FrancaMaria --no response?!

I think you should see if they have charged anything to your card and then block it and find another place. They have had some terrible reviews but I can't verify anyone has stayed there since November 2014. No available dates show up for any dates in 2015 at all. They may have closed. They were supposed to send you a reservation voucher but by not doing so and by ignoring 3 emails, it doesn't look good. Don't trust it. Don't worry about finding a room. I will make an excellent suggestion for you in a separate reply.

Unfortunately I had the same experience with Francamaria. Initially they answered my email immediately about room availability and told me to send credit card. I inquired about sending credit card an alternate way than via email, but they have not answered in over one week. I have also sent two follow-up emails with no response. I tried to call, but there was a language barrier.

I ended up switching to Monteroso. I hoped to stay in Vernazza, but places seem to either be full or don't answer. I'm also extremely uncofortable sending my credit card via email which all seem to want. Many more places in Monteroso accept credit cards and there was more availability.

Good Luck!

Here is the place in Vernazzo I promised to post- Casa Cato. This is a gorgeous place and they do-at this time- have availability in July. www.casacatocinqueterre.com/en/Default.aspx

Thank you so much! This was exactly the information I needed. I will cancel and block the charge on my credit card. I was able to find another place with availability in Vernazza for those days through booking.com.

Thanks again for the quick responses!

lilfoot,

Sorry you had a bad experience with FrancaMaria. I will be staying there in May for my 5th time and have never had a problem. I always send my credit card # on the request form, that is what they want to reserve a room. I always get a confirmation right away. I request a second one prior to my trip. Always got one. As far as the card, it is cash only. The card is more of a guarantee that you will show up.

I don't understand Terri Lynn's comments on bad reviews and "not showing any availability" for 2015 so they must have closed. You can check reviews on Tripadvisor and there are recent ones ( but none from spring 2015 yet). You can book them on booking.com and they are taking bookings through October.

Here is a date I checked in June:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187822-d539544-Reviews-Franca_Maria_Rooms-Vernazza_Cinque_Terre_Italian_Riviera_Liguria.html

Dates in early July I checked show no availability, meaning they are fully booked. Maybe one of those bookings is yours.

It is not unusual for small places to be slow in sending a confirmation. They may be swamped with requests and see no need to confirm when they know they have your reservation. I understand your frustration but if you really want to stay there, can you call them? And are you sure that they haven't responded, and checked that the answers didn't go into your spam folder? Depending on your email host, emails from Italy may be suspect and routed there.

If they were closed then booking.com would NOT be making reservations there.

It is so easy to book these hotels through booking.com, especially when there is a language barrier. You always have someone to call and if there is a problem they will make it right. Don't know if you get a better price directly, but most hotels that I have booked, it is the same price either way.