I have been planning our trip to Italy next year and trying to decide whether to fly in to Nice and drive south or fly in to Rome and spend a few days.

In researching the Rome option I (using Slow Travel reviews) sent off a few inquiries about availability of apartments. I was absolutely shocked to receive the following response from Roman Homes:


Hello Mrs. .......,

Welcome to Roman Homes®, your carefree Roman rental.

I am sorry we don't rent for three nights only, min. weekly with reservation for rental occuring in high season.

May I say that you got to our site through Slowtrav.com, which posts good reviews on our agency, but we don't have a high opinion of the policy of this site, and especially of its editor, the shrewd and unfair Mrs. Pauline Kenny. She claims that her "hobby site" wants to create a sort of catalogue of properties with the reviews posted by tourists. She loves to post heated reviews (both positive and negative). Many reviews posted are thus not objective, they are written by either difficult persons with an over-negative, destructive goal (persons who exaggerate and see everything negative) or by persons who are over-enthusiast (and possibly in cahoots) with the agency and the property they used.
Notably, Mrs. Kenny violates a law or two as she doesn't allow replies of the proprietors or agencies to the reviews she posts, among other shrewd manouvres to stir more publicity on her site.
As mentioned, Mrs. Kenny claims her is a "hobby site", and if just give a look to it, you realize that it is obviously not. She just set a gigantic system of talks behind the back and gossips, with hardly any objectivity, on which she makes a living. And she lacks to respect the fundamental rights of people she puts in the arena to reply, forgetting that she makes a living on the work of tourism professionals delivering the real service.
From your perspective, the slowtrav.com site is not objective, because it publishes only the good reviews of the over-enthusiast tenants, or of the very-difficult tenants. And Mrs. Kenny also has "favourite" agencies and the like.

Kind regards.

Mauro Abate

Dr. Mauro Abate
Founder - Director
Roman Homes® - Homes in Rome®

Thanks for posting this Sheena. I was shocked to see what Dr. Abate is writing about me. He and I had correspondance about these issues over a year ago, after I posted a neutral review of one of his places. We have several good reviews and we used his agency for our 2001 trip and liked the apartment we rented.

One point I would like to clarify. From April 2000, when the site was started, until January 2003, Slow Travel was a "hobby site". I paid all expenses for running the site and made no income. In January 2003 I started accepting membership payments on the message board, and in July 2003 I put Google Ads and clickthrus on the site. I now make an income from the site. As soon as the income started, I stopped calling it a "hobby site".

Other than that, I don't know how to respond.

Wow! I guess we should assume that Roman Homes has received a negative review, or two!!

Donna

Unbelievable! Besides being highly unprofessional, that's just plain wrong.

Whoa-that was nasty! I can't believe he would rant on like that, he clearly doesn't understand the premise of this site. He is not going to pick up many fans or customers writing an email to a prospective customer like that! I don't think I could ever consider renting from him after such an unprofessional email to a potential customer. I would be shocked too Pauline-I am just pissed !

Pretty disgusting for a business owner! At this point, they are the LAST agency I would use.

M

I'm absolutely horrified that any business would e-mail a personal attack like this to a potential customer.

I think it says a lot about the company and its owner. Yuk... makes me mad and sick.

Kathy

The forum upon which I learned of the extent of Dr. Abate's wackiness is Fodors...there have been some terrible warnings and negative posts about him over there. I don't really recall seeing anything about him over here; maybe I just haven't looked.

I feel badly that you even have to consider responding to those accusations, Pauline.

Wow! How could one possibly respond to such a rant! Pauline - you must feel that you've just been sucker punched! Sheena - thanks for sharing, so we can all be aware of the mind-set of this particular agency - or at least its owner.

I know I would be very reluctant to arrange a rental with them -- I would be concerned that his unwarranted prejudice against Slow Travel would extend to those who are Slow Travelers.

If I were Sheena, I would watch this thread for a day or so, and then forward it to Dr. Abate, so he can see that casting stones causes big ripples in our pond!

Poor Dr. Abate! He hasn't got a clue, has he? If he did, he would realize the danger of putting a letter like that into cyberspace.

He has now guaranteed that Roman Holidays will, in the future, receive very few inquiries from the hundreds of people who post on the SlowTalk boards as well as the THOUSANDS of people who only lurk and research.

The sad thing for Dr. Abate is that he has just alienated the very targeted audience he hopes to appeal to -- slow travelers.

Ibidem. New meaning to the expression, "brutta figura..."

Before we get to carried away into acting rashly --- after stella's post about Fodor's and Dr Abate, I checked it out. Here is a link to a SLATE article from Feb 2000 about Dr Abate of RomanHomes and his idiosyncracies. That's right folks, over five years ago.

And he is still in business?????

M

I'm so very sorry, Pauline, that you were the subject of such a bitter, resentful attack.

I for one am glad that you receive an income (and I hope it's a good one) from SlowTrav...how else could any of us hope to find anyone will give the kind of time and effort you put in to such a useful, informative service?

One of the things I like so much about SlowTrav IS the incredible variety of subjects addressed by its members, who represent the experience or first-time traveler, who are knowledgeable or just plain curious, who may be right in their opinions or at times a bit off base. I admire the restraint you and the other moderators often show, and am amazed by your (and their) lack of ego and showmanship. This site is a terrific resource where one can find a full range of opinion/advice...the breadth and depth of knowledge one can find here is astounding...and I am grateful for it.

When it comes to reviews of properties/restaurants, etc., I WANT to read non-professional opinions and often learn more here than I would from Frommer's, Fodors or the like. SlowTrav does not bill itself as a forum for hotel, B+B, pensione owners...it is clearly designed to be a meeting place where TRAVELERS can express their opinions...educated or not, right or wrong...and in the several years I have been a member, I have been mightily impressed with the lack of maliciousness or negativity on the site. The willingness of members to help each other is truly amazing...it should happen more often.

Keep up the good work, Pauline...and the other moderators, too. And, thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Marian:
...Dr. Abate and his idiosyncracies.

Good choice of words, Marian. From what I have read about him, he seems...wacky. Unpredictable. Not what you want from rental agency director! And clearly he monitors the internet.

But I guess it shows that there are still plenty of people out there that don't spend time in online communities. You can find Roman Homes by simply Googling different phrases, find your way to his website, and never find any reviews...

Someone needs to tell that guy that WE, the community members post the reviews and that it is not Pauline that does that. The moderators put them on the board but we write them. So I guess we are all evil nasty people.

Maybe we could just sic Pauline's husband who also runs the website on him.

Pauline, I am distressed by Roman Homes response to Sheena. It is unbelieveably unprofessional. In some ways, it is not even worthy of a response by you.

I keep wondering what type of doctorate he has. Certainly not Business Administration!

What he has said is so over the top that it really doesn't warrant acknowlegment.

I am somewhere between being absolutely outraged at the attack on the Slow Travel community, yet also feeling very sorry for a business owner who has clearly "lost it" -- probably for the last time with this community (and others).

quote:

Originally posted by Marian:
Here is a link to a SLATE article from Feb 2000 about Dr Abate of RomanHomes and his idiosyncracies.
M

Maybe I have a twisted sense of humour but this article made me laugh and gigggle. Of course, if I had to live through that, I wouldn't have found it funny at all but reading it happening to other people...priceless.

Pauline,
I agree that this email is not worthy of a response from you. You have no reason to defend all of the help and wonderful information that this site has offered travelers and encouraged members to share with each other. The outragewe feel when reading his email is really prideand loyalty to this site. I hope all Slow Trav members respond to this and let you know what we think! I also would not use Roman Homes. Thank you, Pauline, and other moderators, for Slow Trav!
Palma

Pauline,
I agree with everyone above, he doesn't even deserve a response. He obviously won't be getting any business from anyone in the Slowtrav community. How many members do we have? Better yet, how many hits to the site do we get a month? We should keep this thread up so everyone can post their opinions about how thankful we are that you decided to share your "hobby" with us.

I have recently become a PAID member mainly because I felt I have benefited so much from everyone's input on the Slowtrav site and ESPECIALLY the always fair and informative and polite Pauline. I have used Pauline's information that is given so freely and only because she LOVES slowtravel so much that she wants to share her information and experience with others so that we may enjoy our own trips. After reading that unwarranted e-mail sent to a fellow Slowtraveler I am SO PROUD to be a SLOWTRAV member and supporting the site in my own small way. KUDOS Pauline to a GREAT job and your enthusiasm for helping your fellow Slowtravelers.
Best Regards,
Richard from Indiana

I usually don't keep score, but:

Slow Travel membership: 6479; Dr. Abate: 0

Quot erat demonstrandum!

I came to Slow Trav after locating and deciding upon our rental, La Foce. The site was then an amazing resource for the novice Italian slow traveller like me, and the message board was the icing on the cake; individual questions were answered, people were so knowledgable and so nice. And this is still, amazingly enough, the rule.

The next year, I decided on two weeks by myself in Rome, and my web searches often brought up Dr. Abate amd Roman Homes. So often did I read real horror stories about his mercurial personality and volatile inconsistancies, that I was quite sure I would never rent through him. It is enough of a crap-shoot, sending one's simoleans off to a stranger in Italy; to have to deal with someone with obvious borderline personality disorders just adds one too many wild card to the deal.

I asked Mrs. Kenny (sorry, couldn't resist) in a private conversation if she had ever heard these crazy things about Dr. Abate. She said that she and Steve had rented from him the year before with no problems. So there.

I have always read the reviews AS reviews; they are the opinions of one person. If Fussy Freddy complains that the soap dish is too small and that Rome is boring, OK, I can understand that, and I will take his word with a large grain of salt. They are REVIEWS, fer crying out loud. It can't be easy running a vacation rental business, and Dr. Abate seems really lousy at it.

Yrs, Robert

It never fails to amaze me that poorly managed businesses or those with lousy customer service can still succeed in the marketplace. There are apparently enough consumers who care only about the product, and are willing to overlook the rest.

We can demand more. We can refuse to do business with those who don't meet all of our requirements. In really egregious situations, we can sue.

In the midst of his undeserved and factually incorrect diatribe, Dr. Abate did have one small point. Each of us has different standards for rental apartments. Most of us fall within reason, but surely some do not, and we have no way of knowing (other than reading between the lines) when we read a review what the writer's particular standards are. As a result, we all accept some risk of miscommunication when we rely on the reviews published on Slowtrav. My definition of clean, for example, exceeds what would be acceptable to my brother but falls far short of what my mother expects. However, the same thing is true of any review or rating system.

Pauline,

Definitely don't reply, unless it's to tell Dr. Abate that he left out the part about how you strangle kittens just for laughs and toss banana peels in front of people using walkers. All people who use Dr. in front of their names who don't practice medicine are crazy.

Your site -- negative comments and gushing included -- has saved thousands of us money and heartbreak and has hepled make so many dre