You're Making

Extaordinary events require an extraordinary respose. What if I told my boss I wasn't going to New York to search for my missing brother? Should he fire me? I fear you are correct, some in the travel industry are only interested in the money and show little regard for the human equation. Do you think they are the only ones who are losing money? I've lost 10% of my life's savings just in the last 2 days due to stock losses from this disaster. But please I am not whinning "poor me" like I am hearing from some hotel owners and others and I'm not trying to get other victims to pay for my loss. Rather we are here trying to raise money to help the victims in New York. I'm sure there are some starving hotel owners who are not able to do this or even change a persons lodging dates at their now empty hotel.

John G

Oh, Im sorry, I didn't know that the $20,000.00 a year secretary who works at the travel agency owned the Hilton Hotel chain in Europe. Excuse me. And I didn't know that all the flight attendants for Continental owned the George V and the Ritz in Paris. You are right, they don't need to work. They've got millions. And that lady who ownes the B&B outside Edinburgh, she's loaded. She doesn't need any guests. She was just in operation for money laundering purposes. Thank you, Mr. Mad, for opening my naive eyes. JG

Piss off

Amy, the amount of travel companies who are making concessions and waiving the cancellation policy is stagering. The fact that Travel-Italy isn't one of them makes me think that I WOULD BE CRAZY to make business with such greedy, uncompassionate agency. The fact is that airlines and many other travel organizations are already clamoring the federal government to show compassion TO THEM and they, most likely, will get some tax relief. You have some nerves to post on a travel forum, who is clearly geared to independent travel, and waive a flag for some greedy travel agency that doesn't even realize the big mistake that is pissing off some people in the age of the Internet. I, for one, pledge to you, Rene, that I will post in every travel forum I can find in the Internet what just happened between you and Travel-Italy. <BR> <BR>Travel-Italy, I have no clue who Rene is, but you are never, ever going to get my business.

Just to Clarify

Here are my comments: <BR> <BR>You're Making Me Angry -- unless you sold any of your investments, you did not lost a dime in the stock market yesterday. The primary reason the stock market dipped yesterday was from seller orders that were not processed prior to the stock market closing on September 11th. If you haven't sold, you have lost nothing, it's just on paper that your assets are less. <BR> <BR>Fran - The company that Rex is using first offered to refund it's commission. Ultimately the villa he is staying at offered a 100% refund if Rex and his friends were not able to make their trip. They are going to Italy as planned. <BR> <BR>Kerri -- thanks for your comments. <BR> <BR>Vic -- rules and contracts are different for each entity. It is my experience that rentals for apartments and villas require prepayment in full at least 30 days prior to departure. Same goes for tour companies. <BR> <BR>John -- although it is unpopular to agree with you, I do. <BR> <BR>To all of you -- we cannot expect all businesses to absorb losses. We may be headed towards a recession. We should not be condemning each business because full refunds or credits are not available. It would be nice, but it is not always possible. Not every business has the profits that companies like Microsoft has. <BR> <BR>Overall, it seems that Rene is disappointed, but not as angry as the rest of you. Although we have to now take precautions because of the events on the 11th, we each have to decide whether to pay the additional costs to insure refunds, that means full fare tickets, and procuring lodging that offers easier cancellations. Some will opt to pay full fares, and others will take their chances. It's like playing at the tables in Las Vegas, sometimes you win, but sometimes you lose and have to walk away and accept the losses. <BR> <BR>

Vita

Rene, I'm not surprised by Travel-Italy's response. I tried to book a day tour through them and the woman I spoke with was totally unhelpful and rude.

Jesse Estevez

Hi, I'm the Director of E-Commerce with Travel-Italy.com. This discussion has gotten very negative, and that is sad. <BR> <BR>My .02 cents is that T-I is not being greedy. We have refunded and will continue to refund many thousands of dollars of travel. Cuendet, one of our suppliers, has decided not to refund money that we have already sent them. There is nothing we can do about that and we are sorry. <BR> <BR>How far are we willing to go? Well, all the way. Last Friday I laid off my entire IT staff, and myself was laid off effective at the end of October. We are taking the steps we need to take to make sure that our company survives. This meant laying off all non-essential staff. Most of my work and my team's work was for the future. We don't need programmers to refund money, we need our phone staff. <BR> <BR>So, 5 people here have lost their jobs because there was not enough money to guarantee salary given the expected $150,000 in cancellations we are facing. We are a Mom and Pop shop, and I am upset that people would accuse us of corporate greed. <BR> <BR>The WTC attack has been felt even here in Columbia, MO. I don't think people should be too fast to point the finger at Chris Group and his company. There are other enemies we should be wary of. <BR> <BR>Like Kerri, our Customer Service Manager, I'll do my best to answer any questions you send me via email. At least until the end of the month, at which time I'll start looking for a job.

You're Making

Jesse: <BR> <BR>I meant to commend your company for it's efforts but got distracted by JG's and others' posts. My comments were not meant against Travel-Italy. <BR>Most in the travel industry understand that under these extraordinary circumstances it is better to do what they know to be morally right rather than try to save their last buck. This is what they will live with in the long run. All of us will or have suffered loses from this tragedy(some more than others). The travel industry will recover the same as the stock market will recover. We wish the travel industry good forture as all of us will be traveling again soon. But, some of us will remember those that were not up to the challenge and will be taking our business elsewhere. <BR> <BR>Good luck to you and your company. <BR>

fran

Travel-Italy, <BR> I'm sorry you have to be dragged through the mud like this. The spoiled brats who want the world to bow to their needs--even though the contract clearly stated...even though they are voluntarily changing their schedule...are NOT representative of the sophisticated travelers who generally browse and post on this board.

Leslie

Fran, <BR> <BR>All I can say is BRAVO! You are absolutely right. The views of a few are not indicative of the rest of us. <BR> <BR>Leslie

Vic

I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the outraged seem to be accepting uncritically the notion that "numerous other hotels, tour groups and members of the travel industry the world over are showing their compassion by bending their cancellation/rescheduling rules." <BR> <BR>Many hotels have allowed travelers who were stranded during the stand down to stay free or at reduced rates and have forgiven cancellation penalties during this period. But are other companies like Travel-Italy providing full refunds under similar circumstances? Does anymore really believe that a cruise line in a similar circumstance would give a full refund. <BR> <BR>As stated by others Rene simply decided not to go. Why should the tour company take the hit.

a regular

The attached is taken from http://www.cnn.com <BR> <BR>I'm sure some of it will trickled down to tour/travel agencies, right? <BR> <BR>Read on: <BR> <BR> <BR>"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The White House and congressional leaders were nearing agreement Tuesday evening on a $15 billion bailout for the airline industry, which was hit hard by last week's terrorist attacks, senior administration officials and senior congressional sources told CNN. <BR> <BR>Senior Bush administration and congressional officials told CNN the package could reach the House floor as early as Friday and would include: <BR> <BR>• Between $2.5 billion and $5 billion in direct cash payments to compensate the airlines for revenue lost due to the shutdown following the September 11 terrorist attacks. <BR> <BR>• $12.5 billion in loan guarantees. <BR> <BR>• A delay in quarterly tax payments to improve the airlines' short-term liquidity. <BR> <BR>The industry also sought specific liability protection from claims stemming from the attacks at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but no agreement was reached on that issue. <BR> <BR>The airlines said they suffered losses of $5 billion from loss of business since the attacks. The industry also predicted lower revenues. "

Rex

Others have tried to clarify what I said - - so I must have not made it very clear. The company www.rentvillas.com offers villas from many sources - - but ours comes from Cuendet - - sort of the "Century 21" of private vacation rental properties in Italy, especially. <BR> <BR>Cuendet offered full refunds for any rentals that begain Saturday Sep 15. Beyond that, they were apparently prepared to offer refunds ONLY IF flights were canceled, or travelers could not otherwise get there. I suspec that this would not occur to many travelers; it has not happened to us. Our flights are NOT canceled. <BR> <BR>For a while it seemed that various factors might contribute to some or all of our group canceling. If re-scheduling was not an option, then www.rentvillas.com offered to refund THEIR commission on the rental (20%) - - if we were "stuck" with few (or ZERO) people actually using the property. <BR> <BR>As of tonight, we may be back to all seven of us traveling. Or at least six, for sure. We may ask if www.rentvillas.com would still offer (some portion? half?) of their commission to us in that case. Or not. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>