We were in Florence a few weeks ago to visit the Uffizi. I made reservations for 6 people by telephone several months in advance at no charge, was just given a Reservation Number. Four out of our group did not want to go. When I went to pick up and pay for the reserved tickets for an 8:15 am entrance for 2 people, the Reservations desk was going to still charge the €4 reservation fee per person (not the entry ticket) for 6. I told them to release the reservation. This may be a new policy and I can understand their position for doing this with no-show reservations, but it is contradictory to Rick Steves' 2015 Guidebook for Italy which says they only charge you for the people that actually show up. My husband stood in the general line while I found this out, so we just bought tickets at the door without having to pay the reservation fee. The wait was only about 20-30 minutes as I noted that tour groups were being let in ahead of people standing in the General Admission line.
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Thanks for your reply RS Team. The word "contradictory" was too strong in my original post. I was simply advising how the Uffizi office was handling reserved tickets now and did suggest in my OP that it was probably the Uffizi's (not RS) "new" policy and it was most likely implemented since the publishing of the latest RS Italy tour book. I also agree that it is a reasonable policy on the part of Uffizi for no-shows. My hope was that an update to the Florence guidebook be posted on the RS website in this regard. That is all. I appreciate all of the tips and advice RS gives in his guides and it made our trip easier to plan and enjoy.