The Booking Process
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So we’ve
looked at the website and read the FAQs on “Before
You Even Begin”. Where do we go from here?
Call our office or email us
to discuss your travel plans and where you might like
to stay. Tell us something about yourselves, your prior
experience in Italy, ages of the children if any, when
you’re planning to go, whether you want a fancy
place or a regular place. If you’ve already made
some tentative selections, tell us those, too.
We’ll respond, generally
within 24 hours, sometimes within moments. Most of the
time, we also like to speak with you, in order to have
a real give and take, judge whether we’re on the
same wavelength, etc. We’ve been in this business
nearly 20 years, and we know what to ask you and what
we think you’re not asking us that you should be.
We want to be certain you are considering properties
which will meet your expectations.
We’ve chosen
dates and a specific property to rent. What actually
happens next?
We check on availability. If
what you want is already taken, we’ll discuss potential
alternatives with you. Once we settle on an available
place that you want to book, we’ll place a temporary
hold on it for you.
We’ll then send you confirmation
packet consisting of:
- a formal letter confirming
your booking and setting out all of the relevant terms
and conditions specific to the booking.
- a booking form which we’ll
ask you to fill out and sign, acknowledging your agreement
to the terms and conditions of your booking.
- a bill asking you for an
upfront deposit of 50% of the total rental amount,
in the form of a check or bank transfer; we don’t
take plastic. Payment must be in US dollars. We must
receive your initial deposit within 10 days, as we
cannot ask our owners to hold a place without a deposit
for longer than that.
We don’t send out a receipt
for the initial deposit. Your cancelled check is your
receipt.
Your final balance will be due
60 to 90 days prior to commencement of the rental, and
we will send you a reminder invoice 15 days before final
payment is due.
Once we receive your final payment,
we turn around to you by post a voluminous packet of
materials including precise directions to the property;
detailed instructions on gaining access to it; its exact
address and phone number; names and phone numbers of
contact persons; maps; and a whole host of restaurant
and sightseeing advice.
About a month before your actual
arrival, we will contact you to discuss the final details
of your arrival day and answer any last-minute questions
you might have.
And then you’re on you’re
way.
What if we book
within 60 days prior to the commencement of our rental?
In this case, your full payment
is due upon booking rather than 50/50. The rest of the
above-described process is the same.
We came to you
through the internet, and we’re concerned that
you really exist. Will you provide us with references
if we want them?
Yes. And we’ll try to have
you speak directly with people who stayed in the very
property you intend to book. In that way, you can cross-examine
them to your heart’s content both about the property
and about Vacanza Bella. If the property in question
is being rented for the first time and we therefore
can’t have you call anyone who’s stayed there
before, we can at least have you call people who have
rented something similar from us in the past, so that
you can reassure yourselves that our properties exist
and that we won’t run away with your money.
There’s one caveat regarding
references: We won’t give you references for “theoretical”
purposes. That is to say, we will be happy to have you
call a former renter if you’ve chosen a property
you want to rent from us, and we’ve determined
that it’s available. You are essentially committed
to going forward; you just want to reassure yourselves
by phoning a reference. Fine. What we won’t do
have you call a dozen former renters while you’re
simultaneously still shopping other properties from
a dozen of our competitors.
We’d like
to rent from you, but we’re only going to be in
any one place for a maximum of 4 nights. Can we work
together?
No. We only rent by the week.
Many of our clients who are staying for 6 or 5 or even
4 nights pay for a full week anyway because it’s
often so much more reasonable than the alternative of
a hotel. See our essay: The
philosophy behind the 1-week minimum.
Why doesn’t
your website list the availability of the properties?
Two reasons.
One: We don’t have an exclusive relationship
with most of our property owners. So often we’re
only 95% certain of what’s available when. We
leave our owners free to rent through others or on
their own. Why? We don’t want the pressure. If
we had that pressure, we might feel compelled to “sell”
you a place that wasn’t really suited to you,
just in order to “fill it up”.
Two: If the place you’re initially interested
in isn’t available, maybe there’s another
that is. In fact, one of the major reasons for our
insistence on having some sort of personal interchange
with you means that we may discover that the place
you initially asked about wasn’t really right
for you anyway, but that another place you had ignored
is.
Why doesn’t
your website allow us to book online?
Our philosophy of personal contact
between agent and client.
Why are most
of your prices quoted in euros?
Because we pay the vast majority
of our owners in euros. That currency has fluctuated
so dramatically against the dollar that we feel we must
protect ourselves from the potential effect of such
fluctuations.
The exchange
rate you used to calculate our payment is less good
than what is quoted in the newspaper. What’s the
story? Are you trying to rip us off?
No. We have no interest in profiting
from currency fluctuations. The exchange rate quoted
in the newspaper is the so-called “interbank”
rate for transactions of $1 million or more. In the
real world, the rate is about 2-3% less good than the
rate quoted in the newspaper. Exchange rates have been
so volatile of late that sometimes we will calculate
a rate that is valid today, but it may change perceptibly
by the time our paperwork gets to you. We are open to
discussing exchange rates with you if you feel uncertain
about the rate we’ve used.
Will you use
a different currency exchange rate for the final payment?
Yes. All payments you owe are
calculated at the exchange rate in effect at time payment
is due.
Are there any
“extras” or “hidden costs”?
When we work with owners, we
try to get them to fix an overall price which includes
everything except obviously the charges you incur for
phone calls you make.
Heating and air-conditioning
are almost always extra. Why? For one overwhelming reason:
Americans tend to leave the heating or air-conditioniong
on 24 hours a day full-blast, whether they’re physically
present or not. Heating costs about 3 times more in
Italy than in the US. Air-conditioning is even more.
So if you go at a time you need to turn on one of these
items, please be prepared for the consequences if you
aren’t careful with your usage.
The most common “extra”
is for final cleaning. It can seem higher than expected
because sheets and towels are normally sent out by the
owner for cleaning. In Italy, that costs several times
more than in the US. It’s sent out because of the
time it takes for European washing machines to do a
load of wash, plus the fact that there are not generally
dryers in private homes. If up to 14 sets of sheets
need to be washed, dried, and ironed, it’s simply
not possible for an owner to take that task on.
Sometimes, there are other extras.
If so, these are always specified in the description
of the property on our website and reiterated in writing
in the confirmation letter we send you at time of booking.
These extras are usually utilities and/or a final cleaning
fee.
Is there
a security deposit charged, and if so when do we get
that back?
Yes, we will ask you for a security
deposit. Most often, we will ask you to pay your security
deposit along with your final payment. Sometimes, however,
the owner will collect the security deposit in cash
upon your arrival at the property. This will be specified
in your confirmation documents.
If it is Vacanza Bella which
holds your security deposit, we will return it to you
by check, hopefully within two weeks after the rental
is completed. We say “hopefully” because the
Italian telephone system is in a state of flux and
it may soon become impossible to track your phone usage
without waiting for the phone bill to come in, something
which can take 60 days or even a bit longer. If things
develop this way – and it looks as if they will,
unfortunately – then we will have to do what agencies
renting properties in Britain regularly do: hold your
security deposit for the arrival of the phone bill.
In any event, you can be assured
that we will be as prompt as we can be about the security
deposit, and that there will be no flimflam about it.
We will deduct what is to be deducted (phone, damages
if any, heating or air-conditioning costs, utilities
if they are considered extra) and send you the difference.
If the owner or other greeter
holds your security deposit, he will give you your security
deposit back on the morning of your departure (or the
afternoon before in the event your departure is at dawn),
less whatever needs to be deducted. Our owners are extremely
straightforward about this, and you need not worry about
ripoffs.
How and when
should we pay for any extra domestic help we hire?
First of all, you should
volunteer to pay the housekeeper. Housekeepers in
Italy are vulnerable and embarrassed about asking for
money. If, for example, you’ve had initial provisions
put into the house to be there upon your arrival, you
should take the initiative and pay the housekeeper for
those provisions – as well as for the time she
spent in doing the shopping – as soon as practicable
on the very day of your arrival. The housekeeper can’t
be expected to advance such costs.
If you hire the housekeeper
to shop for food on a regular basis and to cook, babysit,
launder and iron your personal items, you should settle
up with him or her at least every couple of days for
out-of-pocket costs and time. Our strong advice
is not to wait until the moment of departure to do the
accounting.
What about
tipping the housekeeper?
If your villa has a regular
housekeeper (daily or more than once a week), and you’ve
been happy with the services provided by the housekeeper,
you should leave him or (more likely) her a tip. This
tip is over and above any final cleaning charge,
as the final cleaning charge has (as explained
above) nothing to do with the housekeeper’s
services. The amount of the tip depends. Since we’re
usually talking not about a 1-bedroom apartment but
more likely a villa with 3 to 8 bedrooms, we recommend
between 50 and 300 euros, depending on length of stay
and the types of services rendered.
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