jnjfraz

I don't know how long you will be Florence but I looked at the web site I would bet this is a good place.... not not high end but comfortable.

And the you may not be able to sit on your own balcony, but you will be with other travelers, and can have great fun.

What we always look for is a comfortable bed and a bathroom in our room. Breakfasts are all the same and usually quite good, but if they are not then there will be lots of great coffee shops close to your hotel.

Florence is a great place and I know that it is confusing when you book, but just book, go and have a great time.

annhig

cdispoto, reading the italian website pages, one learns that all the rooms enjoy lovely views of the Duomo or the Campanile [TDudette - we're talking about Florence here, despite what the OP posted in the heading] - but there is no mention of individual terraces. [I'm sure there would be if they had them!] the rooms are described as having a/c, hairdryer, private bathroom [may be bath or shower plus washbasin and toilet] mini-bar, kettle, wi-fi, satellite TV, sound-proofed windows and daily cleaning.

the breakfast is likely to be more than adequate, [leaving you enough room to enjoy your lunch] and you will be in a very central convenient position.

it's not the four Seasons, but then you aren't paying four Seasons prices. [but if you want to splurge, the four Seasons does a wonderful sunday brunch including as much as you can drink for about €80].

Christina

I think regardless of language, when you are asking questions by email rather than in person (when you can clarify), you need to write better sentences that are specific and say what you really want to know. I wouldn't even know how to answer those questions in English or what they mean.

If you want to know if a room has a terrace, ask that. If you want to know what is served for breakfast, ask that, don't ask what breakfast "includes." If you want to be vague, it would make more sense to ask what the breakfast consists of, not what it includes. But the problem with any translation is that vague questions can't be translated well because no one knows what they mean.

Anna_Galea

I think that only the first question is ambiguous - please clarify us on that one. Zeppole makes such a big fuss out of everything, these are only simple questions she is asking. It is obvious that in the second question she means to ask whether there is any outdoor area where there would be a table and chairs, and not just a window in the room.

Anna_Galea

Forgot to add Zeppole - By the comment you made, I think you must have skipped the first question in my post of April 9th!!!!!

Anna_Galea

cdispoto, I just read your reply to us. Then you mean to ask whether the double room has a private terrace.

Then the question would be in Italian:

Vorrei sapere se la camera doppia prenotata avrebbe una terrazza privata?.

TDudette

Oh shoot, annhig! Thanks. I was still in Venicein my head with OP! LOL

annhig

Anna, I am posting this with a degree of diffidence, as my italian is by no means perfect, but i think what you have posted translates as " i would like to know if the double room [that I have] booked would have a private terrace?"

probably better would be "la camera che ho prenotato, lei ha una terrazza privata?"

zeppole

cdispoto,

Al Duomo Firenze has an English option on its website. That is a good indication the proprietors speak some English. Pick up the phone and call them. (Mind the time difference). If you are unwilling to do that, use Google translate. It would be much better than the half-cocked information on this thread.

Anna,

I make such a "big fuss" over everything because this is someone else's cherished and expensive trip to Italy, perhaps the first and only, and people like you seem so utterly blase and careless about what you post. I am sure it is fun to swan around as a sophisticate on a message board, and no doubt you mean well, but you are providing lousy suggestions and wrong translations to somebody who is seriously trying to plan a trip that is free of disappointments. Try getting out of his way.

Anna_Galea

Zeppole, I am sure that questions like what is included in breakfast (and whether the room has a terrace - I was right in that as well as that is what the person meant to ask) would not spoil anyone's holiday,Anyway, emails are free and if the person is still in doubt they can email again to proprieter, no big deal!!!!! I do not answer for fun,(maybe like you do) but like to help in anyway I can. It is purely rude of you to always critisize other, as I often notice, everyone here is trying to help others. Maybe you should consider that sometimes YOU may be wrong - believe me nobody is perfect in life!!!!

Anna_Galea

cdispoto If you have a look at the reviews on Tripadvisor (something I always like to do, (as well as those of Booking.com) you will often find many of your questions answered by reviewers who visited. it could even be a restaurant, hotel or whatever accomodation. What breakfast consist of is clearly described. Then from different views you come to your own conclusion, as I always notice that one man's meat might be another's poison, as the saying goes. But like if the majority say that breakfast at a certain place was very basic, then most probably it would be. I went to places in Italy where they offered a lavish continental breakfast, and other places where they just offered a croissant and coffee.

annhig - I do not think your sentence about private terrace is right either, when you ask in Italian you always have to use interrogative verbs, so if you want to write it your way you say: La camera che ho prenotato abbia una terrazza privata? (lei ha is not used is anything is is written lei a in Italian as it is in the third person)

Anna_Galea

Sorry... in last two sentences I meant in Italian third person 'she has' is written lei a, but if you refer to whether the room has you say c'e with accent on e. (there is). There are many different ways you can ask for sure in Italian that would ultimately mean the same thing I do not mean to critisize you at all, beliee me annhig, as I do believe that as long as the proprieter understands what you want to ask, then it is ok, they would not be seeking one's perfect Italian for sure, but since you pointed out about my Italian I thought I should answer you back.

adrienne

Anna - good for you to stand up to zeppole!!! Kudos!

annhig

well, Anna, i think you are getting your interrogatives and your subjunctives a little mixed up, but never mind, i agree that the proprietor is going to get the message with whichever version the OP used. [not that you're going to get a private terrace at those prices, lol!]

TDudette

zeppole, you have done it once again. Ruined good advice by being insulting to others:

<i>half-cocked information on this thread.

people like you seem so utterly blase and careless about what you post

providing lousy suggestions and wrong translations to somebody who is seriously trying to plan a trip that is free of disappointments. Try getting out of his way.</i>

Surely there are kinder ways to correct people's information if you don't agree or if there is an error. You must be fluent in Italian; why not type out the questions in Italian for the OP and be done with it?

annhig

You must be fluent in Italian; why not type out the questions in Italian for the OP and be done with it?>>

yes, i was wondering that!

Anna_Galea

I totally agree with above posts. Nobody has the right to be pompeous and downright rude to others. I think all fodorites should concentrate on helping others and do some research for them, and not checking every single word in other peoples' suggestions so as to appear that he/she knows best. I am not say that Zeppole does not have good suggestions and advice on certain regions in Italy, in fact I do enjoy sometimes reading her descriptions of certain towns in Italy, but totally ruins her reputation by enjoying bitterful comments she gives to others, and with her imposing ways.

As Dudette pointed out, if one does need to comment, one can do it in a polite way, there are words and phrases in the English dictionary that would deliver a message in a nice way. Everyone should give their opinion and advice, and those who post their enquiries would be intelligent enough for sure to read them all out, do some research on others' suggestions, and then decide what is best for herself/himself. After all, only that person herself would really know exactly what she has in mind regarding her query or holiday. Nobody is going to give any advice here for sure that would jeopardise a whole holiday, that is being far too dramatic.

I did try to the best of my ability translate what the fodorite's queries were, pointing out that the first one seemed doubtful to me. They were not some queries that put a holiday in jeopardy for sure, like what breakfasts consists of etc, It seems, as I have often noticed when Zeppole is critisizing Fodorites, that she likes to frighten the people making the query by pointing out that the person might ruin his her holiday, it is her way to give the message that she knows best I have just read again another of her critisisms in another separate query from a Fodorite. How can a person have the cheek to tell another to lay off? Sheer rudeness!!!!

I am absolutely sure that by my questions the owner of the B&B would haveunderstood well what the queries were, and even if not most owners would be willing to answer emails and queries as many as the enuirer asks. I tried to help to the best of my ability, and would never ever risk ruining anyone's holiday for sure, I write on Fodors to try and share my experiences and help in any way I can, and I am absolutely sure most Fodorites feel exactly the same way, after all, everyone is voluntarily using their pecious time to help others, something I really appreciate and feel in debt to those who answer my own queries.

There so many ways you can ask the questions in good enough Italian, the polite form, dialect form which is so different in many parts of Italy, coloquial form, etc I have no doubt about that. I do not say I have perfect Italian either, far from that, but I have studied the language up to high school, and my husband's parents lived in Italy for quite a few years, the mother language of some of his nephews and neices was Italian, so Italian was constantly used whenever we met up with them, so I do have some knowledge of the proper Italian and the spoken one.

However you write to the owner should not make much difference, although of course we all know that we should always be polite. .

I was not being a sophisticate when trying to translate, or when I do my best to be polite to all fodorites, I do it merely to help out in any way I can. People who pick on others and use low language should take a course in basic manners. And in our case, they should be just ignored.

annettafly

Amen to that, Anna. It would be nice if the "informed Foderites" would keep in mind that we newbies come here, exposing our ignorance, admitting we need help, already vulnerable enough without being made to feel dumb for not having the knowledge of more sophisticated travelers. Then there's the discomfort of being caught up in the middle of arguments over what is the exact truth. I come with a question, looking to get helpful suggstions for how I might FIND the answer(s). I don't expect that the replys I get will be the irrefutable facts. Just acts of kindness from strangers.

StCirq

Anna, you don't need to apologize. Your Italian wasn't perfect (neither is mine - I doubt the rude expat's is, either), but any B&B owner would have understood.

The person in question is invariably an insufferable snot, and everyone knows it, so no need to defend yourself. What's really incredible, as someone in the Lounge pointed out, is that someone who essentially lives in paradise chooses to spend her time lecturing and looking down on strangers in an anonymous internet forum. If that doesn't speak to an utter depravity of soul, I don't know what does.