Viva Italia - Room Assignments

[Mirthrindr2]

How exactly does ABD fairly assign the rooms and ensure everyone gets rooms of equal value/price points? Also, what if the hotel offers choices even within the same room/price category? Do you get to choose at checkin?

For example, I was just looking at the web site for Hotel Bernini Bristol in Rome and noticed they state guests there can CHOOSE the room style you prefer between those with classical décor or one with a more modern style. Also they indicate some rooms have balconies and the best views of the city. I think it would be very discouraging to discover some folks in the ABD group receive a more expensive room with a balcony or premium view others do not.

So just how does ABD arrange room assignments for all of the guests to ensure fairness with things such as views or other circumstances that make one room better than others?

I of course do assume all ABD tour guests are assigned to the same "category" room in all hotels during the 8 nights.

Thanks

 

[Tozzie]

How exactly does ABD fairly assign the rooms and ensure everyone gets rooms of equal value/price points? Also, what if the hotel offers choices even within the same room/price category? Do you get to choose at checkin?

For example, I was just looking at the web site for Hotel Bernini Bristol in Rome and noticed they state guests there can CHOOSE the room style you prefer between those with classical décor or one with a more modern style. Also they indicate some rooms have balconies and the best views of the city. I think it would be very discouraging to discover some folks in the ABD group receive a more expensive room with a balcony or premium view others do not.

So just how does ABD arrange room assignments for all of the guests to ensure fairness with things such as views or other circumstances that make one room better than others?

I of course do assume all ABD tour guests are assigned to the same "category" room in all hotels during the 8 nights.

Thanks

Everyone is booked into the same category room and as far as I know the hotel does the room assignments. I don't understand your question about "fairness" because if all the rooms are in the same category that is fair and you are getting what you paid for. You also may consider a certain view a premium but others may not so that really wouldn't factor in. There are many people who consider it a big deal to sit in the front of the bus, I don't get that since the entire bus passes all the sights and arrives at the next destination at the same time, personally I like that back of the bus. You also have to remember that in Europe many hotel rooms, especialy hotels that are older, the rooms are smaller so the size of the party will be a consideration. I know on my previous ABD's with the exception of the first hotel, as the guides are with you on the bus, the hotel had already assigned the rooms. On my Alpine Magic trip last year in the last hotel, we all had a room facing lake lucerne but a couple of people got a balcony and the rest a window, the hotel assigned the rooms and only a few, very few had a balcony.

 

[WeLoveABD]

We are just two weeks away from our 5th ABD, and frankly never gave the hotel room assignments any thought--but looking back I do know that in part it will depend on the size of your group (ours is 4--so frequently in Europe that meant 2 rooms, or on our first trip in Rome, one large two story room with a staircase, which was very cool--and yes, others with 2 or 3 in a group didn't have the same). But I don't get the idea of "fairness" either--it is what it is, and no punishment or favoritism intended that I ever detected. (And since we had 4 not 2 or 3, we paid more in essence for that room, so I guess it was fair that we got a larger space!). My advice: enjoy the trip and don't worry about what others may be getting, as there may be reasons behind the differences.

(As for bus seats--we try to get front seats for our daughter, who is prone to car sickness--the front seats are much easier on her; I agree re the sights overall--but much easier on her up front. On our trips the back of the bus became the domain of the teens and Junior Adventurers, so I never dared venture back there!)

 

[Mirthrindr2]

Thanks so much for the information WeLoveABD, Tozzie, you actually answered my question. However, by 'fair' I mean unlike yourselves apparently, on principle I think I would be upset if I paid the same flat rate to ABD as the other ABD guests for a room, and found out later that some random ABD guests happen to receive a more expensive room versus what my own family recieved.

If all the rooms are in deed the same PRICE category and some have balconies while others do not, then not much I can do or complain about that, it's just luck of the draw who gets what room. That's fair enough for me.

But as would MOST American hotels, given two identicle rooms, but one with a balcony and one without, the one with the balcony would almost certainly carry a premium for the additional amenity (generalizing of course, but feel in general this is an accurate statement).

Heck even at WDW there can be two exactly identicle rooms in every way except one has a view of a lake (Water View) while the other overlooks the parking lot (Standard View) or gardens (Garden View or Woods View at WL) and each of those rooms cost different amounts.

So I was just wondering how ABD handled this part of the logistics and you have confirmed my suspecion that in the very least, everyone should receive rooms in the same category.

Does make sense that if you are a party of four and are paying for four people versus 2 people, that you might get a suite or multiple bedroom room though. Guess I was really thinking of it in terms of parties of the same size when I was wondering how it worked.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

 

[sssteele]

How was the room? I want a blow by blow description of everything along with photos. Please?

 

[doreleta821]

Viva

 

[beachcat]

So how was it?

 

[Judyat]

We did ABD Italy two years ago. Some of the places we stayed were very unique especially in Tuscany. Everyone's room was a little different and unique. No one had a problem with that. So while you have hotels in the US especially chain ones who offer same room with different views it's not always like that in Italy. And that makes for some unique accommodations which we think is great. We don't look at it as gee someone's room is different or nicer than ours. You're in your room so little anyway. All of the acommadations we had were nice and in some cases unique which is also nice. Will you find some people have rooms different than yours? Yes but in general they are all great. Some may have a nicer view but who cares. The bed is the same when you're asleep. I would say enjoy the trip and let ABD take care of the accommodations. And if you have a problem and something in your room doesn't work like the AC just let the hotel know and they will take care of it.

 

[tinkerbell10309]

My family of 8 adults (ages 23-82) just came back from the Viva Italia trip dated 9/15/11 - we had four reservations - two adults in each room.

In Rome we all had similar rooms - the decor in each room was different but they were all standard and similar in size. Each room had a desk with chair and refrigerator. The bath room had a tub and was stocked with amenities you would expect from a 4 star hotel. Being that the Bristol Bernini takes up the width of the block two rooms faced one street while the other two rooms faced the other street.

As for the Hotel Paggeria Medicea first let me say that the public rooms and grounds are immaculate. The staff is friendly. At this hotel the rooms varied a lot. You spend a whole day just on the property and will probably spend more time in your room depending on the weather and your activity level. All four of our rooms had a strong musty odor to them that required fresh air to lessen it. My husband and I had the largest of all four rooms - it was huge. I would consider it a suite since we had a fireplace, sofa, 2 large club chairs, coffee table and end tables. It was at least triple the size of the other rooms. There may have been plenty of furniture but it was well worn and broken the drawers in the dresser were stuck open and the coffee table had a chunk of marble missing from the corner. There were stains that look like mold on the bathroom ceiling. Guess they placed the broken furniture in the largest room.
The room my son and his girlfriend had was well below what you would find in any budget hotel and this was supposed to be a 4 star hotel. The room had NO window - only a 10 inch piece of glass in the door - can you imagine spending three days in a windowless room when you are expecting a 4 - 5 star hotel room. The room was real tiny - just barely enough room to walk around the bed. If you left your suitcase opened on the floor you had to climb over it to get to the bathroom or front door - there was no floor space left. My dads room was the same size but at least it had a window. You needed to open the window to get rid of the musty smelling air. Both these rooms had only one small chair to sit in.

My sister's room was bigger than my son and dad's room and was comfortable size wise.

We were prepared for hotel rooms in Italy to be smaller than what we get in the US but no one ever thought they would end up in a windowless room - not when you are paying for a 4 - 5 star rooms. Imagine one-third of your nights in a windowless room - no one would be happy with that. The guides did speak to the hotel management about he situation and was told that the hotel is fully booked and another room wouldn't be available until our last night. They did switch my sons room the last night to a standard room when we arrived back from Florence at 8PM only to pack up and leave for Venice early in the morning.

In Venice we stayed at the Luna Baglioni which is a 5 star hotel - everything about this hotel is 5 stars. The situation here - as we were told - was the hotel had overbooked it's rooms. The guides had to stay at a different hotel (30 minute walk away). Again, our family was to have 4 standard rooms but the hotel tried giving us 3 junior suites asking if four of us would mind sharing a two bedroom suite. We figured sure a suite would be nice - it would be myself and husband along with my youngest son and dad (who are room mates for this trip). No problem until we saw the suite - it was actually a one bedroom suite. The second so called bedroom was the sitting room - they moved the sofa to the master bedroom and placed two cots in the sitting room. There was no one my dad (who is 82) and son (who is 6'7" tall) were going to sleep on cots. They would have to walk through the master bedroom to access the bathroom. The guides came up with us when the hotel management escorted us to the suite and agreed that this was not doable. They told us that Disney had made four reservations for our family and we were entitled to four rooms. The hotel management apologized, (along with the guides) and my husband and I were placed for the night in a lovely room (with a water view) in their sister hotel across the street. The next night we were back at the Luna Baglioni in a very lovely standard room. The rest of our family (6 adults) got to spend the two nights in Venice in the three Junior Suites the hotel had assigned them. The hotel did make amends to our family by sending champagne and hour-derves to our room the last evening.

Sometimes there may be a reason behind why someone may get a suite over others in the group - no one else on our tour knew of the above situation - so just looking in they may see unfairness.

Aside from the above room fiasco - of a windowless room and four adults sharing a one bedroom room - we all had a lovely time on the trip and would highly recommend it. We did not let the room situation mar a trip at all.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

. . . I think I would be upset if I paid the same flat rate to ABD as the other ABD guests for a room, and found out later that some random ABD guests happen to receive a more expensive room versus what my own family recieved . . .

1) As long as you received your category of room, it is fair.
2) Never mind what others might receive.
3) You don't know circumstances of others.

 

[Tozzie]

My family of 8 adults (ages 23-82) just came back from the Viva Italia trip dated 9/15/11 - we had four reservations - two adults in each room.

In Rome we all had similar rooms - the decor in each room was different but they were all standard and similar in size. Each room had a desk with chair and refrigerator. The bath room had a tub and was stocked with amenities you would expect from a 4 star hotel. Being that the Bristol Bernini takes up the width of the block two rooms faced one street while the other two rooms faced the other street.

As for the Hotel Paggeria Medicea first let me say that the public rooms and grounds are immaculate. The staff is friendly. At this hotel the rooms varied a lot. You spend a whole day just on the property and will probably spend more time in your room depending on the weather and your activity level. All four of our rooms had a strong musty odor to them that required fresh air to lessen it. My husband and I had the largest of all four rooms - it was huge. I would consider it a suite since we had a fireplace, sofa, 2 large club chairs, coffee table and end tables. It was at least triple the size of the other rooms. There may have been plenty of furniture but it was well worn and broken the drawers in the dresser were stuck open and the coffee table had a chunk of marble missing from the corner. There were stains that look like mold on the bathroom ceiling. Guess they placed the broken furniture in the largest room.
The room my son and his girlfriend had was well below what you would find in any budget hotel and this was supposed to be a 4 star hotel. The room had NO window - only a 10 inch piece of glass in the door - can you imagine spending three days in a windowless room when you are expecting a 4 - 5 star hotel room. The room was real tiny - just barely enough room to walk around the bed. If you left your suitcase opened on the floor you had to climb over it to get to the bathroom or front door - there was no floor space left. My dads room was the same size but at least it had a window. You needed to open the window to get rid of the musty smelling air. Both these rooms had only one small chair to sit in.

My sister's room was bigger than my son and dad's room and was comfortable size wise.

We were prepared for hotel rooms in Italy to be smaller than what we get in the US but no one ever thought they would end up in a windowless room - not when you are paying for a 4 - 5 star rooms. Imagine one-third of your nights in a windowless room - no one would be happy with that. The guides did speak to the hotel management about he situation and was told that the hotel is fully booked and another room wouldn't be available until our last night. They did switch my sons room the last night to a standard room when we arrived back from Florence at 8PM only to pack up and leave for Venice early in the morning.

In Venice we stayed at the Luna Baglioni which is a 5 star hotel - everything about this hotel is 5 stars. The situation here - as we were told - was the hotel had overbooked it's rooms. The guides had to stay at a different hotel (30 minute walk away). Again, our family was to have 4 standard rooms but the hotel tried giving us 3 junior suites asking if four of us would mind sharing a two bedroom suite. We figured sure a suite would be nice - it would be myself and husband along with my youngest son and dad (who are room mates for this trip). No problem until we saw the suite - it was actually a one bedroom suite. The second so called bedroom was the sitting room - they moved the sofa to the master bedroom and placed two cots in the sitting room. There was no one my dad (who is 82) and son (who is 6'7" tall) were going to sleep on cots. They would have to walk through the master bedroom to access the bathroom. The guides came up with us when the hotel management escorted us to the suite and agreed that this was not doable. They told us that Disney had made four reservations for our family and we were entitled to four rooms. The hotel management apologized, (along with the guides) and my husband and I were placed for the night in a lovely room (with a water view) in their sister hotel across the street. The next night we were back at the Luna Baglioni in a very lovely standard room. The rest of our family (6 adults) got to spend the two nights in Venice in the three Junior Suites the hotel had assigned them. The hotel did make amends to our family by sending champagne and hour-derves to our room the last evening.

Sometimes there may be a reason behind why someone may get a suite over others in the group - no one else on our tour knew of the above situation - so just looking in they may see unfairness.

Aside from the above room fiasco - of a windowless room and four adults sharing a one bedroom room - we all had a lovely time on the trip and would highly recommend it. We did not let the room situation mar a trip at all.

I am very surprised that the hotel overbooked the rooms especially for a tour group that has to guarantee the rooms in advance. I am glad you didn't let it spoil your trip but I would be very angry especially a windowless room, that is insane. IMO you certainly did not get what you paid for during this trip.

 

[Mirthrindr2]

How was the room? I want a blow by blow description of everything along with photos. Please?

LOL! Just back from Viva Italia myself literally 2 days ago. The ABD trip ended on Friday Sept. 30, but we stayed 4 additional nights on our own and didn't return home until this past Tuesday night.

The hotels and rooms all turned out very nice, however as others have pointed out the rooms at the hotels in Italy tend to vary from one another and are not blocks of all matching room types as you would find in a large chain hotel in the US, though I'm sure there were cases where rooms were nearly identicle. So as this thread originally inquired about, it seems sometimes people's room may vary to at least a small degree in the subjective area of 'niceness'. Some ABDers had small balconies that others did not, others had more interesting views, and others got rooms that were bigger in size than other ABDers rooms.

All in all though I think it all balanced out and worked out fairly for everyone, and in many cases rooms were very comparable across all ABDers. We nor anyone that I heard had any complaints about room arrangements.

I hope to get a fuller Trip Report done within a few days, but in the mean time it looks like Tinkerbell has posted a fantastic TR from her 9/15 Viva Italia (very nice report Tink, thanks).

I will say I agree with Tink though that the hotel in Tuscany 'Hotel Paggeria Medicea' was our LEAST favorite. While it was still very nice in general, it was the least nice of the three hotels we stayed at with ABD and showed it's 'rustic' age, although our room there was the largest we had of any of the three hotels. It was also the least favorite breakfast spread of the three hotels. But a nice stay from an 'Overall' perspective.

The Luna Hotel Baglioni in Venice was the BEST of the three hotels in our opinion and was very lavish and opulent.

More to come soon.

 

[sssteele]

LOL! Just back from Viva Italia myself literally 2 days ago. The ABD trip ended on Friday Sept. 30, but we stayed 4 additional nights on our own and didn't return home until this past Tuesday night.

The hotels and rooms all turned out very nice, however as others have pointed out the rooms at the hotels in Italy tend to vary from one another and are not blocks of all matching room types as you would find in a large chain hotel in the US, though I'm sure there were cases where rooms were nearly identicle. So as this thread originally inquired about, it seems sometimes people's room may vary to at least a small degree in the subjective area of 'niceness'. Some ABDers had small balconies that others did not, others had more interesting views, and others got rooms that were bigger in size than other ABDers rooms.

All in all though I think it all balanced out and worked out fairly for everyone, and in many cases rooms were very comparable across all ABDers. We nor anyone that I heard had any complaints about room arrangements.

I hope to get a fuller Trip Report done within a few days, but in the mean time it looks like Tinkerbell has posted a fantastic TR from her 9/15 Viva Italia (very nice report Tink, thanks).

I will say I agree with Tink though that the hotel in Tuscany 'Hotel Paggeria Medicea' was our LEAST favorite. While it was still very nice in general, it was the least nice of the three hotels we stayed at with ABD and showed it's 'rustic' age, although our room there was the largest we had of any of the three hotels. It was also the least favorite breakfast spread of the three hotels. But a nice stay from an 'Overall' perspective.

The Luna Hotel Baglioni in Venice was the BEST of the three hotels in our opinion and was very lavish and opulent.

More to come soon.

Welcome home, and thanks for the post.

We will be looking for your trip report when we return from our own Adventure, and want to know all about your experiences following the group tour. The cooking must have been a memory maker. Do you keep a journal when you travel?

College football game for us on Saturday, pack on Sunday, and a relaxing day Monday(I hope). We fly on Tuesday. Beachcat will be in the air today.

How long 'til you plan the next Adventure?