story and the card company refunded our money but also gave the hotel a chance to respond. We received the response and were shocked by the blatant lies and fabrication by the owners. They stated we were blaring music and disrupting the guests, our kids were being loud and horse playing during business transactions, that we were upgraded and even given a "super discount" upon arrival and were thankless. We showed countless documents to our credit card showing where they changed the website to match their story, emails, refund policies, even their own system showing we only stayed one night and were due a refund, and eventually won without a response to finally receive our refund almost 6 months after our stay. I understand culturally there are differences in expectations of service around the world. We are well travelled and know Americans can have poor reputations and unrealistic expectations. This was simply not the case here and this must have been the worst experience we have ever had. It really comes down to an owner who is dishonest, and seeking his own gain vs doing what is best for his guests. It is for those reasons I must recommend you strongly consider staying away and finding a more reputable business to trust. There are many minor details which continues to show a lack of integrity however for sake of time it is best to stick to the main point. One instance of this lack of integrity was ownership changing their website to match their story when the credit card company found in their investigation the website advertising something the ownership stated was never the case. Photos attached of this change.