Need some fast advice from you great folks. My wife and I are living for Italy in 10 days and now Parker tells us our villa in Castellina in Chianti is not available. They want us to switch to a villa near Tavernalle vidi Pesa. We have all these maps and directions for getting from Florence to Castellina and want a rural villa from which to explore chianti wineries and then Montalcino area.

There may be a couple of villas of lesser quality (no washer, Italian Shower, no English and a few other things we wanted) in a remote area south and east of Castellina and one near San Leonino.

We could really use some advice quickly as we have to decide today.

Anyone with experience negotiating these things with Parker Co. would be great to hear from too.

Thanks in advance.

Sommelier

I hope they are giving you some kind of refund!

Did they give you any other options from which to choose? What happens if you don't agree to move?

Have they offered you a discount for taking a lower quality property? Have they offered you a full refund plus something for your inconvienience? Hav e you tried finding another property in the area? I know, lots of questions. Sorry about that. Honestly Tavernelle val di Pesa (I believe this is the place you mean) is not as in the middle as Castellina and IMHO doesn't have the same charm but then I love Castellina. I would make Parker bend over backwards to make me happy if this happened to me by the way.

I do want to press them as hard as I can, but the contract does allow them to cancel or substitute. However, they do have a reputation to try and maintain and 10 days notice when I rented this place 10 months ago is pretty rude. You can bet that I will inform this board about how they resolve this matter. They have only offered the one property as a substitute, I have looked at their website to see what else might be available. I'm also trying to not get too upset so that I don't allow this to negatively impact our trip. Keep sending me comments if you can. I've got to call them today and resolve this. Thanks for your help.

out of curiosity I had a quick look at their contract. this is what they say:

"8 MODIFICATION OR CANCELLATION BY THE PROPERTY OWNER OR TPC This Contract may be modified or cancelled at any time in any case where it is necessary to do so as a result of a force majeure or any other occurrence outside of the control of TPC. TPC will assist the Client in making a new booking. The Client is responsible for any rental cost increase due to a new booking. In the event a new booking is not possible TPC will provide a full refund of
monies paid for the cancelled Contract."

It is annoying how they make sure to mention that the client is responsible for higher prices, but they don't mention if they are responsible for the lower ones.

In this case what I would do is called them and very nicely ask what is the force majeur that caused the cancellation in this case (if it is the owner then there is not much they can do I guess), what are the options you have available, will they be offering a discount, etc. Basically try and make the best of the situation.

As you said the most important think is don't let it upset you and enjoy your trip to Italy

Are we talking for the week of 9/25? I see another property available in Castellina according to their website - #172 - Casa Tramonto Hmm...actually in Tuopino, though I guess.

I'd also look through the portfolios of other rental firms to see if you can find an acceptable alternative in the neighborhood you want, even if Parker doesn't represent it. If you find one, then I'd pressure Parker to work with the other agency to get it for you.

i am an owner... i used to work with Parker Villas... believe me: if the owner cancels a booking he pays such a high penalty to them - 26(yes TWENTYSIX!!!! weeks of rental - i really believe no owner would cancel unless the house has burned down....

for another accommodation, you may want to try my friend Elizabeth at : www.traveltuscany.net

Welcome to Lake Como... welcome to the land fond of life!"
www.villa-annamaria.it • www.palazzetta.com • www.baitaverde.com

Well folks I just decided to cancel my Parker Company rental because they had nothing I wanted after Santa Maria in Chianti closed. AWe'll have to book something else on short notice so if anyone has a great rental for 2 around Catellina or Radda under $800/week let me know soon. Thanks for the comments.

Sommelier

Sommelier,
I'm sorry you had to cancel your rental.That's not a nice way to start your trip after planning for ten months.If it makes you feel any better I stayed at Santa Maria last year and didn't find the accommodations all that appealing. I am sorry to here they closed though.The couple who ran the property,Marco and Gabriella were wonderful and the best feature of this property.Best of luck in your search.

Good luck to you . I hope there will be a silver lining to this cloud... Try looking at "summer's leases" and other agencies on this site; look at vacation rental reviews on this site. Maybe you can get a great last minute deal. You can always stay in a hotel if you have to. Keep your chin up and maintain you attitude of not letting this interfere with your trip enjoyment factor.
Keep us posted,
jan

Time to call in the reinforcements! Have you checked the Slowtrav classifieds to find help?

We worked with Martin Wenick at Italian Vacation Villas(the link will take you to his Slowtrav classified ad, from which you can link to his web site). He has the knowledge and the connections to put something together quickly and was very helpful to us.

We were very happy with a stay near Vagliagli at Fattoria de Corsignano. I don't know if that is close enough to where you want to be but we found it pretty central for exploring. The website is www.tenutacorsignano.it and they have several apartments...maybe something is available on short notice. Elena Gallo and Mario are charming hosts; they produce their own olive oil and chianti. Elena used to work with Parker but I don't believe she does any longer. Good luck!
Bill

We have stayed twice at La Casuccia, which is 15 kilometers from Castellina, 6 from Radda. We absolutely love it. One of their units (number 2) is for 2-3 people. We have only stayed in the larger units, for 4 people, but I can't recommend this property enough. It is isolated, on a very quiet road, which is what you're apparently looking for. I don't know if they have a vacancy, but you might take a look at http://www.tuscanenterprise.it/casuccia.htm

Please check out this review. We ahve stayed with Francesco several times and his property is wonderful. Its at the end of a 3km white road in the middle of olive groves and vineyards. There is a neighboring winery but its not very noisy at all.

Here is the link to my review

Thanks to all of you for your help. The Parker Co. was able to find us a place more suitable to our original plans. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. It snowed in Montana last night and I hear its 82 in Florence. I'm looking forward to a great first trip to Italy.

Thanks again,

Sommelier

excellent! enjoy your trip and we look forward to your experiences once you are back :-)

Looks like things are turning out better than we all might have thought. Have a wonderful trip and tell us all about it when you return.

M

quote:

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Originally posted by Sommelier:
The Parker Co. was able to find us a place more suitable to our original plans. I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

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Good news! Thanks for letting us know, and we'll look forward to hearing details upon your return.

You know, I was going to say this earlier and didn't. I used to use Parker Co. when I first started traveling to Italy and they were always very responsive. Everything was as presented and they never let me down. So, I guess they still get the job done and that's good to hear. Have a great first trip. Cheryl