Please sign in to post.

No reply from Positano B&B

Hi, we are going to Italy for 5 weeks in September, because of previous experience of leaving the bookings of accommodation too late and missing out on our first choice, I have already booked most of our accommodation. Our choice in Positano comes recommended in the Rick Steves book. I emailed the B & B in early December asking for prices and if they availability for our dates. Four days later they emailed back telling us what room was available and the price. She also said that she requires one night deposit and they would like to receive that in January. From doing research on the B & B I knew that was going to be the case and people send them a cheque for the deposit as they don’t take credit cards. I immediately emailed back and said yes we will take it and I asked what name to write on the cheque. A week later we still didn’t hear back so I sent another email apologising for being so close to Christmas but we need a name to write on the cheque. It’s been a week since that last email and we still haven’t heard back.

Not sure what to do. Do we wait longer for her to reply to us or do we try to book somewhere else? Is this normal for all of Positano accommodation? All of other apartments and B&B’s have responded immediately to all of our emails.

Thanks for any help.

Posted by
85 posts

If you share the name of the B&B others who have experience with them may be able to help. Many folks who run B&Bs take some time off and close up over the holidays. You may have more luck after the new year. I loved Positano - it will be worth the effort.

Posted by
2488 posts

Maybe they are closed for the Christmas and New Years Holidays? If no luck with them, we stayed at B&B Villa La Tartana and loved it, not sure if in your price range but location and everything about it was perfect, I think we paid about 300 dollars but that was for four of us. Good luck.

Posted by
32405 posts

Jane,

I'd suggest giving it a bit more time, as they may be preoccupied with Christmas and family celebrations and not checking E-mail. Of course La Befana is coming up in a week or so also.

Good luck and happy travels!

Posted by
15 posts

The B&B is Residence La Tavolozza. Yes, I was thinking the no reply was to do with Christmas but I thought as they have a business to run that they would still be checking their emails. I will take your advice and give them more time.

Villa La Tartana is on my list and I have read good reports. I might try them if I have no luck with La Tavolozza. I have also been looking at Villa Rosa. Lucky I still have plenty of time.

Thanks for your help.

Posted by
7737 posts

You're discovering what's part of both the charm and the frustration of Italy. As noted in a book I was recently reading, as a general rule (which undoubtedly has exceptions), Italians aren't as obsessed with making money as Americans (and possibly Aussies) are. They put other things first. This is especially true of the smaller mom-and-pop types of businesses, such as a B&B. It's doubly true of resort towns (such as Positano) during the off-season.

Italian businesses are also much less customer-focused than most Americans expect. I've been told that the customer is NOT always right in Italy. :-)

Because of the timing of your email correspondence, I would suggest pinging them sometime after Jan 6, which is the traditional day of exchanging Christmas presents in Italy (La Befana).

Posted by
15 posts

Thanks Michael, I will wait until a few day after Jan 6th then send them another email and see what happens. Hopefully, I will receive one from them first.

Posted by
117 posts

I've stayed there, and I agree...wait until after the 6th. The communication was slow, but they really are a lovely place to stay/nice people.

Posted by
15 posts

I ended up receiving an email from them on Saturday. She explained to me that she had been on a vacation. I am glad that I took everyone's advice and waited.

Thanks Stephanie for letting me know. I am really looking forward to it!

Posted by
7737 posts

Thanks for giving us the update. File this under the "Expectations from Italy" category.