rs best of sicily Nov- problems with booking Ambasciatori hotel

We stayed at the Ambassador Hotel in Palermo when we did the RS Sicily tour, if your having a hard time contacting the hotel then call the Rick Steves office in Washington and they will help you. We did the same thing and arrived 2 days early and enjoyed seeing the sights and resting before the tour started. You will love the roof top terrace at the hotel for breakfast and drinks in the evenings! This was one of our favorite tours!. Do not worry about the connection in Rome, it's just like any other large airport and you will do fine. Please post a trip report when you get back.

I tried a few months ahead of the tour to book this hotel for an extra nite before the tour and they were full. Ended up reserving another hotel down the block on the same street, Hotel del Centro. Both the Ambasciatori and this hotel have websites where you can book directly with the hotel. You could also use the Ambasciatori to see if they have availability on the date you want, even if you'd prefer to complete the booking via email.

How long a layover do you have in Rome?
I did the same trip in April, and the walk to the gate for ITa flights to Palermo was very long indeed!
It was well signposted though, so easy to navigate.

FCO has got much bigger than it was in 2019 on my previous trip.

Have you tried booking the room through the hotel's website? That's what I did years ago when I took this tour. There should be a place during the process to enter a request. That is where I note that I will be coming early before the Rick Steves tour and would like to stay in the same room if possible.

I am a solo traveler and on the RS Sicily tour starting 10/24/23. I booked an extra night with them a while ago but I emailed them and they were very fast in responding to all my emails. I used the email provided by RS attached to the hotel details on my account page.
Which tour are you on? Good luck!

Have looked in your spam catcher? Unknown senders can wind up there

The Ambasciatori was recently featured as having a rooftop bar with a great view in recent a WSJ article about the highlights of traveling in Sicily. Maybe that is contributing to booking problems. The article is firewalled, but I read it in a Apple News feed. Very good content, btw.

You might also check the hotel's website to see what email address they advise you to use. I just discovered that the email address given to us by RS in the itinerary document for our tour was not being monitored. I looked at the hotel's website and found a minor difference in the email address and resent the request. It was immediately answered with a "we're busy will get back to you" message but at least I know I'm in the queue!

Rome layover is NOT scary at all. We do it frequently. In fact , Rome FCO is a favorite airport of mine. Good food choices!
Why did you think it was scary? Did you have a bad experience there? I can’t imagine how it ever could have been scary.