Travel in Italy Post Covid
An update on Italian Travel today:
between "Global Warming and Fully Booked"
I have just completed two weeks touring much of Northern Italy ending on Monte Argentario , at A Leading Hotels five star property, named il Pellicano. If you have not heard of it yet, it is worthy of your bucket list.
Dramatic coastline, Exceptional service in a renown and beautiful setting.
I have traveled during these past 14 days from Venezia, Lago d'GArda, Verona, Massimo Bottura's Casa Maria Luigina in Modena, to Versilia, then Firenze, to an Alder spa in bucolic Bagno Vignoni to this Maremma coastline.
It was clear that all hotels, and affiliated vendors, have been operating with “all cylinders”. Every hotel I stayed in was " Fully Booked" .
Staff was often shorthanded, and were diligently working on satisfying present guests and confirming future requests.
Requests for custom vacations arrive daily to us and to Italy, and from a travel planner perspective, hotel inventory is low. In certain room categories and destinations namely Costera Amalfitana and Capri, Lago d ‘Como many area already booked until October. Delux categories are the first choice room category for many travelers and are more reasonable then the pricier suites which in a five star property often start around Eu 2200 a night.
In short prices are high,and inventory low.
We, at The Italian Concierge are unable to satisfy all requests, especially those requesting travel under 2 months. It is not “impossible” to find “something” but certain requests such as multiple rooms, consecutive dates of three, four, five nights, are difficult to find unless one has flexibility in budget, dates or location. Our philosophy is not to just Find Something. We want our clients to be exceptional pleased with their entire vacation and working last minute does not allow us to fulfill our At The Italian Concierge , we are planning primarily for fall and for 2023 where there is inventory to reserve.
During my travels it was apparent that it was both Europeans and Americans who were travelling, and there is a noticeable lack of visitors from Russia, China, Japan this year.
Those of us in tourism are very pleased to see the return of travel stronger than it was in 2019, however, with high demand, comes frustration in being able to find availability .
We hope that you will all consider planning further into the future when possible so we can help you obtain your first choice location without dissappointment . IN Addition, Last minute changes for drivers, meals, dates, or rooms is very challenging to us all in this situation when we are all working at maximum capacity.
Temperatures were high for the entire stay between 90 -100 which does not work well with " Fully Booked" properties. A witnessed a terribly vocal outrage by an ( unfortunately ) American man who was appalled that the two golf carts whihc he requested for a lift, were already engaged servicing other clients, forcing him to walk up the 25 steps from the pool. " Unacceptable" unacceptable" rings in my head and the staff standing by bewildered how to appease his anger.
Abbia pazienza while trying to live a La Dolce Vita.
Joyce