AVOID USING CHARMING FLORENCE AS YOUR BOOKING AGENT
 

I made the mistake of choosing a hotel that used Charming Escapes/Charming Florence as a booking agent. They screwed up my reservation and it was an ordeal getting it fixed. It took 3 faxes and multiple emails to both the hotel and Charming Escapes. I finally had to threaten to cancel the reservation before someone bothered to contact me to inform me how it was MY responsibility to correct their mistake. When I wrote a letter of complaint to the hotel and to the Charming Escapes website, I had the joy of being personally insulted by none other that the CEO of Charming Escapes himself who informed me via email that he would be quite pleased if I NEVER used his service again. This is what you can expect of their customer serivce. Avoid them like the plague. If you would like to see the email that their CEO sent to me so you can see for yourself how rude and insulting that he was, feel free to email me. I'll be happy to forward you a copy. Use a reputable travel agency and avoid them like the PLAGUE! <BR><BR><BR><BR>

that's why there are travel agents- <BR>use them and you won't have these problems

There seems to be a missing piece to this puzzle. If you had already sent them 3 faxes and several emails to straighten out the problem, why would they then "Inform me how it was MY responsibility to correct their mistake" -- apparently you already had?<BR>What did they "screw up"? If it was the dates, then surely your correcting them with three or more communications would have been considered by them as your effort to correct it?

This is a good reason why it's better to deal with the hotel directly. You don't need a booking service as they also put in a commission into the prices they charge usually.

I used their (Charming) website for pictures of the accomodations and then did an internet search for the hotel/B&B website and booked directly with the hotel. <BR><BR>I found it's better to eliminate as many "middlemen" as possible, and quite possibly save some money also.<BR><BR>

Author: aaa ([email protected])<BR>Date: 05/18/2002, 10:25 am<BR>Message: that's why there are travel agents- <BR>use them and you won't have these proble<BR><BR><BR>Yeah, like travel agents are infallible and don't screw up too! LOL!!!!!

It's true the site has many pictures so if you're researching a specific hotel they offer, it's good. But then book directly with the hotel. <BR><BR>One of the reasons I do my booking for air, hotel, etc. myself is because the travel agents I had were no good. One gave me the wrong information about my hotel so we ended up with additional expenses. Another told me the airline was offering traveler's insurance but did not specify it was the consolidator that offered it. <BR><BR>I find I can do a better job myself and get what I want. Even for a low airfare, you can book it yourself by going to a consolidator.

Is this the same as the charmingitaly.com site? I made a reservaton there through charmingrome.com at the hotel isa for next month and didn't seem to have any problems. Got a response directly back from the hotel confirming my reservations, and asking if they could arrange a car to meet us at the airport. There was a little confusion at first over what kind of room I wanted, but we got that straightened out via e-mail. Hopefully everything will go smoothly when we check in on June 7!<BR>

We just returned from Italy. I booked our B&B in Florence (Galuzzo) with charmingflorence.com and had no problems.

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. I, too, usually opt to avoid any middlemen and deal directly with hotels. <BR>

topping for Judith

why?

Is this the same company as is connected with Tuscany.net? If so, we booked with them last summer and it was a great experience. And by going through that site, we dealt directly with the owner of the property.