Caution - Walks Premium Colosseum Tour

It is unfortunate that you missed your tour. I'm wondering if there was "the small print" and, if so, that you read it. I looked at booking with a different company for the Colosseum, etc. tour but read the fine print first. It stated that they would attempt to get tickets to the Colosseum Floor but that if they couldn't get those tickets for my time slot that day, they would change the time slot and I would not receive a refund if I could not go at that time. I chose not to include the CF because it would mean we could not buy tickets for any other event that day in case our time was changed.

Again, so sorry that you couldn't do your tour.

I have also had a negative experience with Walks regarding the colosseum and many others have posted of similar experiences . They regularly book people on tours that they don’t actually have tickets for. They hope to somehow procure them in time. If they don’t, they will cancel at the last moment. This is the first I’ve heard of a reschedule vs cancel.

How important do you think it is to include the gladiator gate/arena floor on any of the vendor tours and can anyone give recent rick steve discount codes for walks of italy or some of the other companies rick recommends, ie romanguy, etc. the tour code that i have for walks of italy is not correct per their website. I have RICKWALKSROME.

which book has the bad code, jtridle1?

Nigel or anyone: rick Steves Italy, Copyright says 2022.

Im trying from my iphone. Perhaps I should try from a real computer??

They changed our tour to a different day and time. Fortunately, we were able to switch things up and do the tour.

All tickets are nominative and your ID has to match the name on the ticket which is why they couldn’t slip you into the other group. Italy, or at least the Colosseum, implemented this because of all the bots buying up the tickets for groups and resale making it impossible for individuals to buy tickets.
The bot buying is still going on in other monuments in other countries.

All these tour companies have the same problem assuring the exact time of your tour. But they needed a system that uses multiple means of alert and requires the customer to respond. This is what my food tour in Madrid did when the time changed.

I feel ripped off by Walks of Italy. I was told by a rep that I would be notified if the the complete Vatican tour was cancelled or changed. I inquired multiple times about whether they had tour access to Sistine Chapel. I pointed out it was closed as of Monday April 28. The tour is still on, I was told. On the 29th, we were told when we arrived that the tour was being cut shorr due to no Sistine access, apologized, and encouraged us to call a number she gave us to complain. Some other tour companies were honest with customers so they had time to cancel. I called and asked Walks for a price adjustment/partial refund. An unfriendly rep told me “read the fine print,” changes can happen and tough luck. What a welcome to Rome! So we got a half tour at full price, and it wasn’t cheap. We went through the Vatican Museums and the tour guide sent us on our own in St. Peters, which is free for everyone. My first and last experience with Walks of Italy. Consider this my consumer protection advice to spare you from a shady operator.

Wow, thanks for this heads-up. I purchased exactly this tour from Walks for next Monday, May 5. I have been a little nervous about how crowded Rome will likely be. At least I'll know to be looking out for possible changes.