We recently took the Flavours of Italy tour and stayed at the Hotel Continental in Venice. This was the worst hotel I've ever stayed at. Here are some photos showing how dirty it was:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Images-g187870-d202739-b1064...ce-Venice_Veneto.jpg

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Images-g187870-d202739-b1064...ce-Venice_Veneto.jpg

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Images-g187870-d202739-b1064...ce-Venice_Veneto.jpg

You can get more information by clicking the link below.

Was this a first class tour?

Hotel Continental Venice,

That is terrible. It reminds me with some hotels that I stayed in Ireland with another tour company which I have never gone back with them. One instance the door fell off the hinges when I entered for the first time (not kidding). I have never been to Venice was it spectacular like people say.
Regards,
Moz

quote:

Originally posted by RaroGirl:
[qb] Was this a first class tour? [/qb]

Yes, it actually was a first class tour which is why i'm really angry with them. This hotel was absolutely NOT a 3 star hotel, regardless of whatever they say. We stopped in to a few nearby hotels to see if they had any rooms available, which they didn't, and they were SO much nicer than ours...

quote:

Originally posted by Sir Mozzie:
[qb]I have never been to Venice was it spectacular like people say.
Regards,
Moz [/qb]

Honestly, one day there was enough for me. It was not nearly as nice as I thought it would be. I found it to be completely touristy, overcrowded, overrun with pigeons, and just not very nice. It was more old-old, than quaint-old, and I didn't mind leaving a day early.

Sorry you experienced such a bad place. And it's too bad that only a tiny portion of your letter was responded to.

I actually stayed at a worse looking hotel while on a first class tour to Costa Rica. Everyone in our group gave the hotel the lowest grade on the evaluation form and a few people wrote letters to TT suggesting they not use this hotel anymore. To my knowledge, TT has not yet responded to them. (the tour was in December)

Jees, guy, how do you really feel?[LOL]

Why keep it to yourself?[LOL louder]

Trafalgar has traditionally stayed outside of Venice in nearby communities and bussed and water taxied its guests into the city. Maybe someone made them "a deal they couldn't refuse."

Venice is a wonderful city. Just wandering the streets (canal sides) for a day is a great experience.

It is also one, if not the, most expensive cities in Europe. It is tough to negotiate rates there because the hotels have so much patronage they don't need to make concessions to tour companies.

Go back on your own one day, late spring or early fall when the weather is temperate (but unpredictable). It is a great city.

Glenn

I wonder if TT has someone "inspect" the hotels which they use, or if a hotel, which has been on their lists for years, is always just rebooked. Or if a hotel gives a good price, they book it, sight unseen.

Several years ago when going to a Trade Show, my TA booked us in to a hotel in San Francisco, which was part of a hotel group. The picture and the write-up were satisfactory and the hotel group had other hotels in which we'd stayed at other times. The hotel was a DUMP and paint peeling, rusty radiator pipes, mold, etc. mentioned above by Hotel Continental, was what we found and worse. The elevator was little better than a freight lift. Fortunately, we were able to move out the next day. My TA got an "earful" when I got home. She contacted the hotel group and in response, they said they had had no complaints.

The moral of the story seems to be that if a hotel is bad, letters of complaint should be written. the idea of taking pictures is even better. If any tour company is using a questionable hotel, and is charging 1st class prices, then they would seem to be guilty of "bait and switch" or similar. The whole problem with tours, is that you usually have little or no recourse once you are in the lobby. HMH

quote:

Originally posted by Sir Mozzie:
[qb] I have never been to Venice was it spectacular like people say.
Regards,
Moz [/qb]

Yes Mozzie, Venice is a wonderful city. I would return in a heartbeat

I can add to the list, the Hotel Moderno in Florence was the pits. I can cope with run down hotels (just) but this one was run down & DIRTY.

Helen: I would agree with you that there is merit in complaining where there is a legitimate problem. If no-one complains, nothing gets fixed.
Caitie

As far as I know everyone on my tour wrote a bad review when they filled out their questionaires at the end (in fact, I was told that they ran into more problems with the hotel that last morning, and literally got kicked out of the hotel b/c the staff didn't want a large group of people in one spot while they were filling out the forms). I also know that at least 3 other people have written letters to Trafalgar, and that several have posted on other message boards and review sites.

One of the good things about Venice was the cheap prices on Italian Charms that I found at some of the merchants near our hotel. So at least that made my wife happy...

Yikes! Reading this type of information makes me really, really nervous. I am planning on going on the Irish Whirl Costsaver tour later this year - does anyone have any reviews of the hotels TT uses in Ireland?? I have been on three Contiki tours and I must say that although some of the hotels we stayed in (I did the superior/hotel format tours with them) were a little on the "rough" side, all in all, they weren't that bad. Probably one of the "worst" was a hotel in Poland (I can't remember the name of the hotel right now)...it was a bit questionable as far as cleanliness, etc., but not nearly as bad as some of the hotel descriptions in this message!

Should I be worried????

JenniferK

P.S. About Venice - I loved it there. Would have loved to have some additional time to spend there in fact and hope to go back someday. We stayed in a hotel just outside of Venice and took a water taxi into Venice in the morning. I enjoyed Venice so much that I can't even recall anything about the hotel (it was such a minor part of the visit)!

I did the Costsaver Irish Wonder and we had good hotels for the most part. Only one that I would consider a dive. And one was just lovely, way beyond anything I would have expected on a Costsaver. It was basically a country manor house converted into a hotel and we loved it!

It is a fact that European hotel star ratings lag behind the Australian and American ones. Their 3 stars are less than ours - that's the "Old World.".

Those funny red lines in picture 3 are most likely sealant applications. During the 2003 European heat wave Venice experienced a prolonged period of daily temperatures reaching 38-39 degC = 100F and above. As a result cracks in masonry would have appeared and the hotel's management undoubtedly called the maintenence to fix it. I'd say they used a caulking gun with whatever sealant they happened to have handy without attempting to match the colour. At least you know they do have a maintenance. Please do keep in mind hotel Continental is a 15th century building (older than post-Columbus America) which has been standing all this time on the edge of Grand Canal.

Surprised to hear about mosquitoes. Haven't seen any in my 4 visits in Venice and you can be assured the mozzies - if they are any about- certainly like me.

Peeling wallpapers are nothing unusual in older European hotels and certainly not a reason to declare the room un-inhabitable, it means they are just not as aestethically pleasing. If you travel to UK (e.g. four * Thistle Lancaster Gate in London used by some TTs), France and other parts of Italy, you will see peeling wallpaper in hotels. Likewise "shabby corridors" - again I would mention the Thistle and others. There is no reason to get upset over the corridors bar the aestethics again - the guests only use them for a few seconds walkthrough at a time, they don't sleep in them. Besides, would finding "dated" corridors in a 500y.o. building be such a surprise???
Sloping floor in a bulding of that age also doesn't make it unfit for human habitation of 3 nights. What is important is the cleanliness of the room, bathroom and the bed. If the bed is "broken" then the TD needs to know and the same applies if the room is dirty, smells musty or mouldy.

This happened to our friends on a TT costsaver in Nice. They and two other couples must have got the last, rarely used, 3 rooms in a full hotel and refused to move in; their decision was based on the rooms' condition lacking an acceptable hygiene standard. The TD agreed and arranged an accommodation for them in another hotel nearby.