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Hotel Ambasciatori on the Sicily tour

My wife and I had arrived in Palermo, Sicily a few days before our tour began and we experienced a very disappointing few days. We found the hotel staff to be less than helpful on several levels. I had not planned on using any credit cards to pay for my trip and had taken enough cash to handle our bill and any incidentals. Our total bill before the trip came to 473 euros and the hotel refused to allow me to pay in cash stating they did not have enough cash on hand to make change. They refused to except a 500 euro note which would have required them to only give me 27 euros in change. I was told to take my note to the local bank to get change and while I was walking to to the bank some 6 blocks away I slipped and fell on a large pool of motor oil and broken glass someone had spilled in front of a motorcycle shop. Several pieces of glass became embedded on my right knee and both my pants and shirt where covered in oil. I returned to the hotel climbed the stairs in front of the desk while the clerk watched and made no comment about my appearance. I removed the glass slivers from my right knee and cleaned the area and at that point I took my soiled clothing to the desk and requested that they please see if they could run my clothing through a washer to remove the oil and smell. I was informed that was not possible.
The following day I again attempted to pay my bill with cash this time using 5, 100 euro note and again the desk declined to except my cash payment. I paid my bill with a credit card and took my oiled clothing to our next hotel where they washed both without charge at the request of our tour guide. Our guid was totally unaware of any of my issues until i brought them to her attention after we left. She was extremely helpful and upset about hearing of my issues.
A shameful behavior on the part of any hotel let alone a Rick Steves pick for one of the tours.

Posted by
8252 posts

Roger, I am sorry that your trip had such a rough start! I hope that you enjoyed the rest of the tour.

To be honest, the landscape for using cash in Europe has changed. I don't know if you read this forum, but if you did, you would have seen multiple posts about many establishments going to "no cash". I am not at all surprised that they would not take a 500 euro bill. I think most places prefer 50 euros or less. I think we can all learn from your experience (thank you for sharing) that if a person wants to pay a large bill with cash they should contact the provider in advance to confirm this arrangement will work.

That fall sounds like such a miserable experience! I am glad that you weren't injured worse. I don't know if the hotel was being unkind or if they simply didn't want to put oily clothes in the their washing system. Did you consider rinsing them in your sink or would that not have worked either?

At any rate, I can completely understand that these circumstances together made your experience at this hotel a negative one. If you hadn't wanted to pay in cash and hadn't had that miserable accident, would you still feel the same way?

Posted by
119 posts

Roger,

That is disappointing that your trip started out on such a sour note. I'm glad your tour guide was able to help you get your clothes laundered. Cash is a funny thing; some places will only deal in cash and others refuse it. To try and avoid that specific frustration in the future, maybe email the hotel in advance to see if your cash payment will be accepted.

Hope you're enjoying your Sicily tour!

Kristen

Posted by
763 posts

I’m not making excuses for them, but as annoying as it was, I totally get them not wanting to accept a 500 Euro note. Short of them going directly to the bank to get change, they can’t use it. 27 euro in change isn’t unreasonable. However, if they only have your 500 note in the drawer (or even a bunch of 100’s), they can’t give change to anyone else either. In a perfect world, 100 and 500 euro notes are legal tender and should be accepted. But we’re not in a perfect world, are we?

Posted by
40 posts

Roger that sounds like a miserable start for anyone, but it has changed in Europe, we were on a Best of South England this spring and did find that cash was really not wanted anywhere, in fact it was all touchless payments with Card and often ordering as well, I think going with a mixture of options for payments will allow you to switch back and forth, as I would ask cash or card? Even little corner stores preferred cards, and probably best to have a mix of cards as well. Glad you had a helpful trusty RS guide to get you back on track, still grateful for how hardworking our guide Deborah H. was on our tour. Sicily next, crossed fingers for all going well

Posted by
564 posts

Our October tour has the same hotel. The reviews were very good. I have 3 pretour nights booked as the tour itself does not spend much time in Palermo.

Overall review of the itinerary it seems certain places could warrant additional night like Palermo. I understand they try to keep tours within a two week mark for an American vacation. We seem to be arriving in towns late each day and the next day venturing out to another location while having little time at our place of sleep.

I’ve been on six tours with RS. I have normally experienced that type of travel within the tour but never for the bulk of it. I have to think it’s the geography and priority of what they believe are the better highlights.

Regardless I know I’ll enjoy myself as I haven’t been in Europe since 2018.