The Booking Process
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.