I was sad to see that people have been complaining about the messages from Marianna. <BR> <BR>She had responded to an e-mail of mine while i was still in the planning stages of my italy trip. My husband and I ended up joining a Vatican tour with Marianna herself and one of her other guides, the fabulous Rick. We were absolutely thrilled with our tours (not only the depth of information but the entertaining way in which it was conveyed) we actually ended up all going out to dinner afterward!! <BR> <BR>I personally was very grateful for her help, I now have a friend in Rome. <BR> <BR>Ciao to everybody, <BR>Cynthia

Oh no-not again! <BR>Dr.Abate has a sister...Marianna!

The issue, Cynthia, is whether the forum should contain advertising or not. The issue is not whether the advertiser is good or bad. <BR> <BR>Imagine if every (good) tour guide in Rome posted a response to every Rome thread from the last six months. Imagine if every airline that flies to a particular distination puts in a bit of info with a plug for every thread mentioning that destination. How many car rental companies are there. How many hotels? <BR> <BR>Just think: there are nearly 1,000 hotels in Rome. Admittedly there may be no more than 300 or 400 that are really "good" in one way or another. Suppose everytime someone posted a query about accommodations in Rome, each of those "few" good (several hundred) hotels provided information, in depth, about their hotel. <BR> <BR>Cynthia, you may want to think on it before you conclude that you want to open this forum to advertising. <BR> <BR>Ed <BR> <BR>

Cynthia: <BR>The fact that you had a great tour and now have a friend in Rome is all beside the point. This is a forum for people to trade ideas and experiences on travel, specifically without commercial ads or solicitations. Marianna plain and simple broke the rules! <BR> <BR>I first encountered her messages (clearly soliciting business) on the Frommer's message boards and now here. I was frankly disgusted yesterday to find the same message from her time and time again soliciting business in every post on Italy I read. She may be a great guide and a fine person, but travel forums on the net aren't the place to push your business or attempt to make money!! <BR> <BR>Just my opinion, <BR> <BR>j

Oh, Cynthia. By the way. You may have thought Marianna was a great guide. I glad you enjoyed your association with her. <BR> <BR>I have my doubts about competence, though, when I see her say that the Beverly Hills hotel is located on via Veneto and procedes to give advice on that basis. Were she a great guide one might expect her to know what hotels are on a famous street like the via Veneto ... not misplace one there that is in a totally different quarter of the city. <BR> <BR>A small mistake. Easily avoided if Marianna either took the time to check her information, or had the top-of-the-head knowledge I would expect from a top notch Rome guide. <BR> <BR>It's hardly a fatal mistake, but it does make one wonder about her credentials.

Cynthia, Hi, thanks for your kind words and I am happy that for you my posting was a good thing and as a result you thoroughly enjoyed your tours in Rome. <BR> <BR>However, please to everyone else that is annoyed about my postings, let me say, I apologise and ENOUGH!!!please. <BR> <BR>So I will therefore give up answering any postings and trying to be of help to any of you. <BR> <BR>To Ed however, let me say how would you cope as a tour guide here in a city with some 5,000 hotels and 900 odd churches. See if you would know the name of every single one of them, their location and standard etc. At least I tried to help!!! I do not profess to know everything but I certainly try my best to find out things that I can and it was an honest mistake given that there was no address provided. <BR> <BR>To Sue, the reason there were so many of my postings as I said before is not because I was trying to "solicit" business as such (perhaps it does come as a direct result, but have you asked yourself why??, I post this information including my web site because it has excellent information and it was done with a genuine desire to help. <BR> <BR>There are so many people in this period on the board asking questions about Rome whichI have always answered in the first instance. I do I admit I got carried away trying to provide answers to so many, many of the questions, but hey I thought this was a good thing. I don't know if any of you have any idea how long it takes to do that. The amount of business I might get is absolutely minimal as most people just want help and information. Sorry if that is a bad thing for me to, to try and provide that. <BR> <BR>I am very upset about this criticism but I do once again apologise if by posting my web site you saw this as only a way of "soliciting" business. This was NOT my intention. <BR> <BR>Therefore I will now sign off this board and not provide any assistance about Rome again thorugh this means. However rather than have this be detrimental to those who do appreciate my help, if anyone has general questions please direct them to me by email and I will do my best to provide the best answers that I can. <BR> <BR>Good luck and happy travels to you all <BR>Marianna

Marianna: <BR>How disappointing that you are unable to assume a middleground. I regret that you must either (1. continue to solicit business on this site, or(2. disappear. Ciao.

The choice, Marianna, is totally yours. As Dale suggests, most folks on this forum choose to participate because they enjoy sharing their knowledge with others. <BR> <BR>Your decision to leave strongly suggests you came in the first place, not to help, but to advertise. <BR> <BR>You could turn that impression around by contributing your knowledge. <BR> <BR>Ed

Hi Dale, <BR> <BR>This is totally ridiculous, I am not assuming a middle ground. My last postings on this board were without any web site information or as you call it "soliciting" and I was still criticised. <BR>It's nasty comments like yours that make me feel that it's a waste of time trying to find the middle ground. <BR>If you read my post properly you would have seen that I invited people to email me direct with their questions and therefore try to provide help in that way. <BR> <BR>Sorry if this is not what you see a fair or proper thing to do, but quite frankly I am getting a little sick of being attacked here. Tell me what would you do?? <BR>Marianna

Come uno si fa il letto, cosė dorme.

Ed just wants to be the King of the Rome info. Marianna, you stepped on his turf and it pissed him off.

I've only one thing to add: If Marianna's sole intention was to be helpful to those traveling to Rome, how come the sales "message" part of her posting was always longer that her "advice"? Goodbye, Marianna!