Hotel Prategiano in Montieri Tuscany - Completely Unreasonable

Do you know their cancellation policy? Did you cancel within their terms? If so a credit card dispute would be in order.

The problem for most small businesses is late cancellations often mean money straight out of their pocket. If the room or service can not be re-sold in the period of time between a customer canceling and the day/time of the event that is just lost revenue for the business. With sufficient time in canceling the business may have time to re-book it.

We heard this a lot when we had the B&B - we had short busy season in the summer and had to earn enough to carry the business the rest of the year. People would get very upset if they call a day or two before their arrival to cancel because someone was sick or other very good reason and they could not understand why we had to apply the policy to them - after all it was not their choice to be sick and unable to make their trip. I had to explain that while I sympathized with them I too was not responsible for them being ill & I also could not afford to bear the financial burden of their being sick.

Our policy was a little more generous - if we were able to re-book the room for the days they cancelled we would refund their money less a small cancellation fee.

If this had been about a hotel room, then I could understand the issue. But this was about a 1/2 day horseback riding trip. There is likely little loss to them because of my cancellation.

Unlike in some parts of the world, in Italy a contract is a contract. Unless very clear representations are made for any cancellation policy a contract sticks.

I think that they are very generous to offer to allow you to ride with them at another time.

After all, they have paid the agency their money. That payment will also have been covered by a contract.

So if they have paid the riding agency, and then they pay you they will be the ones out of money. It wasn't their fault that you did serious damage to one of your knees, was it?

Why do you want to drag their name through the mud when it is you that injured yourself?

They sound very reasonable and generous to me.

In many parts of the world, especially in the hospitality and service industries, a "customer first", positive, accommodating response to issues often leads to increased revenues due to repeat business and recommendations. Particularly in incidences that call for a little compassion and sympathy, working with a customer to achieve a "win-win" for both sides can often result in significant benefits.

My expectation is that the hotel would work towards just such a "win-win" result. I would have no expectation that the hotel would refund both their fee and the booking agency's fee - only the hotel's fee. After all, the booking agency's fee covered the work that the booking agency did in fact perform i.e. booking the the tour. However, the hotel did not have to perform any work, because I cancelled the tour, therefore a refund of the hotel's fee ONLY, NOT the including the agency's fee, seems reasonable and appropriate.

In fact, I would even go further, and suggest that a reasonable response would even be a refund of the hotel's fee, MINUS a nominal cancellation charge, to cover any expenses the hotel might have incurred in the act of booking the tour. Again, paying the hotel for any work that they actually had to perform is certainly reasonable.

The hotel is unreasonable in their attitude of "all or nothing". The cost of the tour was very high. I am out that full cost, while the hotel has made a tidy profit off of my misfortune, without having to perform any work at all (excluding the nominal cost of paperwork to book the tour, perhaps). Their suggestion of postponing the tour is also unreasonable, as I live in a different country and have no idea when, or even if, I will ever have the opportunity to visit the hotel again - though if they had made an effort to reach a reasonable solution (such as I propose below) I might have been more inclined to visit the hotel, should I ever have the opportunity in the future!

A reasonable response would be a refund of the cost of the tour, minus the agency's fee, minus a small cancellation fee. This would leave the hotel at a zero balance (or perhaps even a small profit), and would leave me with a significantly improved attitude toward the hotel. An attitude that would pay significant benefits to the hotel in the form of positive reviews and recommendations, likely leading to increased business for the hotel.

If that had been in Cororado the attitude you expect might exist.

I don't think that you will often see that in Italy. It isn't just at the hotel that you enjoyed so much. All over Italy; in fact all over Europe you should expect what happened.

BTW- curious minds wonder - just how expensive could a half day horse ride for one person be? Is it really worth all this stress?

I'd focus on the good bits, and I hope your knee heals sometime soon.

What was the answer to Christi's question?

Neither I nor the agent that I worked with to book the trip were familiar with the terms of the cancellation policy. That's my bad. We knew they wanted full prepayment, which I happily provided.

Its important to note, I cancelled more than a week before the trip, actually 11 days prior to our departure for Italy, and fully 13 days before the horseback trip itself. The trip was booked on June 2nd for July 24th, and I emailed to cancel on July 11th.

The cost of the horseback riding was 140eu/person x 2. Its not really the cost so much as the attitude that really bugs me. Every other organization (lodging, restaurant, tour operator, shop, etc.) that we patronized during 2 weeks in Italy provided warm, friendly, personal service, really going the extra mile to make our trip outstanding. Hotel Prategiano - not so much, and I think people should know what to expect.

The "win-win" you describe is pretty much win for you and not so much for the hotel. Larger hotel chains are able to absorb those kinds of costs as a gesture of goodwill to the customer but small businesses not so much. A strict cancellation policy is customary in many areas especially in areas that have a short busy season. The horses you booked were were held for you and unavailable for anyone else to book, your cancelling did result in the lost revenue for those horses for those days.

If I would have relented on all of the requests I received it would have meant thousands of dollars out of my pocket in a year.

Perhaps you don't realize that you are probably just one of many who have a very valid reason for canceling but as I stated it is not the hotel's responsibility to absorb the loss. Their cancellation policy is stated clearly on their website and applies for both rooms & services.

Perhaps your trip insurance might cover this?

And just one other note:

We found that the Italians were more than willing to be helpful in the face of issues wholly of our own creating.

For example, at Ceramica Assunta in Positano, Giovanni (the manager) gracefully and without question allowed us to cancel a very nearly $1000 order for dinnerware, exactly 24 hours after we placed the order, providing a credit card refund with nary an argument. We had completely driven him crazy selecting the dinnerware the day before we cancelled, spending about 2 hours in the shop picking out patterns and combinations, totally monopolizing his time. I highly recommend Giovanni's establishment for a beautiful selection of ceramic items. reasonably priced, and with outstanding service (we did ultimately end up buying a number of custom items, though not nearly $1000 worth; Giovanni had no way to know we would do that).

I could elaborate on several other similar situations - so I have to disagree with your statement that "you should expect what happened". While it may be true in other parts of Europe, it certainly wasn't in Italy from July 18th to August 2nd of 2014.

It all boils down to the individual business's policies - not randomly applied.