B&B alle porte del Vaticano

Expectation vs Stark Reality

B&B Alle Porte del Vaticano

Menginap di Negara maju di Benua Eropa biasanya cukup nyaman, dengan standard yang cukup baik dan pelayanan yang ok, normalnya tidak perlu khawatir mendapat kejutan yang tidak menyenangkan.
Tapi kali ini ada pengalaman yang cukup berbeda di Italia.

Kita dijanjikan mendapat kamar dengan teras dan luasnya 16m2 dan ada terasnya, yang didapat kamar kecil tanpa teras.

Harga yang disepakati pun tidak ditepati, kita ditagih lebih mahal 31 Euro dari apa yang pertama dijanjikan.

A stay in European lodging is usually a pleasant experience, but sometimes, the harsh reality sets in upon checking in.

We got our hopes high, seeing the good images on Tripadvisor and Agoda of the rooms.

We were promised a room with terrace, with a 16m2 room area, but got a small room without terrace instead.

The price quoted for us was also wasn't being kept, we were charged 31 Euro more than what was agreed.

Expectation - Room with terace (Agoda.com)

Reality - The Room

Reality - No terace here

The room were quite different from what we saw in the Agoda / Tripadvisor sites, it's a bit small, no terrace such as what we were promised in the message.
To add to our disappointment, the price quoted were not the same as the credit card bill I received.
This is the screen shot of the conversation regarding the booking

Expectation - 85 Euro

Reality - 116 Euro bill

B&B Alle Porte del Vaticano

Walaupun mendapat pengalaman yang kurang mengenakkan, ada satu hal yang patut diapresiasi.
Rombongan kami sampai di penginapan sekitar 09.20 pagi, sebelum waktu untuk check in.
Awalnya kami sempat kebingungan karena penjaga pintu di 80 Gregorio Street (alamat B&B) tidak mengetahui harus bagaimana. Setelah menelepon selama 15 menit, akhirnya kami dipersilakan untuk ke gedung lain, dan dipersilakan untuk langsung memakai kamar tanpa menunggu waktu check in yang biasanya siang.

There are good things about the service though, we were expecting just to leave our luggage in the morning and then just stroll around the city until it's check in time.

After a bit of confusion, when we arrived in their address 80 Gregorio Street the doorman wasn't sure what to do, and he takes several phone calls. After about 15 minutes, we were taken to another building nearby, and there was an available room for us. This was early, 09.20 in the morning.

Bathroom - Agoda Photo

Kamar mandinya tidak banyak beda dengan apa yang digambarkan di Agoda dan Tripadvisor. Memang ada beda detail dan keindahan, tapi kelengkapannya sama.

 There's not much to say about the bathroom, yes it's a bit different in terms of small details, but everything was there, so no complaint here.

Bathroom - Our Room

Bathroom - Our Room

The Other Room (With Terrace)

The Other Room

Kita mendapat kesempatan untuk melihat kamar lain. Penjaga penginapan yang ramah mempersilahkan kami untuk melihat kamar sambil mengambil foto di balkonnya yang ada pemandangan kubah Vatikan.

Kamar yang ini lebih besar, nyaman dan ranjangnya pun lega. Ditambah dengan adanya balkon / teras tentunya menambah kepuasan.
Kita tidak menginap di kamar ini, hanya memfoto, andai kamar ini yang diberikan, tentunya lebih cocok dengan deskripsi dan foto di situs booking.

We got a chance to take a peek at another room. The nice old lady that runs the place offered us to take photo of the balcony, overlooking Vatican dome.

Here the room were much nicer, with bigger area, bigger beds and a terrace / balcony which is really nice.

We only took a few shots and didn't spend any nights here, for me this room would better match the description and the photos in their booking sites.

The Other Room

Breakfast

Breakfast Area - Agoda Photo

Breakfast at Alle Porte Del Vaticano - Agoda Photo

Breakfast Area - Alle Porte Del Vaticano - Guest photo

Tempat makan paginya cukup nyaman, memang berbeda dengan yang difoto, tapi bedanya tidak sekontras kamarnya.

Beberapa review mengeluhkan pilihan sarapan yang disediakan, kalau untuk saya pribadi sih cukup memuaskan. Pilihannya memang tidak banyak, tapi pelayanannya baik, cukup perhatian ketika ada yang habis dan citarasanya pun cukup ok.

The communal room slash breakfast room was quite nice, the differences weren't as stark as the room in the first section of this post.

Some people complain about the breakfast selection in Tripadvisor, for me it's quite adequate, there's a decentt selection and everything was ok.

Breakfast - Alle Porte Del Vaticano 

Breakfast - Alle Porte Del Vaticano 

Breakfast - Alle Porte Del Vaticano 

Untuk penutup, pengalaman menginap kami tidak sebaik yang diharapkan. Kamarnya berbeda jika dibandingkan foto di Agoda, juga berbeda dengan deskripsi yang diberikan manajemen saat saya booking.

Kita sudah berkirim 2 pesan, melalui FB dan Gmail, tapi tidak ada tanggapan hingga saat ini.

Jadi akhirnya kita mendapat kamar tanpa teras, berbeda dengan yang dijanjikan, dan biayanya pun secara misterius membengkak dari yang ditawarkan 85 Euro menjadi 116 Euro.

So for conclusion, our stay weren't what we had hoped for, the room were quite different from what the management promised us, you can also judge by yourself for the photos above that there's quite a vast difference between what's in the Agoda / Tripadvisor gallery and where we ended up staying.

We did send two messages, one from FB and the other from Gmail, but both hadn't been replied yet at the moment of writing.

In the end, we got a room without terrace, after promised there's a terrace, the cost also mysteriously ballooned from 85 Euros to 116 Euros.

Alle Porte del Vaticano