Can two adults book all our seats in Italo Salotto Executive Class

In confused- are you booking for two other folks or do you want all the seats for yourselves?

Thanks for the question, we want all four seats for ourselves

Why can’t you just put random names on two tickets in the same booking? When the conductor comes round to check, if they ask about the other two, just say they changed their mind, or some other reason . They won’t care.

But it appears he is willing to buy four tickets instead of just two. So be it, if he wants to pay the price.

Seems excessive for a journey of 2 hr 3 min duration.
But, whatever.

This may not work as expected.

In theory you could indeed book all four seats (using made up names for example), and if you are lucky this indeed results in you having the whole compartment to yourself.

But since you cannot put your behind in two seats at the same time, the other seats will remain unoccupied. And unoccupied seats may be occupied by other passengers. These may be passengers that decide that they like that seat better. The conductor may even decide to give the seats to someone who boarded without a reservation for that train.

No other passengers could sit there unless they had tickets for that class of service. And if they had those proper tickets, they would have their own assigned and reserved seats. So no need to take these.

Remember this is an Italian train, run by Italo, ALL seats are reserved. It is not Swiss train where reservations are not compulsory and people can occupy any unreserved seat in the class they booked. These seats would be marked as reserved. If someone tries to take them, the OP could just point to the reservation. Lots of times seats are empty because the person went to the restroom or the cafe car.

In my limited experience of 3 trips to Italy, I have noticed that passengers on Italian trains will sit in first class seats which are reserved for others. Most of the time they will give up the seats to the rightful occupants.

But, I would hate to keep shooing people out of the extra seats that we reserved for the extra space and privacy.

Please check carefully. As the Italo Salotto was planned for business meetings during trips - and of course you do not want strangers at your meeting - there was a time when you could only buy all the four seats together, as a single ticket, no matter how many people were traveling. I would check if this is still the case.

I am not familiar with this space, but I am picturing it as a private compartment with four seats, which must be booked together. And they wish to book all four, on one ticket, using two fictional names. Which according to lachera is the only way to book that salotto anyway. I cannot imagine other passengers having the nerve to open the door (if there is one) and move in to the empty seats—-especially when they already have their own reserved seats.

I have seen people “sneak” into first-class compartments and occupy unreserved seats on IC trains with the separate 6-person compartments. They did not have first class tickets and were quickly removed by the conductor who came around to check tickets ( and threatened with fines if they did it again). If those had been reserved seats, I assume the offenders would have been shamed into moving by the rightful occupants.

I just found this blog, which states that the Club Executive Salotto is private, like a lounge, and can seat up to 4 persons. You get it for exclusive use whether you book for 2 or 4, but the price per person goes up if you book 2 instead of 4.

https://www.2for1aroundtheworld.com/italo-club-executive-class-review-what-is-salotto/

So they are doing nothing wrong or sneaky. They can just book 2 tickets under their own names and get the whole compartment, but will pay extra for the privilege.

Together with the lounge access and other perks, it makes for an inexpensive “Luxury” experience if one wants that.

You can see photos of the Salotto compartments on Man in Seat 61. Maybe that is where they got the idea.

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/italo.htm

Basically, it is a table with four seats on either side, facing each other, and a door you can close, or not. But you won’t have anyone sharing the table, even if you book it for 2.

If you buy a salotto (literally a “living room”) the room is all yours, even if you occupy only 3 of the 4 seats.

It was designed for business people to have private business meetings, which could be confidential. If a business meeting has 3 traveling managers participating and therefore the 4th available seat is empty it doesn’t mean that a stranger passenger could sit at your company meeting, that would defeat the purpose of the concept by Italo.

That choice has a price. When you buy a “salotto” you buy 4 seats in a room at a not so cheap price. If you decide to use only half of the 4 seats, it doesn’t mean someone can occupy the empty seats. You bought all four of them, and you need to have a very confidential meeting with your spouse/partner. No conductor can change that.

It sounds like most of the people commenting don't understand what you're asking about. I booked the Salotto for myself and my parents two years ago. We only had to book the 3 seats for the exclusive use of the compartment. When you walk into that carriage of the train, there will be other seats (the Executive seats) and then there will be compartments with sliding doors that have 4 seats in them. If you put in for 2 people and the Salotto price comes up, then that is telling you it is available and what the price will be per person. They make more money if 4 people occupy the compartment but there's even a price for 1 person for it (although I'm pretty sure they had a 2 person requirement in the past but maybe that's changed). Anyway, just book your 2 tickets and it's yours. An attendant will come by and offer you snacks and drinks. If I remember correctly, I believe they aren't enclosed with a roof and are open to the rest of the carriage. Don't forget that if you want to change your time that the compartment may not be available since they don't have many of them and they tend to book out. And take advantage of the Lounge access that comes with it!!