When my tour ends in Rome, the Vatican, St. Peter's, etc, are not included in my RS tour. Can anyone recommend Get Your Guide for a 2-3 hour Vatican tour?
If not, is there an alternative company/private guide for a guided tour of these sites?
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
8537 posts
Have you checked the Rick Steves guidebook for suggested guides for the Vatican? Get your Guide is not a tour company. They are a third party that sells other companies' tours and keeps a cut of the revenue. If you book direct, the tour company that does the tour likely makes more and you could possibly save money, too.
One person I know of that does Vatican tours is the "Catholic Traveler". https://thecatholictraveler.com/ Another popular Rome tour guide is Francesca Caruso. https://francescacaruso.com/
Posted by
OP
8 posts
Thank you! Really helpful...
Posted by
159 posts
We used Miles&Miles from Rick’s book. They are local and family-run. Excellent!
Posted by
1 posts
It is really important to know what GYG is (spoiler: a third party review-laundering company that provides no added value and if you have an issue tries to wear you down with unhelpful AI customer “service”. )
It is a third party platform for independent tour companies to advertise and sell their tours. So when people rate their specific tour experience highly (great tour guide for example) they are really rating a separate tour company - not GYG. Similar to if you really like the house you rent through Airbnb, that is separate from Airbnb’s policies and procedures as a company.
Many people have had good tour experiences with the company they booked through GYG, but GYG as a company itself is awful.
They really bury the name of the company you’re booking with in the listing itself so it is hard to find until after you book. But if you look carefully you can find it and book directly.
The company we booked with turned out to be running a shady business- booking tours of the Vatican before securing tickets. They cancelled on us at the last minute when they weren’t able to get the tickets they’d sold us, leaving us out of luck (that’s on them, not GYG) but then GYG wouldn’t let me leave a bad review on that tour because I hadn’t gone on the tour. Their policy is you can only leave a review after the tour is complete. I understand limitations on reviews, but they can see that the tour was booked by me and cancelled by the operator. So, effectively there is no way to warn other customers about companies that sell fake tickets or cancel last minute. I’ve also read lots of people on Reddit saying their bad review was quietly removed. So GYG is effectively “review laundering” helping tour companies hide their bad reviews.
They also failed to do anything to hold this company accountable and also wouldn’t give us any compensation (other tours were a lot more expensive at the last minute after ours were cancelled and we wanted GYG to help cover the difference). Customer service said a lot of polite (AI sounding ) platitudes but never actually did anything. They wasted a lot of my time giving me the run around and switching agents. They did not add any extra security, guarantee, or value. If you get lucky and book with a good company you could have a good experience. But when things go wrong you’re on your own.
Bottom line: People may have connected with good tour companies through GYG, but GYG as a company itself is shady, unhelpful, doesn’t take accountability, and protects bad companies. Steer clear!
Posted by
Bellingham, WA
2051 posts
Msjuliaday mentioned AirBnB. That site also offers "experiences," including tours of the Vatican:
https://www.airbnb.com/s/Vatican-City/experiences?place_id=ChIJPS3UVwqJJRMRsH46sppPCQA&refinement_paths%5B%5D=%2Fexperiences&location_bb=QiehNkFHVYBCJ5nMQUchwA%3D%3D&acp_id=7560dd20-88a7-4c08-ab19-a3a2306dd999&date_picker_type=calendar&source=structured_search_input_header&search_type=autocomplete_click
I have used AirBnB to book a walking tour in another city. As always, read the reviews, etc.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
10503 posts
First of all, Get Your Guide, like Viator, offers a service. To tour companies, they provide an advertising and reservation service that draws in additional customers. To travelers, they offer a convenient site for discovering and booking from multiple tour companies in one location. Some people like the service they provide and others dislike it.
There are a few tour locations in Rome that can be problematic in terms of tour companies selling tickets they don’t have yet and then canceling tours. The Vatican and the Colosseum have this happen fairly often. It really doesn’t matter if you book directly or through Get Your Guide if the actual provider participates in this somewhat shady practice. Very similar to gambling, these companies manage to come up with tickets often enough that there are stories of success that keep people coming.
Your best bet is to purchase tickets directly from the official sites if possible. I have dealt with one company in Rome that I found to be very reliable, Roman Vacations. https://www.roman-vacations.com/ Like most tour companies, they book directly or through Get Your Guide.