I've been back from Italy for almost four weeks now, but felt I should put this post on to warn others.

I booked accommodation at two places through Venere.com during my three week trip. The first booking in Florence went smoothly. The second in Palermo did not.

I booked before leaving Canada and once in Italy we met up with a friend that wanted to join us in Sicily. So I had to go online and cancel the first reservation as they have no option to modify (that I could tell anyway). So I cancelled and then rebooked immediately adding on an extra room for the friend. Then said friend's purse (with tickets, passport, cards, cash, everything) was stolen in Rome (Bus #64 from the Vatican, beware) and she decided she had spent seven weeks in Italy already and just wanted to go home. So I had to go back online, cancel the reservation and rebook it for just my Mom and I for three nights.

Well we got to Palermo on June 21 and didn't end up getting our rental car as when I prebooked with Hertz they didn't mention insurance and that jacked the price way up. So we made our way by bus into Palermo and decided to see if we could get a room at the place we had booked online for the dates of June 26-28 through Venere. They did have a room for us and that night we had to rethink our week in Sicily without a car and decided to do the traveling we wanted to do and not come back to Palermo for the last three nights. The next morning we checked out and asked them if we could cancel our reservation for the end of the week (five days ahead). They said no problem and that we would have to do it online (and they wouldn't let us use their computer so we had to find a computer place in town!). We went online and they said we could no longer cancel. So we went back to the hotel and explained that the online company wouldn't let us cancel. There was another man there by this time and he said we would have to pay one night's cancellation fee. We said fine and wanted to get that all straightened out with the manager. She came out and said absolutely not because the online company would charge her for the three nights (which makes no sense). Not to go on and on about the hassle we had, I will try to make this short. I emailed the online company and told them about the problems and they said they do not charge the hotels for no-shows or cancellations, so it was the hotel's policy of a week's cancellation and full charge for up to four nights booking!!!

So beware, in the end I emailed the hotel enough times that they finally got sick of me and have not charged my Visa yet (four weeks later, but Visa said they have up to six months). I am happy for that, but was not happy with the whole situation. That could have really put a damper on our vacation (it was very stressful as it was wondering if they would charge us or not). We stayed at another place in Sicily that uses Venere and they said they don't have a policy like that as they respect their customers and they are a little smaller.

I would not use that company again as it is not very flexible to have to cancel one week in advance as when traveling things can come up that alter your plans.

Happy travelling.

I think all your problems depend on the Hotel and not on Venere. I also work with Venere and they indeed do not charge us for cancelled rooms as long as we tell them before they send us their bill (for the commission).
You also have to take into consideration that cancellation can be a real problem for a hotel (even though it is not a god reason to invent excuses!)
Ciao
Letizia
www.incampagna.com

I have no wish to add salt to the wound, and I certainly sympathize with any situation which detracts from vacation enjoyment, however this is a very good example of 'buyer beware'.

It is not unusual for hotels to have cancellation charges. Whether you book on line or directly through the hotel you should check the policies at the time of booking.

The same applies to the car rental. There are often local charges added to the fee (including additional drivers, local road tax etc.) and you need to be aware of these extras before you travel in order to avoid the unfortunate situation you encountered. This is one of the benefits of booking your car through Auto Europe - all insurance (with zero deductible) is included, and local charges are clearly noted on the booking form, so you know exactly what your costs will be.

I hope that for the most part you were able to enjoy your trip - and have some happy memories of this wonderful country.

I'm glad you didn't let your problems spoil your trip!
My understanding is that the individual Hotel determines the cancellation policy, not Venere. We had a thread about a Venere cancellation a while back which makes for interesting reading.

As others have said, that fine print can be a doozy.

Three times I have used them so far no problems.
RR

As I said in my email, this was just a warning for other travellers. I am not a stupid person and these things kind of snuck up on me. When planning a trip this large sometimes things are overlooked and not expected. If it helps someone else then that is all I was hoping for.

Charmaine, no one suggested you were "a stupid person," as you declared not to be in the previous message. It's just always a good idea to read that devilish small print on car rental contracts; we got surprised by these charges (just once!) by Avis several years ago. If a price seems to be lower than Autoeurope's, be sure to check out the fine print. As for the friend who exited the scene early (that bus is notorious for pickpockets), if there turns out to be a charge which sticks relating to her, I would think she should be willing to pay her part. As for the other changes of plans for the hotels, one should always know cancellation policies before leaving on vacation, and have a copy of them with you if and when you need to change plans. Unfortunately, this is your responsability, not Venere's. It was rather rude of the hotel, from your telling, to refuse you use of their computer for your inquiries. I hope that despite all that stress, and no doubt it was very stressful , that you and your mother enjoyed your trip. Isn't Sicily gorgeous?!

Charmaine... It seems to me you have chosen to blame Venere, a company that a huge number of people have had a different history of experience with. In fact, the hotel treated you rudely (not letting you use their computer, lying to you about Venere's policy etc) yet you chose not to mention them by name and you chose to blame Venere. In my experence with Venere, every reservation was confirmed with the hotel's cancellation policy. Venere is extremely clear on this.

Maybe the others on the board want to share their positive experiences with the company so a valuable resource gets more than one side of the story told.

{{{edited on second thought}}}

Charmaine,
thank you for the warning, but shouldn't you mention the hotel's name so others don't get caught by this? Unless maybe you feel uncomfortable mentioning their name because they may still charge you?

What is the thought from others about mentioning the name of a hotel that has 'burned' you? Is is considered bad form on this message board?

just wondering,
-Krista

quote:

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Originally posted by Charmaine:
As I said in my email, this was just a warning for other travellers. I am not a stupid person and these things kind of snuck up on me. When planning a trip this large sometimes things are overlooked and not expected. If it helps someone else then that is all I was hoping for.

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Charmaine nobody suggested that you are a stupid person; and you probably have achieved your goal as I am sure that anyone reading through this post has been reminded that no matter who they are booking with they must remember to read the small print.

As you so correctly point out, it is often only too easy to overlook these things in the excitement of booking a trip.

It is fine to mention the hotel name on the board. Or to send in a review for them.

quote:

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Originally posted by Sheena:
[As you so correctly point out, it is often only too easy to overlook these things in the excitement of booking a trip.

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And this is what we should carry away from Charmaine's situation. We all learn from our own and each other's experiences--that's why SlowTrav is here. And we certainly encourage people to talk about their bad experiences--that's why we have reviews. Travel doesn't always go smoothly. It can be unpredictable, disappointing, and leave us wondering why on earth we ever bothered to step out our doors.

Overall, Venere.com is one of the best booking sites. But ANY booking site is going to have some glitches and margins of error, which is why I always prefer to book directly with the hotel or through a company that represents only a few properties. Even that cannot give 100% assurance of no mistakes or problems, but it has in my experience surely lessened them. Venere.com is overall a fine site and offers great convenience and time-saving, if those are the prime considerations.

I second Sally's views on Venere. I have used them both as a consumer--when they were first starting up in the early 1990s--and sometimes as a travel professional.

No problems as of yet..but I must admit that I haven't had the chance to check their customer service under pressure.

It is amazing for me to see how much they have progressed from their humble beginnings.

By the way, here is what the site looked like back in 1999.

http://web.archive.org/web/19990125104244/http://www.venere.com/

Yes, I would like to know the name of the hotel. I just made my first booking thru Venere and so far they seem like a very well-run organization. I found the hotel (Chiaia Hotel de Charme in Napoli) on the ST review site and it sounded like just what I was looking for. I hope it wasn't that hotel!

Earline

Well I am glad I could get a good laugh out of this today. I will spend more time deciding how to word my subject line next time.

I am not against Venere for goodness sake. It was their company I happened to use to get my reservation and because they give my Visa number to the hotel, I was then subjected to being charged.

It was a stressful situation people! I was in Sicily specifically to visit my great-grandfather's grave and in order to make it there without a car changed my plans drastically. Going back to Palermo for my last three days wasn't as important as getting to the cemetery.

The hotel staff were extremely rude (and Krista hit the nail on the head as I don't want to infuriate the hotel as they can still charge me! and that is $450 Canadian) to me and my mother. I could give you even more detail about the things they said to us and how they threatened us, but I didn't feel the need to.

A large part of my job is booking travel (accommodation, flights, car rentals, etc), but mostly within North America, so I just thought that if I could overlook something like that, people who don't normally do this kind of thing would want to beware.

Now I am a really nice person, know I am not stupid, but I don't want to read anymore responses unless they be helpful for people on this board.

In the end I found a wonderful accommodation (Verdetecnica in Sciacca) who more than made up for the hassle we had in Palermo. So everyone go and stay there!

Sicily was beautiful Carol M. and the cemetery where my great-grandfather is buried is kept up immaculatly and was a wonderful experience.

Stayed in a great hotel in Enna (the Grande Sicilian) and the staff there were wonderful. I think that is the only hotel there and the views from our room were amazing.

Hotel Maxim in Florence that we booked through Venere was also great. Mick, one of the staff, seemed to go out of his way to assist us in our trip and made it that much more memorable.

We stayed at Hotel 3 Coins in Rome that was right next to the Trevi Fountain. Basic accommodation, but extremely central. They have a website.

And also stayed in a vacation rental in Bozzano (near Spoleto in Umbria) that was just incredible. It is a restored 16th century convent with fantastic views and so much more. We even woke up one morning with a chicken in the kitchen! The owners are English and had thought of everything one would need while vacationing and were there to help out with rides to the trains, etc. Will look up that email address if anyone is interested.

All in all, the trip was good until we had the unfortunate incident with the hotel in Palermo. In the end I am happy that they decided not to charge me, of course.

I tried to put some hotel reviews on the site, but haven't been able to navigate it for some reason.

Was wonderful traveling with my Mom for three weeks, something I will do again for sure. Hi Mom.

Take care and happy travelling.