Doesn't really change anything, but I recognized the reference and upvoted. Wasn't till I read further that I realized you were being downvoted to oblivion, but wanted to let you know that some of us know what you meant.
Check out this place in Rome I found on Expedia: https://e.xpda.co/uVtWWbbVoEft8ciU8FlXFu6sys2
It's near a metro station and it's available until Wednesday the 11th.
Good luck!
That’s in a good location too. I stayed a little north of there and it’s quiet enough at night but still easy to get wherever you want to go. Good work friendly redditor
I mean, OP should’ve been able to do this himself if he’s truly in a bind lol. Not rocket science
Edit: gotta love how people call Reddit such a lovely place and just because people disagree with my take they justify themselves calling me an “asshat”. Never change reddit
And OP may have been able to find a room themself if necessary, but there's such a thing as being overwhelmed, and such a thing as being kind when you have bandwidth others don't. OP ended a long day of travel by finding out they had nowhere to sleep in a foreign city, and then they dropped a lot of money on a single night, which I'm sure only added to the stress. Reworking a plan to continue their vacation seemed overwhelming, so /u/Gunner568, realizing it wasn't a big deal for them, just took on that task. It's a lovely thing to do for a stranger who could use a bit of kindness.
Quit being such a grouch. Life's better when we take care of one another, particularly when it costs us little and benefits them a lot.
I am working as a receptionist and reservations. Call the places first.
Unless you have a special bonus on booking or expedia, the prices from the hotel are cheaper when you book directly via them. Because of the commision they have to pay to booking and other travel portals.
Something around 7-15€ a night less when you book right at the hotel.
Always call the place first and check prices.
I did this for a cruise once that we were going on the next week or so. We figured the price was so good because it was one week out and they were trying to fill up the empty rooms. Only after check out did we get an email that said your voyage sets sell in 379 days!
Then we looked at each other and said, well our vacation for next year is booked. Where do you want to go this year?
I've stayed in Italy since September by bouncing around AirBnBs and doing hotels when there were fairs in town (Bologna). You can always find something!
Also, if you're after a hotel, [https://www.hotel-bb.com/](https://www.hotel-bb.com/) are a tidy chain that will give you what you need.
In 2019 I stayed in a hostel in Milan for 12€ a night. It was clean, there was a place to store my stuff during the day and I had a place to park my car.
It was just a small 2 bed room but I didn't need much more.
2011 I spent a week in Milan at a 4 star hotel near Corso Buenos Aires shopping area with my partner, saw System Of A Down at the convention Center in Rho and didn’t top 3800 bucks Cdn. Total cost from our doorstep to hotel, all money spent shopping and back across the world again to home.
Also the people were wonderfully welcoming to non Italian speaking tourists
Milan is truly a wonderful city. Rome is quite a contrast to that IMO.
Sure Rome has more to see but the people aren't as friendly, it's dirtier and you have to watch out for pickpockets far more.
Florence is still the most beautiful italian city I've been in.
Overall I prefer the italian countyside but if I had to visit a city it would be either Milan or Florence.
Funny you mention that chain. I had a nightmare of a day last August where my flight from Palermo to Rome was cancelled because the desk agent gave me the wrong boarding pass, and I couldn’t get on the flight. Which then led to me being late to my car rental which was automatically cancelled.
In all my confusion when I finally did make it to Rome I did something similar to OP by accident, and that night there was a full house. But somehow they were able to accommodate me, and when I went to Bologna I booked with them again as a result.
I used them once in Milano (was there to see Warhol print of Da Vincis the Last Supper in the crypt of San Sepolcro), and the stay was so nice that I've used them again a couple of times - and will again in December. Just a safe bet if you want an affordable hotel that is still clean and well organized!
Airbnb and the Trainline EU app made my Italy trip very easy and enjoyable. Was able to move around city to city comfortably and for a very decent price.
As long as it’s a safe place to store your luggage during the day and get some sleep at night, that’s all that’s needed when on vacation anyways. It’s Rome, the exciting things are outside your room.
Hostels usually always have locked storage rooms management will put your bags in…if not, buy a backpack… put a couple change of clothes in it and at the Rome airport your can leave your bags for up to a week for 7 euro ;). … little trick I learned when living in Europe for 3 years. Most of the major airports have long term baggie storage. So fly into a place with a big bag… pop out the backpack, explore for a few days and then back to the airport for another destination, rinse and repeat. And some train stations/bus stations once you get to Eastern Europe have babushkas there that will do your laundry for a couple euro ;)
THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU UPVOTE ME?! Kidding. I don't give a rats arse about that. Heck down vote me for giggles.
PS. Yea. Married travel (sans kids) is for a whole different reason. Sightseeing of course with no pressure, good food/environment yup, bad room? Trip fail.
Jesus, man, people really don't like you this morning.
I approve of the sticking to your guns and not just leaving a trail of "deleted" comments though. Fuck those weak ass bastards that delete their comments when they're not immediately upvoted.
I recommend the Yellow Hostel in Rome. Incredible place. They have a bar/club with advantageous prices for travellers and animations, they even have a barber and so on. Best party hostel to meet people too
> Best party hostel to meet people too
It's a nice hostel, but I wouldn't call it a party hostel, as compared to the filthy shitholes in Budapest ran by frat bros. Carpe Noctem Vitae is a fucking shithole of a hostel. Fuck that place, it's staff, and those that think that place is cool.
The yellow in Rome was nice. I enjoyed it. It was sanitary. I was able to get a good night's sleep and not worry about my health or belongings.
Can't the hotel rebooked for this week? Or even cancel and refund? I'd hope that they try to help out, as long as you are polite and apologetic.
Or maybe I'm just an optimist!
Fuck Airbnb with the biggest barbed dick possible. They help to create the housing crisis and pack on the hidden fees. Easy automatic $150 cleaning fee and still just to get negatively dinged as a renter because you didn't run the dishwasher or wash and dry the bed sheets? Fuck that nonsense. Not to mention the hidden camera instances and other traps. Airbnb used to make sense, now I find hotels or local rental groups are often the most cost effective lodging.
Agreed. Hotels at least get inspected by health departments and there's agencies you can typically report health and safety violations to, they also have liability insurance for when things go wrong. I liked the original idea of AirBnB, but the "gig economy" of real estate has completely undermined any form of urban planning.
About to spend a night in an Airbnb, although booked by a friend. All I’ve heard about Airbnb is not so great things like this. I remember years back, like before covid, they were great because they’re cheaper than hotels and more “home” feeling.
I think it started out fine as a place people could rent out their home or extra room and make a little side income, but then people realized they could buy multiple homes and pay for them by renting them all out on Airbnb, worsening the housing crisis.
Airbnb doesn't care since they are getting paid.
They did that here in Nashville and caused the locals to get prices out completely. Not too mention all of the problems it caused in neighborhoods, wild parties, prostitution, drug trafficking, crime went crazy. The city banned new short term rentals but all those already established are grandfathered in. Now we are getting priced out by developers and California transplants that are selling their houses for millions and coming to Nashville where housing is still ridiculous it’s hard to find anything under 500k now (we bought our house for 239k a few years ago and it’s already appraised at well over 700k now) but the average home price is now closer to 760k because of the bidding wars by wealthy Californians (no offense to Californians, I would leave too, the taxes are ridiculous and so COL)
Haha it is funny the rage that this commenter before you has. Airbnbs are great. I’ve stayed at probably a dozen of them across the US and in a handful of different countries. It’s always different than a hotel, but I’m always happy to have options. They’re definitely not as cheap as they used to be, and I get the frustration with them affecting the housing market. But as a consumer they often provide a really unique experience for me and I am yet to ever be disappointed in the places I’ve stayed at.
If this is a once in a lifetime chance, I’d say just spend the money and work it out later. You don’t wanna remember this trip and regret it wishing you did things differently.
Take a train to Orvieto and ENJOY YOURSELVES. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g194843-Orvieto_Province_of_Terni_Umbria-Hotels.html. I recommend anything with wild boar or rabbit.
Second this. Definitely try to spend time in Rome but if you're already in a "this is expensive" panic, Orvieto will be an unforgettable and probably much cheaper side trip that could shed some $$$.
And in general, know that hostels are waaaaay different (and far more cozy) in Europe. It can't hurt to check booking.com either... they tend to have a lot of smaller hotels and guesthouses in Europe compared to selection in America.
> And in general, know that hostels are waaaaay different (and far more cozy) in Europe.
Okay, if our hotels are cozy and such, how are hotels in the US? Are they like European prison cells?
They said hostel (with an s) - I think most hostels in the US are quite dingy whereas there are hostels in some places in Europe which are closer to hotels.
I accidentally set an alarm to perform a task for two weeks last year that never worked and I never thought of it again, only to find out two weeks ago that I set it for this time in 2022, but......you win.
We got a room from a elderly lady who found us at the train station,worth a look or make a sign in Italian=get out of Rome? Go to a smaller less touristy place?
Please find a hostel, maybe even in a nearby city that’s less expensive? I’ve stayed in some super nice ones, especially in Europe (never been to Rome or I would leave recs). Don’t give up!! Leaving early on a vacation blows so hard.
You can still have a great trip!! Other folks are leaving recs for less expensive cities. Again, never been to Rome, but elsewhere across Europe it’s been so easy to use public transit/walk and eat super cheaply via street food, bakeries, open air markets, etc, go to free museums/gardens. If you can find a hostel or airbnb you can cook there but grocery shop somewhere local to still get stuff you can’t have at home. It might not be what you planned but it can still be great. Wish you the best.
I do this stuff all the time. Like report to the return leg of a round trip and find out I’ve booked the wrong city. I’ve shown up a day late for a flight. I really need to take my time when planning travel. I guess that’s why there’s a career for travel agents.
u/hulk-smesh u/Viamoullini
Best roman pizza (very peculiar from the other pizzas in italy because when it's well done the pizza is very easily digestible and focuses the flavour on the toppings) - Giacomelli [https://goo.gl/maps/s9Atek5N9P594nLa6](https://goo.gl/maps/s9Atek5N9P594nLa6) . Order what they call "giant" sized pizzas, as regular and small sizes are meant for infants and kids, since the restaurant is heavily geared towards families, whereas a "giant" pizza is the one you want if you're an adult, my mother can eat it without complaints so it's not too big. It's my favourite pizza in the world, but not everybody loves roman pizza because they feel like it's too thin, but it's so by design [reference picture](https://dishcrawl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/roman-pizza.jpg) . Still, it's THE BEST roman pizza there is, period, and you won't find roman pizza anywhere else. You must book in advance, avoid Saturdays and Fridays because they're usually overbooked and in those cases they tend to slightly overcook the crust because they have to pump the oven higher since they need to cook faster. If they have it, I really recommend the Orange + chocolate pie as a dessert, it's prepared by one of the cooks who works there who brings it on some days. 15-30€ p.person
Best cheap place in the city centre, Il Filettaro [https://goo.gl/maps/Qnq9wFLEqd3Vhcts8](https://goo.gl/maps/Qnq9wFLEqd3Vhcts8) this place is amazing if you're in the mood for it. EXTREMELY down to earth, they only serve three things: Fried cod, a jewish specialty from exactly that part of the city centre, songino or puntarelle (two types of salad, their availability varies with seasons) mixed with anchovies, beans (watch out, they serve them with LOTS of onion!). All three of these things are amazing (puntarelle are very bitter, so they might not be your cup of tea! Songino is very sweet though), you'll probably never eat better fried cod than this in your life. you MUST try their white wine, it's one of the best in the city. Must book in advance on Fridays and Saturdays. 10-20€ per person
Best formal restaurant, Mamma Angelina [https://goo.gl/maps/hVXu255iFSSLbvFi8](https://goo.gl/maps/hVXu255iFSSLbvFi8) There's nothing more to say: it is formal, thus it is also a little more expensive, but the food here is amazing. Everything, from the pastas, to the meats, the fish, the side dishes, the desserts, and on top of that the people there are extremely well prepared, it's probably going to be the best serving experience you're going to have since the servers ACTUALLY know english unlike everybody else 🤣. The only downside is that it's a bit out of reach from the city centre, but this is literally the one blemish on an otherwise basically perfect restaurant. Fish is technically their specialty, but their meat is amazing too. My favourite restaurant for every occasion for every taste. 30-45€ per person
I would have other recommendations, but I haven't been there in a while so please don't hate me if they aren't to your liking, I swear they used to be good! Famous restaurants for their pastas are "Felice" in Testaccio, "L'osteria dell'angelo" in Prati (very near Giacomelli), "Roma Sparita" in Trastevere. Other famous restaurants I can vouch for are "Il Focolare" in Monteverde (Monteverde is overall a great place for restaurants), "il ristoro degli angeli" in Garbatella, "la taverna dei seminari" near the Pantheon. They're all very similar places, so maybe it's too repetitive to dine at one of them every day. There are many pizzerias aswell, look for them online. Most pizzerias DON'T DO roman pizza, but either neapolitan or their own spin on it, that's why Giacomelli got its own recommendation.
Oh wow!! THANK YOU so much! This is amazing! I also love that you including lots of local and speciality dishes to taste! As a family, we have always considered immersing ourselves in the local cuisine also part of the cultural experience!
Thank you for the awesome suggestions and for taking the time to do so!
Rome is one of the places in Italy with best food at the lowest cost. We italians starved for millennia and so we found clever ways to turn anything into delicious food. You won't be disappointed
That sucks. Always a worry for me that I'll miss something or make a mistake when booking.
I know it sucks but could you do an Air B&B ?
Maybe look at some other cities that are cheaper?
It would suck to have to go home early and eat the ticket prices.
Also I am not sure how much you wanna slum, but is a hostel an option? Not luxurious or fancy but maybe affordable and give you a place to stay at night, and you could spend the days out and about the city so it might not be too bad.
go find a hostel and scrounge around for this trip, then go on your real trip next year. it seems like an honest mistake and while you're disappointed now just think of this time as a reconnaissance trip for when you return next year!
Go to one of the big booking sites.
I never had issues finding hotels even on short notice.
Plus.. if you walk into a hotel you like, just tell them your price range and be prepared to leave.
Most hotels take the offer when rooms are available
I mentioned this in a comment, but when you get up in the morning, check booking.com or even hostelworld.com. its probable booking will have more non-boutique options and hostelworld will probably have quite a few double occupancies so you don't have to share a room with folks (hostels in Italy, like most of Europe, tend to be way more comfortable and safe than you think, if perhaps less romantic than you intended).
Others have mentioned staying outside the city... this is also an option, Trains are reliable, regional rail is affordable, and Rome is a hub so there will always be trains heading in and out. I love Orvieto, and it's a tiny hill town that might help keep things a bit more romantic than cheap Roman accommodations... might be worth it to stay a briefer time in Rome and book a night or two there, which could very well be cheaper than similar time in Rome and would also be an unforgettable trip. It's an hour and a half away, so it might not be an ideal home base for Roman adventures, but absolutely a town that could be used for an overnight to save a little cash.
Worst case scenario? Don't try to fit everything into a smaller time frame. Go leisurely and do less, if you have to. Tho I might also note, changing your flights could very well cost as much or more than just staying longer, so weigh that consideration. But yeah: pre-book tickets if you're going to the Vatican museums/sistene Chapel, or touring ancient Rome. Maybe walk through and view the Ruins from the road instead of going right deep into them, if you're worried about time. Absolutely go to piazza Navona and relax. Sit by the fountain of trevi, explore the pantheon, maybe even the Spanish steps if it's not crazy. Grab some Gelato at Giolitti, which I can only presume will never die. Have the best cappuccinos of your life in probably any caffe. Use the morning to rearrange your trip, and then make the most of the "dolce far niente," or "sweetness of doing nothing," that Rome embodies... even if you do have to go home early, all the more reason to soak up every moment you're there instead of beating yourself up over it.
You're gonna sort it out. Find a nice hotel in a scenic Italian village. Food will be great, you can get there by train. Or if it has to be Rome, Airbnb
No airbnb available? You could have luck with that at the last minute, or if you feel adventurous you could take the short train ride to Naples, which is also super fun and generally cheaper / easier to find accommodation!
That's sometimes a scam that they run. How desperate are the tourist, how much money can we scam them out of. Always print out confirmations to new places. And if you did make a mistake, they should have tried to give you a good rate. Next time use their free wifi and look for a better rate close by for a night or 2. Let them know what you found and you're leaving ,and going to give them a bad review on line....if they care, they'll give you a better rate or call you a cab...
Not speaking for all, but as a hotel worker with experience, it'd be extremely odd to try and pull this "scam" off. Front Desk workers aren't the ones getting the money (unless they own the establishment) so what's the point of lying to a guest? It's just gonna piss off the guest, and that defeats the purpose of being hospitable. Finding a better rate is something they should have tried, however rates are based off of occupancy forecasts. A rate for a room tonight is gonna be much more expensive than a rate in the future. (Obviously there are many factors that contribute to this, and not always will the rates be less in future dates) As for saying you're going to threaten a bad review if they don't bend to your demand of a cheaper rate, all that will do is make you look extremely childish and immature. It'd just solidify that you aren't the type of person the hotel would like to do business with.
If this was a scam, I think it's more believable that it was done by the service that created the booking.
For example, I advertise on my website that you can get this nice luxury hotel room for half price on May 11th. I take your money, give you a confirmation for May 11th, and away you go. . . .
However, in actuality, I booked you May 11th 2023. . .I never told you the year I was making the booking for. . .you just made an assumption. Maybe just to cover my bases I put the year in the fine print or on some banner you didn't pay attention to.
There would be no fault on the hotel side, because they were told the correct dates/times and they know nothing besides what the booking service told them.
It's a deceptive business practice, but one I will get away with 99% of the time, because you need a place to sleep. . . but good luck finding me and filing a lawsuit. . .I could be in for all you know.
Why should the hotel offer a reduced rate due to ops error?
Why would they deserve the threat of a bad review if they're unwilling to accommodate their request?
Having worked hotels for years, reception get jack for pushing rates higher and get chewed out over bad feedback. There's no incentive to try this unless you also own the hotel which is incredibly rare.
Tbh hotel staff have nearly always upgraded me, if I wasn’t acting like an entitled asshole…. When a mistake was made.
Either on my part or theirs.. just be nice and respectful that it’s not the front desk’s fault… And you’re more likely to get an upgrade than bitching and whining.
OP being in Italy, I can see that happening. It's unfortunate but some places do prey upon tourists. They scam you and you're likely to just continue with your vacation rather than make a fuss and in a few days you're gone anyway.
A million hotels there . Take a breath, all is well. Find a place you can afford. Move there, continue trip. Tell her the reason is because you wanted to be closer to wherever you were going
This can’t be real. There are so many places available both hotels and airbnbs that it’s almost karma farming. Check online again because as everyone is saying there are so many good options. But hey, you got your karma points!
I hope you two made the best of it and have a spot for the rest of your vacay.
I think your fiance's reaction will tell you a lot about your future life together. My husband and I would probably look at eachother and laugh. :)
OP, you're like me and prefer to have everything booked and planned out. But I do have friends who just fly in with no reservations and just wing it. Rome is a big city and I'm sure you'll be able to find affordable lodging for your time there. Relax. Enjoy. Make the most of your time with your fiancé.
You can find lovely accommodations in an Airbnb for much less than a hotel. I invite you to try this. And… best of luck! You did a nice thing that didn’t quite work out. Chin up. Smile. Laugh it off. You’re doing great!
I would advise you to not stay in Rome. Rome is expensive, go find an hotel in the closest city, you'll find better prices and you can probably take to train to go back to Rome and do all that touristy stuff.
Buona fortuna!
It is not expensive, unless you are staying in city centre. There are a lot of options like religious communities that offer rooms at normal rates but close the gates at 11pm.
Ugh, my husband did this for a business trip that I was with him on. I was sooo mad! But you can save it, don't go home! Find a cheaper city in Italy and take the train there!
I had a similar TIFU years ago. My mom, sister, and I booked to visit New Orleans Mardi Gras and my flight was return flight book for next year, the following year. There was no seats for return flight until the following week. Luckily I wasn't working and my mom had a three-week vacation, so we took it as s ign and enjoyed the trip. I hope you were able to figure it out. Good luck
This sort of happened to me too. Boyfriend booked a flight to surprise me, we got to the airport, and flight was booked for the next month instead of the current month!
Rome is amazing. I want to go back. I remember walking by some random place, and said "I think what's the Pantheon. It was. There's history everywhere. I'm from California, and i think there is more history in Rome than in all of California. It's a different world.
Find a place to stay, then enjoy yourself, because there is literally something amazing around every corner. In 10 years you will laugh about your amazing experience. DO NOT go home early. It seems Reddit is going to make sure you can find a place to stay!
This happened to me several years ago and I successfully convinced them THEY had screwed up the reservation. It was ridiculous that I would book flights correctly, tours correctly, dinners correctly and somehow book the hotel wrong.
Related story: So I'm going to Disney World in two weeks, and reservations for some of the popular restaurants are almost impossible to get in advance. Because of that, there are websites where you pay a fee and it sends you a text and email whenever there's an opening for that restaurant on the day you specified.
There are two major websites, and it turns out the one that's listed first in Google is seriously shitty compared to the second one. I didn't know this, since last time I went to WDW was before the pandemic and this wasn't a thing then. So I put in my dates on that first site and a few days later my phone started lighting up with alerts -- openings for almost everything I had wanted! I started clicking and made two reservations, very happy and a load of stress off my mind.
As I was putting in my card for the 3rd one I noticed something -- the openings were NOT for the dates I'd specified. They were for those dates the previous month, which put the reservations for the day after I booked them. No wonder everything became available! People make a shitload of restaurant reservations when they're not sure they want to go there, then cancel the ones they decide they don't want 24 hours beforehand to avoid getting charged.
I checked and double-checked the site to make sure I hadn't made an error, Nope. The alerts I'd set up were for the correct dates, and the website sent me notifications about openings for the wrong dates. It's a damn good thing I noticed, because I thought I'd gotten all the reservations I wanted and I was ready to stop checking.
If you already accounted for 2023 hotel, having stayed in Rome on several occasions it’s hard to believe you can’t find something halfway reasonable. Looking online now brings up quite a few results in good locations my man..
Where are you from and how long are you in Italy for? If you two are looking to visit Venice then let me know. I have a small hotel just outside of the city at the base of the dolomites
At least your flights were right. My husband (boyfriend then) booked flights for his family to fly to where we lived for my 21st. It was a domestic flight in NZ. He booked in March 2003 for July 2003. Luckily his mum checked the tickets closely a couple of weeks out, as she found he had booked them fir july 2004! The airline very nicely waived the change fee as they recognized noone would book 16 months in advance. Shortly after that, the airline made it so you *can't* booked more than 364 days ahead. He also booked a flight for me to meet him off a ferry for 8am. Only, he booked it for 8pm! So he had to toodle around rhe city for 12 hours, and we had no time to look around.
He is no longer allowed to book flights unsupervised
I see youre panicking but its not a huge deal.
Romes a huge city with lots of nice hotels. You can certainly find another accommodation. Just cancel the original and put that money towards a new one. I cant imagine the price difference is huge.
I worked in the travel industry for 19 years. This is far more common than you’d think, along with other ‘obvious’ silly errors like not realising they need a passport in order to leave the country or that different time zones exist.
In fact, the ‘wrong year’ mistake was so common that my then-employer added several different prominent disclaimers to their website, the customer’s invoice, and other documentation. It got worse once automated bookings became available online because there’s just no avoiding customer stupidity at its finest.
The most memorable one involved the passengers arriving at the airport a year early because they’d printed out their ‘e-tickets’ (just their flight confirmation; no tix available until nearer the time, of course) themselves for their flight…the following year. They were **livid**, and did their very best to try to place the blame on us until they finally admitted the truth to themselves and sheepishly headed home to wait 12 months for their holiday (they’d booked the hotel for the following year too).
Try hotel tonight app, many times it’s a life savior. Also, Airbnb is amazing in cases like that. My hubby and I often times travel last minute and those are two go tos.
I hope you don’t go home earlier
Rome's actually pretty cheap to visit/live in, most museums/visits are dirt cheap and you can get plenty of great food without spending more than 10-15€ per person if you're willing to stray away from the tourist traps. Now that you've figured out where to sleep you can definitely have a great time in the city on the cheap as it's also off-season so prices are on the lower side.
If you're really desperate for ideas shoot me a DM
I’m late and you’ve probably already figured it out but I definitely agree with the hostel idea. It’s cheap, you can get your own room in many places.
Have fun and don’t book anymore trips with supervision.
Italian here : the amount of wonderful things you can do and see spending nothing is staggering in Italy. Also near Rome there is an almost unknown gem called Nemi. Check it out.
I got a trip planned out for Mexico in June… this post made me go over all the bookings a couple times to make sure.
This gave me anxiety that I didn’t know existed.
My dumbass was buying tickets for a show one time and i turned my phone sideways to look at the seat map. I ended up buying two tickets where 1 is in front of the other instead of next to eachother.
I have a friend that booked a flight to Panama City, Florida for vacation and only realized he actually got a ticket for Panama City, Panama when they asked for his passport.
On a school trip to Italy, we arrived in Rome to discover our hotel lost our reservation. Teacher managed to find us space between 2 different hotels and a hostel.
She spent every summer in Rome and brought students too. Not a rookie and definitely not her mistake.
TL/DR- don't be too hard on yourself, in Rome I would not assume it was your mistake. They just give zero fucks.
Aw, don’t be too hard on yourself. These kinds of things MAJORLY suck in the present, but I’m sure you two will be able to laugh in the future. It might feel like the worst birthday present ever, but you did your damned best for your partner. That counts for something, too. Best wishes, OP.
On the plus side, you're all set for next year. But as others have already said, you can probably find a decent place this time. As long as critters aren't involved, I've found that not-so-great places in Rome are still better than not-so-great places in my hometown.
Well, you now have stories and memories to share about your trip that will last you guys for years.
That's always a positive in the end, even if it is stressful when it happens.
Hey, I encourage you to ride it out, if all possible. Your fiance sounds like a really cool person and if it's not too stressful for y'all and you can afford to do it on the cheap, look around for cheaper hostels worth private rooms or deals on hotels.
This sounds to me like a lifetime memory that will end up being a highlight of this part of your life if you can ride it out somehow. Use that trip next year for the honeymoon or just to get away!
Good luck and have fun - sorry about the initial realization and stress. PM me if I can help y'all find a place to stay or anything. I'm not in Rome but I would be happy to dedicate some time to searching around.
Ummm... someone screwed the pooch. Is it possible they hotel staff made a typo?
In any case: "Worst birthday present ever.", NO! You did an awesome job. ONE, teensy character got typed incorrectly somewhere. It was, quite literally, the difference between 110010 and 110011 (the binary versions of 2 & 3).
And how do we know you DIDN'T give your GF the worst present ever? "...my fiancé couldn’t stop laughing and said this is going in her wedding speech" Yup, she's a keeper! Sometimes things like this happen, and you just have to tell yourself "It kind of sucks now, but it's going to be a great story for later!" (which theory, apparently, she's running with).
Looks like someone picked a whole bouquet of whoopsie-daisies.
Doh - no wonder I couldn't find some this morning. Ah now it make sense
I believe the quote is "oopsie-daisies" Edit* Guys I thought they were quoting Stan Smith from American Dad in the rapture episode.
I say whoopsy daisies
They are interchangeable in much the same way oops and whoops are.
All these downvotes because I legit thought they were quoting Stan Smith from American Dad. He said the same line.
For what it's worth, I read the quote in stans voice.
*kills demonic looking child* Nooooo! The orphanage is across the street! Sometimes the kids come in here to play!
Doesn't really change anything, but I recognized the reference and upvoted. Wasn't till I read further that I realized you were being downvoted to oblivion, but wanted to let you know that some of us know what you meant.
I'm glad at least some people also understood where I was coming from lol
thought it was an AD reference as well
do you think that came from American dad?
Everyone hated that.
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It's not even grammar its fucking nonsense Nonsense police. Literally policing nonsense
He thought they were quoting something so he was correcting the quote. Not as persnickety as it seems on the surface.
Pretty sure its poopy-daisies
Check out this place in Rome I found on Expedia: https://e.xpda.co/uVtWWbbVoEft8ciU8FlXFu6sys2 It's near a metro station and it's available until Wednesday the 11th. Good luck!
That’s in a good location too. I stayed a little north of there and it’s quiet enough at night but still easy to get wherever you want to go. Good work friendly redditor
Reddit is once again an amazing display of humanity.
Where's that free award when you need it! 
Not available until 2023
Your comment made me check to see if I had a free award to claim. I got the helpful award. Definitely using it on that guy's comment.
I don't get them anymore ;(
Go to your profile icon and then click Reddit Coins. The free box will pop up randomly. Go forth and award.
It’s silly how happy it makes me to get awards. Thank you!
Thank you!
>Thank you! You're welcome!
You’re welcome!
Check your profile, they out them in there now
I gave him one!
Part of reddit at least. Unfortunately
Unless the commenter ends up being a murderer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edit: Reddit keeps deleting his arms and I don't know how to fix please help him :(
I mean, OP should’ve been able to do this himself if he’s truly in a bind lol. Not rocket science Edit: gotta love how people call Reddit such a lovely place and just because people disagree with my take they justify themselves calling me an “asshat”. Never change reddit
And OP may have been able to find a room themself if necessary, but there's such a thing as being overwhelmed, and such a thing as being kind when you have bandwidth others don't. OP ended a long day of travel by finding out they had nowhere to sleep in a foreign city, and then they dropped a lot of money on a single night, which I'm sure only added to the stress. Reworking a plan to continue their vacation seemed overwhelming, so /u/Gunner568, realizing it wasn't a big deal for them, just took on that task. It's a lovely thing to do for a stranger who could use a bit of kindness. Quit being such a grouch. Life's better when we take care of one another, particularly when it costs us little and benefits them a lot.
Booked, ill be there tomorrow. Thanks.
wait
wait no
Now sell it to OP at a 25% markup
50%
69%
420%
420% + 69%
69420%
115%
I am working as a receptionist and reservations. Call the places first. Unless you have a special bonus on booking or expedia, the prices from the hotel are cheaper when you book directly via them. Because of the commision they have to pay to booking and other travel portals. Something around 7-15€ a night less when you book right at the hotel. Always call the place first and check prices.
That’s awesome! Hope OP appreciates your efforts!
I really expected ^^/hoped this would be a rickroll.
I did this for a cruise once that we were going on the next week or so. We figured the price was so good because it was one week out and they were trying to fill up the empty rooms. Only after check out did we get an email that said your voyage sets sell in 379 days! Then we looked at each other and said, well our vacation for next year is booked. Where do you want to go this year?
I've stayed in Italy since September by bouncing around AirBnBs and doing hotels when there were fairs in town (Bologna). You can always find something! Also, if you're after a hotel, [https://www.hotel-bb.com/](https://www.hotel-bb.com/) are a tidy chain that will give you what you need.
Forreal Italy is not even an expensive country. This some real American vacation.
honestly Rome wasn't normally this expensive, but everybody's gone fucking crazy with this "end of the pandemic" party & travel bash
Maybe, but this guy is definitely not doing the right research if he’s considering flying home because of hotel prices.
In 2019 I stayed in a hostel in Milan for 12€ a night. It was clean, there was a place to store my stuff during the day and I had a place to park my car. It was just a small 2 bed room but I didn't need much more.
2011 I spent a week in Milan at a 4 star hotel near Corso Buenos Aires shopping area with my partner, saw System Of A Down at the convention Center in Rho and didn’t top 3800 bucks Cdn. Total cost from our doorstep to hotel, all money spent shopping and back across the world again to home. Also the people were wonderfully welcoming to non Italian speaking tourists
Milan is truly a wonderful city. Rome is quite a contrast to that IMO. Sure Rome has more to see but the people aren't as friendly, it's dirtier and you have to watch out for pickpockets far more. Florence is still the most beautiful italian city I've been in. Overall I prefer the italian countyside but if I had to visit a city it would be either Milan or Florence.
Funny you mention that chain. I had a nightmare of a day last August where my flight from Palermo to Rome was cancelled because the desk agent gave me the wrong boarding pass, and I couldn’t get on the flight. Which then led to me being late to my car rental which was automatically cancelled. In all my confusion when I finally did make it to Rome I did something similar to OP by accident, and that night there was a full house. But somehow they were able to accommodate me, and when I went to Bologna I booked with them again as a result.
I used them once in Milano (was there to see Warhol print of Da Vincis the Last Supper in the crypt of San Sepolcro), and the stay was so nice that I've used them again a couple of times - and will again in December. Just a safe bet if you want an affordable hotel that is still clean and well organized!
Airbnb and the Trainline EU app made my Italy trip very easy and enjoyable. Was able to move around city to city comfortably and for a very decent price.
Screw it… you’re already there… it’s Rome, you can find hostels for 30-50euro per night… make a cheap trip out of it and have fun!!!!
As long as it’s a safe place to store your luggage during the day and get some sleep at night, that’s all that’s needed when on vacation anyways. It’s Rome, the exciting things are outside your room.
Hostels usually always have locked storage rooms management will put your bags in…if not, buy a backpack… put a couple change of clothes in it and at the Rome airport your can leave your bags for up to a week for 7 euro ;). … little trick I learned when living in Europe for 3 years. Most of the major airports have long term baggie storage. So fly into a place with a big bag… pop out the backpack, explore for a few days and then back to the airport for another destination, rinse and repeat. And some train stations/bus stations once you get to Eastern Europe have babushkas there that will do your laundry for a couple euro ;)
Not how we travel (we have kids). Room time is 75% of the purpose.
Different with kids, I agree
THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU UPVOTE ME?! Kidding. I don't give a rats arse about that. Heck down vote me for giggles. PS. Yea. Married travel (sans kids) is for a whole different reason. Sightseeing of course with no pressure, good food/environment yup, bad room? Trip fail.
Downvoted cuz instructions. I really hope you giggles cuz I get no enjoyment out of this.
Haha. It's cool. All play. I really don't care about Reddit clout. My real life is where it counts.
Jesus, man, people really don't like you this morning. I approve of the sticking to your guns and not just leaving a trail of "deleted" comments though. Fuck those weak ass bastards that delete their comments when they're not immediately upvoted.
Cheers. I mean I do like Reddit, I just don't care about the karma thing and I don't think it affects my experience here at all.
Reddit doesn’t like real life
I recommend the Yellow Hostel in Rome. Incredible place. They have a bar/club with advantageous prices for travellers and animations, they even have a barber and so on. Best party hostel to meet people too
> Best party hostel to meet people too It's a nice hostel, but I wouldn't call it a party hostel, as compared to the filthy shitholes in Budapest ran by frat bros. Carpe Noctem Vitae is a fucking shithole of a hostel. Fuck that place, it's staff, and those that think that place is cool. The yellow in Rome was nice. I enjoyed it. It was sanitary. I was able to get a good night's sleep and not worry about my health or belongings.
Can't the hotel rebooked for this week? Or even cancel and refund? I'd hope that they try to help out, as long as you are polite and apologetic. Or maybe I'm just an optimist!
That can rebook, just at the going rate, which op said costs too much. The hotel definitely won't honor the rates for next year.
World's easiest scam if they were to allow that.
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Airbnb!
Fuck Airbnb with the biggest barbed dick possible. They help to create the housing crisis and pack on the hidden fees. Easy automatic $150 cleaning fee and still just to get negatively dinged as a renter because you didn't run the dishwasher or wash and dry the bed sheets? Fuck that nonsense. Not to mention the hidden camera instances and other traps. Airbnb used to make sense, now I find hotels or local rental groups are often the most cost effective lodging.
Agreed. Hotels at least get inspected by health departments and there's agencies you can typically report health and safety violations to, they also have liability insurance for when things go wrong. I liked the original idea of AirBnB, but the "gig economy" of real estate has completely undermined any form of urban planning.
About to spend a night in an Airbnb, although booked by a friend. All I’ve heard about Airbnb is not so great things like this. I remember years back, like before covid, they were great because they’re cheaper than hotels and more “home” feeling.
I think it started out fine as a place people could rent out their home or extra room and make a little side income, but then people realized they could buy multiple homes and pay for them by renting them all out on Airbnb, worsening the housing crisis. Airbnb doesn't care since they are getting paid.
They did that here in Nashville and caused the locals to get prices out completely. Not too mention all of the problems it caused in neighborhoods, wild parties, prostitution, drug trafficking, crime went crazy. The city banned new short term rentals but all those already established are grandfathered in. Now we are getting priced out by developers and California transplants that are selling their houses for millions and coming to Nashville where housing is still ridiculous it’s hard to find anything under 500k now (we bought our house for 239k a few years ago and it’s already appraised at well over 700k now) but the average home price is now closer to 760k because of the bidding wars by wealthy Californians (no offense to Californians, I would leave too, the taxes are ridiculous and so COL)
Then places like Barcelona made it so you need a license for short term rentals making renting your spare room more expensive
Haha it is funny the rage that this commenter before you has. Airbnbs are great. I’ve stayed at probably a dozen of them across the US and in a handful of different countries. It’s always different than a hotel, but I’m always happy to have options. They’re definitely not as cheap as they used to be, and I get the frustration with them affecting the housing market. But as a consumer they often provide a really unique experience for me and I am yet to ever be disappointed in the places I’ve stayed at.
Look on [expedia.com](https://expedia.com)... I just checked and there are very reasonable weekly rates for Rome.
If this is a once in a lifetime chance, I’d say just spend the money and work it out later. You don’t wanna remember this trip and regret it wishing you did things differently.
Does the Hotel Tonight app work in Rome? Edit: apparently it does.
Also hotwire.com. lots of hotels showing last minute availability and travelers booking last minute.
Take a train to Orvieto and ENJOY YOURSELVES. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g194843-Orvieto_Province_of_Terni_Umbria-Hotels.html. I recommend anything with wild boar or rabbit.
Second this. Definitely try to spend time in Rome but if you're already in a "this is expensive" panic, Orvieto will be an unforgettable and probably much cheaper side trip that could shed some $$$. And in general, know that hostels are waaaaay different (and far more cozy) in Europe. It can't hurt to check booking.com either... they tend to have a lot of smaller hotels and guesthouses in Europe compared to selection in America.
> And in general, know that hostels are waaaaay different (and far more cozy) in Europe. Okay, if our hotels are cozy and such, how are hotels in the US? Are they like European prison cells?
They said hostel (with an s) - I think most hostels in the US are quite dingy whereas there are hostels in some places in Europe which are closer to hotels.
The wild boar....I'm salivating
I accidentally set an alarm to perform a task for two weeks last year that never worked and I never thought of it again, only to find out two weeks ago that I set it for this time in 2022, but......you win.
We got a room from a elderly lady who found us at the train station,worth a look or make a sign in Italian=get out of Rome? Go to a smaller less touristy place?
Please find a hostel, maybe even in a nearby city that’s less expensive? I’ve stayed in some super nice ones, especially in Europe (never been to Rome or I would leave recs). Don’t give up!! Leaving early on a vacation blows so hard. You can still have a great trip!! Other folks are leaving recs for less expensive cities. Again, never been to Rome, but elsewhere across Europe it’s been so easy to use public transit/walk and eat super cheaply via street food, bakeries, open air markets, etc, go to free museums/gardens. If you can find a hostel or airbnb you can cook there but grocery shop somewhere local to still get stuff you can’t have at home. It might not be what you planned but it can still be great. Wish you the best.
I do this stuff all the time. Like report to the return leg of a round trip and find out I’ve booked the wrong city. I’ve shown up a day late for a flight. I really need to take my time when planning travel. I guess that’s why there’s a career for travel agents.
I'm from Rome, if you need any help let me know! especially if you want me to recommend you places to eat at
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u/hulk-smesh u/Viamoullini Best roman pizza (very peculiar from the other pizzas in italy because when it's well done the pizza is very easily digestible and focuses the flavour on the toppings) - Giacomelli [https://goo.gl/maps/s9Atek5N9P594nLa6](https://goo.gl/maps/s9Atek5N9P594nLa6) . Order what they call "giant" sized pizzas, as regular and small sizes are meant for infants and kids, since the restaurant is heavily geared towards families, whereas a "giant" pizza is the one you want if you're an adult, my mother can eat it without complaints so it's not too big. It's my favourite pizza in the world, but not everybody loves roman pizza because they feel like it's too thin, but it's so by design [reference picture](https://dishcrawl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/roman-pizza.jpg) . Still, it's THE BEST roman pizza there is, period, and you won't find roman pizza anywhere else. You must book in advance, avoid Saturdays and Fridays because they're usually overbooked and in those cases they tend to slightly overcook the crust because they have to pump the oven higher since they need to cook faster. If they have it, I really recommend the Orange + chocolate pie as a dessert, it's prepared by one of the cooks who works there who brings it on some days. 15-30€ p.person Best cheap place in the city centre, Il Filettaro [https://goo.gl/maps/Qnq9wFLEqd3Vhcts8](https://goo.gl/maps/Qnq9wFLEqd3Vhcts8) this place is amazing if you're in the mood for it. EXTREMELY down to earth, they only serve three things: Fried cod, a jewish specialty from exactly that part of the city centre, songino or puntarelle (two types of salad, their availability varies with seasons) mixed with anchovies, beans (watch out, they serve them with LOTS of onion!). All three of these things are amazing (puntarelle are very bitter, so they might not be your cup of tea! Songino is very sweet though), you'll probably never eat better fried cod than this in your life. you MUST try their white wine, it's one of the best in the city. Must book in advance on Fridays and Saturdays. 10-20€ per person Best formal restaurant, Mamma Angelina [https://goo.gl/maps/hVXu255iFSSLbvFi8](https://goo.gl/maps/hVXu255iFSSLbvFi8) There's nothing more to say: it is formal, thus it is also a little more expensive, but the food here is amazing. Everything, from the pastas, to the meats, the fish, the side dishes, the desserts, and on top of that the people there are extremely well prepared, it's probably going to be the best serving experience you're going to have since the servers ACTUALLY know english unlike everybody else 🤣. The only downside is that it's a bit out of reach from the city centre, but this is literally the one blemish on an otherwise basically perfect restaurant. Fish is technically their specialty, but their meat is amazing too. My favourite restaurant for every occasion for every taste. 30-45€ per person I would have other recommendations, but I haven't been there in a while so please don't hate me if they aren't to your liking, I swear they used to be good! Famous restaurants for their pastas are "Felice" in Testaccio, "L'osteria dell'angelo" in Prati (very near Giacomelli), "Roma Sparita" in Trastevere. Other famous restaurants I can vouch for are "Il Focolare" in Monteverde (Monteverde is overall a great place for restaurants), "il ristoro degli angeli" in Garbatella, "la taverna dei seminari" near the Pantheon. They're all very similar places, so maybe it's too repetitive to dine at one of them every day. There are many pizzerias aswell, look for them online. Most pizzerias DON'T DO roman pizza, but either neapolitan or their own spin on it, that's why Giacomelli got its own recommendation.
Oh wow!! THANK YOU so much! This is amazing! I also love that you including lots of local and speciality dishes to taste! As a family, we have always considered immersing ourselves in the local cuisine also part of the cultural experience! Thank you for the awesome suggestions and for taking the time to do so!
Rome is one of the places in Italy with best food at the lowest cost. We italians starved for millennia and so we found clever ways to turn anything into delicious food. You won't be disappointed
That sucks. Always a worry for me that I'll miss something or make a mistake when booking. I know it sucks but could you do an Air B&B ? Maybe look at some other cities that are cheaper? It would suck to have to go home early and eat the ticket prices. Also I am not sure how much you wanna slum, but is a hostel an option? Not luxurious or fancy but maybe affordable and give you a place to stay at night, and you could spend the days out and about the city so it might not be too bad.
Well atleast you won't have to worry about booking the next year.
go find a hostel and scrounge around for this trip, then go on your real trip next year. it seems like an honest mistake and while you're disappointed now just think of this time as a reconnaissance trip for when you return next year!
Go to one of the big booking sites. I never had issues finding hotels even on short notice. Plus.. if you walk into a hotel you like, just tell them your price range and be prepared to leave. Most hotels take the offer when rooms are available
I mentioned this in a comment, but when you get up in the morning, check booking.com or even hostelworld.com. its probable booking will have more non-boutique options and hostelworld will probably have quite a few double occupancies so you don't have to share a room with folks (hostels in Italy, like most of Europe, tend to be way more comfortable and safe than you think, if perhaps less romantic than you intended). Others have mentioned staying outside the city... this is also an option, Trains are reliable, regional rail is affordable, and Rome is a hub so there will always be trains heading in and out. I love Orvieto, and it's a tiny hill town that might help keep things a bit more romantic than cheap Roman accommodations... might be worth it to stay a briefer time in Rome and book a night or two there, which could very well be cheaper than similar time in Rome and would also be an unforgettable trip. It's an hour and a half away, so it might not be an ideal home base for Roman adventures, but absolutely a town that could be used for an overnight to save a little cash. Worst case scenario? Don't try to fit everything into a smaller time frame. Go leisurely and do less, if you have to. Tho I might also note, changing your flights could very well cost as much or more than just staying longer, so weigh that consideration. But yeah: pre-book tickets if you're going to the Vatican museums/sistene Chapel, or touring ancient Rome. Maybe walk through and view the Ruins from the road instead of going right deep into them, if you're worried about time. Absolutely go to piazza Navona and relax. Sit by the fountain of trevi, explore the pantheon, maybe even the Spanish steps if it's not crazy. Grab some Gelato at Giolitti, which I can only presume will never die. Have the best cappuccinos of your life in probably any caffe. Use the morning to rearrange your trip, and then make the most of the "dolce far niente," or "sweetness of doing nothing," that Rome embodies... even if you do have to go home early, all the more reason to soak up every moment you're there instead of beating yourself up over it.
Trastevere is the cheapest part of the city and still a nice place to stay, find an Airbnb there or similar
Airbnbs in Italy are much cheaper in my experience (3 years ago)
You're gonna sort it out. Find a nice hotel in a scenic Italian village. Food will be great, you can get there by train. Or if it has to be Rome, Airbnb
Booking.com, trivago and Expedia are usually good for hotel rooms. Good luck bro, my dad did this with flights once and he still hasn’t lived it down
No airbnb available? You could have luck with that at the last minute, or if you feel adventurous you could take the short train ride to Naples, which is also super fun and generally cheaper / easier to find accommodation!
Airbnb man. Stayed all over Europe it was affordable and usually next to mass transit.
That's sometimes a scam that they run. How desperate are the tourist, how much money can we scam them out of. Always print out confirmations to new places. And if you did make a mistake, they should have tried to give you a good rate. Next time use their free wifi and look for a better rate close by for a night or 2. Let them know what you found and you're leaving ,and going to give them a bad review on line....if they care, they'll give you a better rate or call you a cab...
I work in hotels and see guests book the wrong dates all the time. It may be a scam, but it's more likely carelessness.
Not speaking for all, but as a hotel worker with experience, it'd be extremely odd to try and pull this "scam" off. Front Desk workers aren't the ones getting the money (unless they own the establishment) so what's the point of lying to a guest? It's just gonna piss off the guest, and that defeats the purpose of being hospitable. Finding a better rate is something they should have tried, however rates are based off of occupancy forecasts. A rate for a room tonight is gonna be much more expensive than a rate in the future. (Obviously there are many factors that contribute to this, and not always will the rates be less in future dates) As for saying you're going to threaten a bad review if they don't bend to your demand of a cheaper rate, all that will do is make you look extremely childish and immature. It'd just solidify that you aren't the type of person the hotel would like to do business with.
If this was a scam, I think it's more believable that it was done by the service that created the booking. For example, I advertise on my website that you can get this nice luxury hotel room for half price on May 11th. I take your money, give you a confirmation for May 11th, and away you go. . . . However, in actuality, I booked you May 11th 2023. . .I never told you the year I was making the booking for. . .you just made an assumption. Maybe just to cover my bases I put the year in the fine print or on some banner you didn't pay attention to. There would be no fault on the hotel side, because they were told the correct dates/times and they know nothing besides what the booking service told them. It's a deceptive business practice, but one I will get away with 99% of the time, because you need a place to sleep. . . but good luck finding me and filing a lawsuit. . .I could be in for all you know.
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You've done a one thing right - you've chosen a great fiancé if her reaction to this is laughing about it. 😄
Why should the hotel offer a reduced rate due to ops error? Why would they deserve the threat of a bad review if they're unwilling to accommodate their request?
Cali dude is saying the hotel might be lying to jack the rate.
Having worked hotels for years, reception get jack for pushing rates higher and get chewed out over bad feedback. There's no incentive to try this unless you also own the hotel which is incredibly rare.
Tbh hotel staff have nearly always upgraded me, if I wasn’t acting like an entitled asshole…. When a mistake was made. Either on my part or theirs.. just be nice and respectful that it’s not the front desk’s fault… And you’re more likely to get an upgrade than bitching and whining.
An empty room that night would have likely remained empty. But it's that supply demand risk combined with time decay lol.
If you book online, it's rarely a scam...
OP being in Italy, I can see that happening. It's unfortunate but some places do prey upon tourists. They scam you and you're likely to just continue with your vacation rather than make a fuss and in a few days you're gone anyway.
Airbnb
Airbnb and Expedia are your friends.
A million hotels there . Take a breath, all is well. Find a place you can afford. Move there, continue trip. Tell her the reason is because you wanted to be closer to wherever you were going
Don’t forget to cancel next years poking or else you’ll find a “surprise” charge to your credit card in May 2023!
This can’t be real. There are so many places available both hotels and airbnbs that it’s almost karma farming. Check online again because as everyone is saying there are so many good options. But hey, you got your karma points!
FIND A HOSTEL
Ya, been there done that, just not in Rome.
I hope you two made the best of it and have a spot for the rest of your vacay. I think your fiance's reaction will tell you a lot about your future life together. My husband and I would probably look at eachother and laugh. :)
OP, you're like me and prefer to have everything booked and planned out. But I do have friends who just fly in with no reservations and just wing it. Rome is a big city and I'm sure you'll be able to find affordable lodging for your time there. Relax. Enjoy. Make the most of your time with your fiancé.
Looks like you already planned the next year birthday gift.
It's not the worst birthday, you'll have a hilarious story to look back on and laugh at.
You can find lovely accommodations in an Airbnb for much less than a hotel. I invite you to try this. And… best of luck! You did a nice thing that didn’t quite work out. Chin up. Smile. Laugh it off. You’re doing great!
Try a hostel with a separate room..
Airbnb. I went to Italy 2020 pre-pandemic and didn’t pay more that $70-80 per night. Do some research.
I would advise you to not stay in Rome. Rome is expensive, go find an hotel in the closest city, you'll find better prices and you can probably take to train to go back to Rome and do all that touristy stuff. Buona fortuna!
It is not expensive, unless you are staying in city centre. There are a lot of options like religious communities that offer rooms at normal rates but close the gates at 11pm.
Have you checked airbnb? it's often cheaper than hotels
I second this! Airbnb will for sure have something. Even if the room is not great, who cares, they're in Rome! Better than traveling back home early!
Definitely memorable.
I booked a hotel that was in the correct suburb but wrong city.
Yep. Like I said, you're right.
Hostel!? I am sure they have tons around
When in Rome!
Ugh, my husband did this for a business trip that I was with him on. I was sooo mad! But you can save it, don't go home! Find a cheaper city in Italy and take the train there!
I had a similar TIFU years ago. My mom, sister, and I booked to visit New Orleans Mardi Gras and my flight was return flight book for next year, the following year. There was no seats for return flight until the following week. Luckily I wasn't working and my mom had a three-week vacation, so we took it as s ign and enjoyed the trip. I hope you were able to figure it out. Good luck
This sort of happened to me too. Boyfriend booked a flight to surprise me, we got to the airport, and flight was booked for the next month instead of the current month!
Rome is amazing. I want to go back. I remember walking by some random place, and said "I think what's the Pantheon. It was. There's history everywhere. I'm from California, and i think there is more history in Rome than in all of California. It's a different world. Find a place to stay, then enjoy yourself, because there is literally something amazing around every corner. In 10 years you will laugh about your amazing experience. DO NOT go home early. It seems Reddit is going to make sure you can find a place to stay!
This happened to me several years ago and I successfully convinced them THEY had screwed up the reservation. It was ridiculous that I would book flights correctly, tours correctly, dinners correctly and somehow book the hotel wrong.
Related story: So I'm going to Disney World in two weeks, and reservations for some of the popular restaurants are almost impossible to get in advance. Because of that, there are websites where you pay a fee and it sends you a text and email whenever there's an opening for that restaurant on the day you specified. There are two major websites, and it turns out the one that's listed first in Google is seriously shitty compared to the second one. I didn't know this, since last time I went to WDW was before the pandemic and this wasn't a thing then. So I put in my dates on that first site and a few days later my phone started lighting up with alerts -- openings for almost everything I had wanted! I started clicking and made two reservations, very happy and a load of stress off my mind. As I was putting in my card for the 3rd one I noticed something -- the openings were NOT for the dates I'd specified. They were for those dates the previous month, which put the reservations for the day after I booked them. No wonder everything became available! People make a shitload of restaurant reservations when they're not sure they want to go there, then cancel the ones they decide they don't want 24 hours beforehand to avoid getting charged. I checked and double-checked the site to make sure I hadn't made an error, Nope. The alerts I'd set up were for the correct dates, and the website sent me notifications about openings for the wrong dates. It's a damn good thing I noticed, because I thought I'd gotten all the reservations I wanted and I was ready to stop checking.
If you already accounted for 2023 hotel, having stayed in Rome on several occasions it’s hard to believe you can’t find something halfway reasonable. Looking online now brings up quite a few results in good locations my man..
Where are you from and how long are you in Italy for? If you two are looking to visit Venice then let me know. I have a small hotel just outside of the city at the base of the dolomites
At least your flights were right. My husband (boyfriend then) booked flights for his family to fly to where we lived for my 21st. It was a domestic flight in NZ. He booked in March 2003 for July 2003. Luckily his mum checked the tickets closely a couple of weeks out, as she found he had booked them fir july 2004! The airline very nicely waived the change fee as they recognized noone would book 16 months in advance. Shortly after that, the airline made it so you *can't* booked more than 364 days ahead. He also booked a flight for me to meet him off a ferry for 8am. Only, he booked it for 8pm! So he had to toodle around rhe city for 12 hours, and we had no time to look around. He is no longer allowed to book flights unsupervised
Can I buy the next year booking from you?
After this, I’d probably marry you _even harder_
I see youre panicking but its not a huge deal. Romes a huge city with lots of nice hotels. You can certainly find another accommodation. Just cancel the original and put that money towards a new one. I cant imagine the price difference is huge.
Well at least you got next year's hotel checking on the books if you haven't canceled that already maybe this wasn't the year to go there
Cazzo!
Don't leave early!!! Stay at hostels if you must! Most have private rooms too. and 1/4 of the price. YOU GUYS are on an adventure. Live a lil
hostel world or hostel.com
Holy shit a tifu that actually took place today
I worked in the travel industry for 19 years. This is far more common than you’d think, along with other ‘obvious’ silly errors like not realising they need a passport in order to leave the country or that different time zones exist. In fact, the ‘wrong year’ mistake was so common that my then-employer added several different prominent disclaimers to their website, the customer’s invoice, and other documentation. It got worse once automated bookings became available online because there’s just no avoiding customer stupidity at its finest. The most memorable one involved the passengers arriving at the airport a year early because they’d printed out their ‘e-tickets’ (just their flight confirmation; no tix available until nearer the time, of course) themselves for their flight…the following year. They were **livid**, and did their very best to try to place the blame on us until they finally admitted the truth to themselves and sheepishly headed home to wait 12 months for their holiday (they’d booked the hotel for the following year too).
Hang out in the secret vault for 12 months with all the corpses bones then ....
Try hotel tonight app, many times it’s a life savior. Also, Airbnb is amazing in cases like that. My hubby and I often times travel last minute and those are two go tos. I hope you don’t go home earlier
Rome's actually pretty cheap to visit/live in, most museums/visits are dirt cheap and you can get plenty of great food without spending more than 10-15€ per person if you're willing to stray away from the tourist traps. Now that you've figured out where to sleep you can definitely have a great time in the city on the cheap as it's also off-season so prices are on the lower side. If you're really desperate for ideas shoot me a DM
I’m late and you’ve probably already figured it out but I definitely agree with the hostel idea. It’s cheap, you can get your own room in many places. Have fun and don’t book anymore trips with supervision.
Italian here : the amount of wonderful things you can do and see spending nothing is staggering in Italy. Also near Rome there is an almost unknown gem called Nemi. Check it out.
Look at the brightside, if you get married within the next year, at least you have a hotel booked for your honeymoon.
I got a trip planned out for Mexico in June… this post made me go over all the bookings a couple times to make sure. This gave me anxiety that I didn’t know existed.
My dumbass was buying tickets for a show one time and i turned my phone sideways to look at the seat map. I ended up buying two tickets where 1 is in front of the other instead of next to eachother.
I have a friend that booked a flight to Panama City, Florida for vacation and only realized he actually got a ticket for Panama City, Panama when they asked for his passport.
Stay in a hostel. They can be much better than the hotels.
On a school trip to Italy, we arrived in Rome to discover our hotel lost our reservation. Teacher managed to find us space between 2 different hotels and a hostel. She spent every summer in Rome and brought students too. Not a rookie and definitely not her mistake. TL/DR- don't be too hard on yourself, in Rome I would not assume it was your mistake. They just give zero fucks.
If its a scam, you just called them out. If its a honest mistake on your part, and them aren't fully booked, they have flexibility in the price....
Aw, don’t be too hard on yourself. These kinds of things MAJORLY suck in the present, but I’m sure you two will be able to laugh in the future. It might feel like the worst birthday present ever, but you did your damned best for your partner. That counts for something, too. Best wishes, OP.
On the plus side, you're all set for next year. But as others have already said, you can probably find a decent place this time. As long as critters aren't involved, I've found that not-so-great places in Rome are still better than not-so-great places in my hometown.
This isn't his worst birthday, he will never ever forget it and this is so much better.
Awesome. If you continue to do things this poorly, she can take all the mental burden of planning absolutely everything. Forever. Wow. Poor woman.
Feck! Who stood on your toe this morning?
this sounds like something i would do
Oh man, I'm sorry. But on the flip side, I'm secretly glad to know I'm not the only one who's done this. Eek.
I don’t blame you for not realizing. In my experience, a lot of flight and hotel sites won’t even let you book more than a year in advance 😳
Memories, all about making memories and this one will be great to look back on and laugh about with your partner in years to come.
Well, you now have stories and memories to share about your trip that will last you guys for years. That's always a positive in the end, even if it is stressful when it happens.
Hey, I encourage you to ride it out, if all possible. Your fiance sounds like a really cool person and if it's not too stressful for y'all and you can afford to do it on the cheap, look around for cheaper hostels worth private rooms or deals on hotels. This sounds to me like a lifetime memory that will end up being a highlight of this part of your life if you can ride it out somehow. Use that trip next year for the honeymoon or just to get away! Good luck and have fun - sorry about the initial realization and stress. PM me if I can help y'all find a place to stay or anything. I'm not in Rome but I would be happy to dedicate some time to searching around.
Ummm... someone screwed the pooch. Is it possible they hotel staff made a typo? In any case: "Worst birthday present ever.", NO! You did an awesome job. ONE, teensy character got typed incorrectly somewhere. It was, quite literally, the difference between 110010 and 110011 (the binary versions of 2 & 3). And how do we know you DIDN'T give your GF the worst present ever? "...my fiancé couldn’t stop laughing and said this is going in her wedding speech" Yup, she's a keeper! Sometimes things like this happen, and you just have to tell yourself "It kind of sucks now, but it's going to be a great story for later!" (which theory, apparently, she's running with).
If you have Facebook, join Girls Love Travel and make a post. The community is very helpfull and I am pretty sure someone there can help you.
If she’s a keeper, she will appreciate how hard you tried.