Should have taken more notice of the poorer reviews on trip advisor ...

November 25, 2006 2:44 AM

I want to make a complaint about a hotel in Venice. Is there such a thing as a government tourist agency, either in Italy or specific to Venice, which inspects hotels and which it would be worth copying in?

I'm planning to complain by writing to the hotel, but I'd like also to contact any relevant agency which has responsibility for hotel standards, or a local business standards association. Can anyone point me to something like this? Any general resources about complaining about hotels would also be useful.

posted by paduasoy to travel & transportation (10 comments total)

ENIT - national tourism board.

ENIT's list of Venice tourism offices

APT Venezia - Offical Tourism board of Venice
posted by romakimmy at 3:26 AM on November 25, 2006

submit a complaint also on tripadvisor, which can warn potential, future guests.
posted by naxosaxur at 3:50 AM on November 25, 2006

Seconding the idea of Tripadvisor. Your negative review there will probably have a far greater effect than any official complaint. It's also worth comparing your experience with any existing reviews for the hotel on that site.
posted by fire&wings at 4:50 AM on November 25, 2006

Oops, just noticed your title there....
posted by fire&wings at 4:50 AM on November 25, 2006

Depends on your complaint. If it has to do with public health issues (e.g. cleanliness), that's probably the one government agency that might take some serious action (though I have no idea what the agency is in Italy nor how effective it is)
posted by winston at 6:39 AM on November 25, 2006

What happened? I find the MeFi community far more responsive to a cry for help that includes a horror-story.
posted by shanevsevil at 11:14 AM on November 25, 2006

My parents are going to Venice next year - would love to be able to make sure they avoid this hotel, if you tell us the name (or I'd appreciate an email, if you don't want to do it publicly).
posted by Dasein at 1:22 PM on November 25, 2006

My roommate is actually in the process of booking a hotel in Venice, and the name of this horror hotel would be very welcome.
posted by wolfsleepy at 6:43 PM on November 25, 2006

Thanks for all the help. I'm not sure that what I was looking for exists - I was after an organisation that registers hotels, and can therefore take their registration away. In any case, I'll copy in the organisations romakimmy suggests - thanks.

Dasein, I've emailed you the details - haven't had a response, so hope it got through. wolfsleepy, you don't have an email in your profile, so I haven't been able to email you - but there are plenty of negative reviews of the place on rtipadvisor, just also enough positive ones that I decided to take a chance.
posted by paduasoy at 1:49 PM on December 4, 2006

[That's tripadvisor, of course.]
posted by paduasoy at 1:52 PM on December 4, 2006