Although our email confirmation sent to us more than once, said our total cost for staying would be 345 Euros, when we arrived they charged us 460 Euros. Apparently they didn’t add the days up correctly. With parking it was 520 euros. Interacting with the hostess was very frustrating as she made it seem like it was our fault. In addition they only want to use cash. I only had 420 euros, so she was mad that I paid the remaining 100 euros using my credit card.
On top of that the beds were very uncomfortable - ours too hard and our daughter’s bed seemed to be just coiled springs. Lastly they state that they have sea views but you can only see it if you sit in one corner and then you see just a corner of the lagoon.
Mostly we’ve had great stays during our travels. This was a low point.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33820 posts
when was this?
Posted by
OP
10 posts
January 10th - 14th 2019.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33820 posts
Sorry to hear that.
I didn't know that they would be open. The town was still charging parking in January?
Posted by
OP
10 posts
Francamaria leases parking in La Spezia which we in turn pay 15 euros per day to use. It looks like we might have been able to park in Vernazza itself (unsure of any fee), but we were not aware that was an option.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11877 posts
Looking at the website it seems they have photos of the rooms and what they look out onto. Not knowing what room you had, hard to comment on your complaint about the view, or lack thereof.
How the math got messed up on how many days the stay would be is odd, to say the least.
The website is clear there is no free parking
Sorry to hear things were not ideal, but good to know the rest of your travels were more pleasant
Posted by
USA
311 posts
Most of the reviews on Trip Advisor for this place are mediocre, and a post from months ago stated that the room had to be paid for in cash, and the owners were “difficult to deal with”.
Posted by
OP
10 posts
Wish I had checked Trip Advisor before booking this. Relied on the recommendation in the Italy guide book. I will add my piece. I just checked their web site and they claim panoramic sea view ( we booked back in August). You actually only get a peak-a-boo view if you happen to sit in one corner, as close to the wall as possible and you get to see a little bit of water. The majority of the view is looking at a wall of peeling paint with a big electrical box on it. Also, there is no maid service whatsoever. Will go on to Trip Advisor to add my experience.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16538 posts
I just checked their web site and they claim panoramic sea view
Z, I just looked at their website and can only find "panoramic sea view" applied to 3 of 10 rooms, and from the pictures posted only CÈSSA DOIA looks to have a truly unobstructed view. What room were you in (from the pix, guessing it might have been DÂ DÉLE)?
They also note the cash-only tariff policy on their site. Still that doesn't explain an unexpected hike in price for the room itself, and their mistake shouldn't have been out of your pocket. Did you have the printed booking confirmation with the stated price along with you?
Very sorry about this unfortunate let-down but happy to hear that the rest of the trip was a winner! :O)
Posted by
OP
10 posts
We're in the Dâ Déle room which according to their web site has
Blockquote
- Windows : one, panoramic sea view.
Blockquote
They are correct that they only have one window. The panoramic view is the blank wall of the building across the narrow street. If you sit in the corner by the window, they have a partial view of the water.
The good news is that we finally got cleaning service today.
Posted by
OP
10 posts
And yes, we had a printed confirmation with the price of 345 euros on it which I showed them. It was clearly a mistake and I would have been willing to try to work something out with them, but they made it out that we were trying to take advantage of them and make it our fault. That is what was most frustrating.
Posted by
Carmel, CA, USA
2456 posts
z, so sorry your lodging experience in Vernazza was disappointing. Aside from the room, how has your visit to Vernazza and the Cinque Terre been? I would be interested in knowing what it is like, way off-season in January. How's the weather? Are a lot of the restaurants and shops operating? I imagine the streets, trains and open trails are pretty empty, yes?
Posted by
OP
10 posts
In many ways great. From pictures we’ve seen this place is very crowded. Not now. Weather has been great. Trails great. But many places are closed for the season.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33820 posts
So it wasn't so bad you moved elsewhere?
Now that you've had time to cool down some, was the arithmetic (room cost times days equals total) more correct vs. their posted prices on your original email or when you checked in? In other words had they made a mistake in the first case and undercharged, or was it correct and they then wanted more on arrival than their posted prices?
Posted by
OP
10 posts
I wouldn’t have known where to go. We were in Vernazza not knowing what other options there might be. We had to pay right there up front.
The arithmetic was correct. But in all of our correspondence, she wrote a confirmed price of 345 euros. My mistake was not double checking the price posted on their website to make sure it was correct. We booked the site months ago and I printed off her confirmation just before we left in mid December. So carrying around the confirmed email during our travels and thinking we would pay 345.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
That is frustrating and I too would feel mislead by the “ view “ description!
I also triple check as many review sites as I can - I never trust one - lesson learned .
It is annoying when you think you’ve done a good job booking a place and then it turns out like this - fortunately the rest of the visit was good - chalk this up to experience .