I went to Villagio with 3 other women this weekend, and it was the perfect spot for a quick getaway from the San Francisco Bay area. The rooms are very comfortable and well laid out, and the spa was beautiful. (Though my massage therapist was not my favorite - it felt very rushed - it was still a great overall spa experience.) We were blown away by the food offerings at the hotel that were included with the room. The breakfast spread had everything from your basic yogurt and granola to banana bread pudding (amazing!) and made-to-order omelets. The afternoon tea had turkey croissant sandwiches, scones, finger sandwiches and more. At night they have a wine and cheese spread that was super yummy, too!

There are so many restaurants in the area, and obviously lots of wineries to choose from. Great shopping nearby at the outlets and beautiful scenery for hiking, etc. See what I mean that it is the perfect little getaway?

We stayed at the Villagio Inn & Spa for a long weekend. The room size was very large and comfortable. The Bathrooms had two sinks and closet and storage space was plentiful. Our room had a working fireplace with a Duraflame firelog replaced everyday (when we needed matches to light the fire, I called the front desk sent someone up, in 10 minutes in the rain!)The location was very centrally located, that we walked every night to a different resturant. The complementry daily breakfast buffet was more like a "spread" that you would see at a high end hotel cost over $35.00. We will definatly stay at Villagio in the near future.

(Off-season weekday visit, booked via Jetsetter, in the low-$200s range per night. "Inside Courtyard" room type to avoid the freeway noise.)

In a lot of ways this place captures today's Napa Valley: Down-to-earth agricultural honky-tonk, recently repackaged as an international lifestyle destination. As such, sometimes the rough core shows through the outer facade.

For the Villagio Inn that means you have what would've been a motor lodge if it wasn't located in "NapaStyle" Yountville:

- Parking lot that surrounds a 2-story building, with some of the rooms directly facing that parking lot
- Decidedly Residence-Inn-by-Marriott building quality
- Exterior corridors that grants views into guestrooms
- Impossibly loud heater (it's the old-fashioned kind where the rattly radiator/fan unit is placed under the window facing said exterior corridors)
- Even when booked in the interior-facing rooms, a din from a divided freeway section of Highway 29, with the spikes from tractor-trailers roaring past in the night

Now, they've done A LOT of work with the soft product to make the place spiffy:

+ The room fixtures, furniture, and bedding items were top-class
+ In-room fireplace is a very nice touch
+ Room amenities like the comp bottle of wine, Equator coffee, nice coffee makers were delightful
+ Included wine tasting happy hours and breakfasts make for a very "complete" experience
+ And the people working there were universally friendly and professional

... but all in all, it was hard to escape the motor lodge feel. In the end you have to look past the little freebies, and just embrace the idea that you're paying a big premium for the Yountville location.

I'd recommend staying here only if:

* You can get a discounted rate -- I'd be even more disappointed if I had paid the high-season rack rate, with the requisite minimum stay requirements
* You absolutely need to stay in Yountville for the ability to stagger home after a big dining event -- Redd and Ad Hoc are right across the street, with everything else in Yountville within a 2-block walk

My lodging picks for the Napa side of the Wine Country remain Carneros Inn and Solage Calistoga.

We stayed one night at the Villagio and had stayed at Bardessono one year prior. Comparing the two, bardessono was hands down our favorite. Villagio has a more Italian villa feel vs Bardessono which is contemporary, modern, zen. The property at Villagio is very nice and the rooms are very large. A mishap happened where we were supposed to receive a gift in our room from my brother in law and sister in law for my husband's birthday. Turns out the gift never arrived and went to another guest. When we discovered this one hour before we were about to leave, initially the manager seemed at a loss for what happened and how to make it up to us. He then offered us to go to the spa to pick out some complimentary products. However, the concierge guy (who was on the job investigating exactly what happened) was COMPLETELY RUDE, and basically blamed my sister in law for botching up the whole delivery. He was totally unprofessional and a jerk, honestly. In the end, after our stay, our sister in law and brother in law complained about the botch up and they ended up comp-ing our stay! If we were to return, we would stay at Bardessono again.

PROS: great location (close to bouchon, bottega), nice grounds, fireplace in room, nespresso machines in room, breakfast buffet was wonderful, hot chocolate when you check in

CONS: Customer service is not great, concierge guy was horrible, outside is a bit dated.