Please familiarise yourself with our policies below and the frank advice about the house, the area and what you may encounter during your stay here - if you have any questions please do get in touch.
Guest policy
We have a strict “no children/no pets” rule at Villa Menaluna and so we do not accept children under the age 16 or pets of any kind or size.
The house is designed to sleep a maximum of 8 people in the beds provided (1 king bed, 2 queen beds, 2 single beds). We do not provide extra beds or baby cots, and there is no sofabed option.
Should you arrive with young children, pets, or more than 8 guests, we reserve the right to deny access to Villa Menaluna and we will not be liable for alternative accommodation for your dates.
Planning a stag/hen weekend or a raucous reunion? You’ll be far happier staying somewhere else. If we believe your booking is for a party-related reason, we reserve the right to cancel your booking at any time without notice and you will be subject to our cancellation policy below.
Payment
50% payment of your total booking is due when you book via credit card or bank transfer - sorry but we cannot accept cash payments on arrival.
The balance plus the damages deposit and cleaning fee is due 60 days ahead of arrival. If you book within 60 days, the full amount will be due when you book.
If at any time we cannot secure payment when due, you will have 72 hours/3 working days to provide payment by bank transfer. Should we not receive payment by this time, we reserve the right to cancel your booking without further notice and to resell your dates to another guest. Any funds already received from you will be retained as a cancellation fee.
Need to cancel?
If you cancel more than 90 days before your planned arrival date, 50% of your paid deposit will be retained as a cancellation fee.
If you cancel within 90- 60 days of your planned arrival date 75% of your paid deposit will be retained as a cancellation fee.
If you cancel within 60 days of your planned arrival date 100% of your paid deposit will be retained as a cancellation fee.
However, in all cancellation situations, if we can resell your cancelled dates in full to the same value, we will endeavour to refund any monies retained, less a €100 admin fee.
The cancellation of your booking by us for any reason caused by you which goes against these Booking Terms & Conditions, will mean any monies paid by you will be retained by us as a cancellation fee and the above refund policy will apply only if we can replace your booking in full.
Health Quarantine and Travel Restrictions
If your country of departure restricts your travel to Villa Menaluna, or if any member of your party tests positive for Covid-19 or has any other health-related matter which means you need to cancel, our cancellation policies above will apply.
If the Piedmont regional government restricts your travel to Villa Menaluna, meaning we have to cancel your booking, we will refund you in full or we can move your booking to new dates. If you choose the latter, we will refund 10% of your booking value as a thank-you gesture upon completion of your booking.
We strongly advise you to take out travel insurance that will cover you for any eventualities you are concerned about.
Other charges
€1000 damages deposit (refunded to your card/bank after your departure assuming there are no chargeable damages)
€250 cleaning fee
We reserve the right to charge for the following if required:
- Additional cleaning fees for accidental/malicious damage to the house
- Replacement fees for broken items or damage to the house
- A deep cleaning fee for all upholstery/soft furnishings should evidence of smoking be found
- Mid-stay linen and towel change
ID/Passports and other personal data
We are required by law to record data of guests staying at Villa Menaluna. To make this process easier, we will send you a form to complete before you arrival, including copies of the passport/ID documents of your guests. On arrival we will need to verify this data visually.
We record your data in the police website and then after your departure we destroy/delete the forms you have sent.
Your email address and, if provided, your phone number, will be used to communicate effectively with you before, during and after your stay, relating to your stay only. We will not use your contact information for marketing purposes unless you have given us permission to do so. Should you agree to be contacted for marketing purposes (an occasional email at most) you can of course unsubscribe at any time.
We have a security camera system in use when the house is not occupied. When guests are at the house, only the camera covering the parking area is activated, for your security and that of the house. Recordings are captured on-demand and deleted after 30 days.
Villa Rules
Our region and the village of Rocchetta Palafea is a tranquil and quiet place. For this reason, and to stay on good terms with our neighbours in the valley, we have a strict ‘no party’ policy which means we kindly ask the following:
Please do not invite external guests to stay at Villa Menluna, other than those registered with your booking
Please do not hold parties with external guests in attendance
Any external guests invited to visit for the day must leave by 22:00
Please keep external noise to a minimum at all times, and particularly between 22:00 and 08:00 each day
The grounds of Villa Menaluna are extensive and whilst we have taken every precaution required to ensure your safety, we are not responsible for your actions or those of any of your party/family group whilst exploring and enjoying the house. Many areas are left wild in the summer months to provide shade for insects and animals, and we take no responsibility for any injuries caused if you should choose to explore beyond the identified path ways in the land plan provided.
There is absolutely no smoking allowed anywhere in the house or the gardens of Villa Menaluna. Our region is often under fire restrictions in peak summer months and we are all doing our bit to ensure accidental fires are not started. Please be aware that if a fire is started by you/your guests, that it is common for the local police to fine you as the guest for the damages caused, and also to charge for the intervention of fire services so please, don’t smoke or light a flame anywhere other than on the barbecue.
No barbecues or naked flames are permitted anywhere in the gardens or the house, except using the barbecue provided in the designated location, and the two wood-burning stoves. Please be aware that there is a large gas tank buried in the hillside behind the house. Fire extinguishers are available in the breakfast room and next to the main front door.
You must lock all windows and doors securely when you leave the house for any length of time and you alone are responsible for the safety and security of your belongings. Ensure you have adequate travel insurance should you be travelling with valuable items. Whilst the house does have security cameras, for your privacy these are not active when the house is occupied by guests. If you are issued with any physical keys or entry fobs, you will be charged €40 per replacement if lost.
Temporary Limited Access to Equipment or Facilities
Things at the house will from time to time break down or need maintenance. Whilst every effort will be taken to ensure this is kept to a minimum through planned maintenance, we cannot be held responsible for unforeseen malfunctions to any piece of equipment or the sudden unavailability of a service/amenity of the house, the grounds or the pool.
Similarly, Guests are reminded that we are in rural countryside and power cuts and disruption to water supply and WiFi, whilst rare, do happen from time to time. For this reason no refund or compensation will be given for any temporary outage of any utility supplying the house and of course in such circumstances we will do our best to ensure any disruption to your stay is kept to a minimum.
Keys and Access
The main gate of Villa Menaluna will be accessible by you through the use of a Bluetooth App and you will be required to download the app to your smartphone or other device prior to arrival in order to gain access on your arrival day. For the front door you will be issued with a unique entry code - there will be no physical keys for you. Access is granted on a guest-by-guest access with a unique code and only you and your guests with whom you share the access code will have access to the house during your stay. The codes will be shared ahead of your arrival once all payments are made and required paperwork/ID documents have been sent to us.
This is good news for you as it means you cannot lose these keys and so do not need to worry about access to the house during your stay. We can reset your access at any time should you lose your smart device - just let us know immediately.
Other door locks within the house are via manual keys and are supplied at the house which you are required to use to ensure the house is fully secured when leaving the house for any length of time. You will be charged for any keys which are not in place upon departure.
For your security and that of the house, the main gate should be kept closed once you have used it for access/departure to stop larger wild animals entering the grounds, as the land around the house is fully fenced and once an animal gets in they may find it hard to get out again.
Local Environment: climate, noise, animals bugs
Climate:
In the peak of summer Piedmont can be very hot - in the high 30s even low 40s (Celsius). There are plenty of shady areas at the house to escape the heat.
We offer natural air-conditioning which is a combination of the thick walls of the house, trickle/tilt windows for constant air movement (we recommend this at night) and shutters which can be closed to keep the sun out of rooms during the peak of the day. If you need help with the shutters - which are the originals and a little stiff but which still do their job - just let us know. We also provide floor-standing fans for each bedroom.
We suggest to keep bedroom windows and curtains closed during the day to keep the sun and hot air out (this may sound odd but it works) and then open the windows to allow air to circulate once the sun has set.
The salt-water pool is not heated but does warm up with the sun as the season progresses. We have purposefully not made the pool too big so that it can reach a comfortable temperature earlier in the season.
Noise:
You are surrounded by farming land and vineyards and you will hear agricultural equipment in use during your stay. Whilst our valley neighbours are generally considerate with their timings for this, we cannot be held responsible for any disturbance you feel you’ve had a a result of this or other noise in the valley/surrounding areas.
You will also occasionally hear the barking calls of deer and grunting of boar as they roam the hillsides around the house, the calls of owls at night and possibly the scratching/chatter of the native ghiri (also known as edible dormouse or glis glis) which hang out in the trees and occasionally scamper across the roof of the house towards middle/late summer - they are completely harmless and do not try to enter the house, do not worry.
The bells of the church in Rocchetta Palafea on the hilltop opposite the house do chime on the hour and more at specific times of day - consider it charming and you’ll eventually tune them out
Thankfully there are no roads immediately surrounding the house and only one other house (where we live - next door but out of site of you) so you should find your stay at Villa Menaluna a tranquil one!
Animals and bugs
Villa Menaluna is situated at the end of a 700metre gravel and concrete track, tucked into a hillside and immersed in greenery. This brings with it tranquillity and peace but also a range of natural influences. In this part of Italy you will come across various wild animals and insects including boar, deer, badgers, field mice, pine martens, feral cats, the occasional grass snake, bats and small bugs of all kinds including small scorpions, mosquitoes, bees, wasps and hornets and ants and ticks.
