VaPiano Travel Reviews

Yes! We just returned from.an Italy trip booked through Robert at VaPaino. We did Venice, Florence, Rome & Amalfi Coast.

PRO's:
- Apartment and hotels were all in good locations with great service
- Private drivers were all punctual and professional
- Had direct access to support through a contact on WhatsApp while in Italy.

CON's
- Were told we'd have a cooking class with an authentic Tuscan chef - were booked at Pastamania and literary had the time listed 30 minutes before the class started so we waited 45 minutes for the class with a young girl who is NOT a chef - it was a fun class but not the exclusive experience promised.
- The private tour guides that we were told were their local experts to tailor tourd based on our needs were actually guides through another tour agency and toured based on their history agenda. We were very clear food, culture and wine were our primary focus. Venice guide pointed to "wine" area but never took us over there rather 3 hrs of history down alleys and looking at her guide book. We were also promised our "local expert" would point out none tourist restaurants etc., this only happened in Florence.
- Only went to 1 Winery in Tuscany yet were on a 6 hour tour that ncluded stops at 2 tourist towns. This was by far the most disappointing part of our trip.

We were provided a very brief itinerary prior to our trip but details like length of tours, details of what would be covered and what to expect were not provided. We should have asked more details but assumed the "tailored" agenda would cover all we communicated. Overall it was a fabulous trip but felt several aspects of the trip fell short of what was promised.

Thank you jhover99 for sharing your feedback and insights! It is much appreciated!

I had previously booked with Robert and Vapiano travel and had an outstanding experience, so I returned for my recent UK trip expecting the same. Unfortunately, this time the service fell far below their promises of “custom travel planning” and “seamless luxury.”

While the tours and arrangements were fine, there was a major lack of support throughout the trip. When issues arose, responses from my agent were short, dismissive, and in some cases a flat refusal to assist with matters that were absolutely their responsibility. One of the hotel selections fell significantly short of what was promised, including functioning air conditioning. When we reached out to our agent, Jeanne, she said she did not know how to help with this and that she could not help locate another hotel option. She also informed me that she was really just an emergency contact and could not assist with anything that came up during the trip. Robert supported this response and seemed angered that we would reach out to him directly when Jeanne was not able to assist. He stated that he was very busy running two companies and also traveling himself at the same time. He could not be bothered to help us resolve the issue. This is not what you expect from a premium service.

Given the significant cost of booking through them, I expected attentive, proactive problem-solving. Instead, I was left to resolve issues on my own and felt that reaching out was treated as an inconvenience. The service we received did not come close to justifying the premium price, and I highly recommend looking elsewhere for travel guidance if you are seeking true luxury-level support.

Thank you jenjohn41 for sharing your experience. I am sorry to hear your most recent experience did not come up to the level of your first trip with Vapiano. Thanks again for your opinions. Very helpful.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up what I could find on this company - as I'd never heard of it - and there are almost no reviews or other mentions of it out there on the net. Endorsements on the VaPiano website are questionable as there's no assurance that they're genuine. Let's just say that for a bespoke luxury travel company, the absence of presence on the net - either in reviews or virtually any other mentions outside of their own website - is a pretty big red flag. I wouldn't personally book them based just on that.

Mich2Tex, you posted your question in March. It's now August. Have you made plans to travel Italy in 2025 and if so, independently or with a different company?

Yes, we utilized Robert Gandini and Vapiano for our recent Italy trip and were very pleased with the drivers, tour guides, itinerary and accommodations. We would use Vapiano again for Italy travels.