We're booked to stay at the Hotel Il Duca in Florence for 4 days next July....it was a place our travel agent found, and there was a special promotional price that was hard to beat. I did a cursory check before I booked it, but now I'm starting to get nervous. It only has a few reviews on TripAdvisor, though most of them are pretty good. But their Web site has been updated since 2007 and the price is far less than shown.

Does anyone actually know anything about this place? I'm not finding anything on this site, either. I'm wondering if my hotel "deal" wasn't much of a deal after all.

Thanks.

beeswing

Italian businesses don't seem to update their websites as often. I wouldn't worry about it. It appears to be central enough.

Maybe this link will work...




…venere.com/bed_and_breakfasts_rome/fontana_…

We booked our Florence hotel, Il Duca, on a promo through our travel agent. I sent an email to the Il Duca a couple days back using the address on their Web site to ask a question regarding the availability of a quieter room (the only issue the few reviews on TripAdvisor had was street noise). I haven't heard anything back.

We save something along $300 minimu to stay here four nights versus elsewhere in Florence (and the few TripAdvisor reviews that are out there are good, although commenting on street noise if you stay in the front). I'm considing on canceling with our travel agent if we don't hear back in a reasonable time...but what's reasonable? It's been a couple of days...am I too impatient? Our hotel in Rome wrote back immediately...and I did write the Florence hotel again tonight.

My main concern is that I'll want to confirm the reservation closer to the time we'll be there (July 2010) and don't feel very comfortable with a hotel that won't answer emails. But maybe I'm being unreasonable, not knowing the norm in Europe, and need to be more patient.

Any thoughts? Thanks so much.

beeswing

Here is where we stay:

http://www.albergocavour.it/hotel-cavour-index-en.htm

The location is very close to the train but also walkable to everything else we want to see. They have triples.

I book by email all the time in Europe and usually get a response within 24 hours. If you don't feel comfortable with the hotel already, I would look elsewhere.

Also, may I suggest you print all your confirmations and carry them with you? Then you can make sure you got the quoted price and that you know you have a legitimate reservation if there is a problem at check-in. (Not that I have ever had a problem like this in 3 years of travel in Europe but it makes me feel better.)

gruezi

Their reply may have been blocked. Double check your email junk folder.

I've been keeping an eye on my spam folder. That's not it. And I will mail them on Monday from another e-mail address in case their spam filter doesn't like mine.

Good tip on printing everything out. We'll do that.

beeswing

Elsewhere, I'm inquiring about finding another hotel in Florence...but I don't know if I'm overreacting. We chose the Il Duca at the suggestion of our travel agent because they had a great promo rate (under $500 for 4 nights) and, while there weren't many TripAdvisor reviews, the ones that existed were mostly good.

I got second thoughts, though, as I wrote above. Because several of the reviews mentioned room noise from a busy street, I emailed the hotel (twice) at the address given on their Web site to ask if they could ensure a quiet room but got no response.

Our travel agent says that they book people in this hotel frequently and it's part of their "travel group" (I think she said -- I got this second hand from my husband). She also told my husband if I emailed her the question about the room noise, she'd make sure I got it answered.

I don't know...the price can't be beat, but it would be far more comfortable to have a hotel I could write to directly and that I could personally confirm our reservations right beforehand (we aren't traveling until the summer), ask questions of, stuff like that. I'm not sure if I want to keep the reservation.

I guess the bottom line is should I go with my (admittedly nervous) gut or with with my travel agent, assuming she can get an answer to my question? Of course, part of it may depend on whether we can get our $150 deposit back! It's not like there is a hotel shortage in Florence....

Thanks!


beeswing