Before you book with European Destinations or Solar Tours, be sure to read and decide for yourself!
We booked an 8 day European Destinations vacation costing $4,310 for 2 people, after talking to the staff by phone twice. European Destinations promised excellent customer service, and 24 hour service should we have any problems. For us, these claims were complete lies.
We arrived at the Hotel Milani in Rome Saturday May 9 at about 2pm. There was an older man at the reception desk who was outwardly rude and put out by our arrival – his answers were short, he was very dismissive and barely looked up at us. The general appearance of the hotel was not to the standard of the Hotel Monterosa in Paris nor the Gardena in Venice, the two other hotels in the package.
When we entered our hotel room, we noticed it was very hot and attempted to turn on the air conditioning and noticed after 15 minutes, it was still putting out hot air. There was also no wi-fi in the room as stipulated on the European Destinations website. We called the front desk and they sent up a bellman who was unable to make the air conditioning work; next they sent a wi-fi technician (a janitor) who worked with us for 45 minutes only to discover what they already knew – that NONE of the floors had wi-fi, for months.
It was a sweltering 86 degrees in Rome and our room was baking hot. We spoke with a hotel manager Guiseppe Pino for another 45 minutes to no avail. To actually get the names of hotel personnel was nearly impossible. The manager refused to tell us his name! Only the Bellman revealed some names to us for a tip. No one at the hotel wanted to take responsibility for the problems. Guiseppe Pino told us if we wanted air conditioning and wi-fi in our room, we would need to go to another hotel. After wasting two hours, Guiseppe offered to move us to another hotel across the street; he was very surprised that we took him up on the offer!
Guiseppe reluctantly took us to the hotel across the street, the Hotel Giorgi – the room was nice but again no one could make the air conditioner work. The gentleman on reception kept telling us it was on, but we could feel nothing and the room continued to get hotter.
At 3pm we began calling European Destinations regarding these problems; the first person we spoke to was Alan Operator 330 and he told us none of the hotels have air conditioning in Rome in May – we discovered later that this was totally false. He tried several times to blow us off and make us accept our $60 a night 2 star dump hotel, with no A/C and no Wifi. After spending $4,310 for 2 people on an 8 night European trip, we were greatly displeased with European Destinations placing us in such a cheap and shoddy hotel. Then, European Destinations refused to help us secure a hotel with the services that were promised and paid for. Also, we discovered that all guests were provided with breakfast included, BUT NOT GUESTS from European Destinations. European Destinations is so cheap, they negotiated out the free breakfast!
During the course of the evening, we wasted a total of 3 hours, we spoke to Lizeth at "customer service" of European Destinations Solar Tours who promised to call us back in 15 minutes with some kind of solution. We heard nothing for 30 minutes, so we went into town with our cell phone, and returned several hours later, it was very hot in the room, no air conditioning, no wifi, and still with no call from European Destinations.
After no resolve to this issue nor phone call, at 10pm that night, completely at our wits’ end we moved to the Astoria Gardens Hotel which was a 3 star hotel, the standard of hotel European Destinations should offer for a $4,310 vacation package. We paid $120 per night (x3) out of our own pocket. We were totally exhausted, we had wasted hours and hours of our precious time in Rome and very disappointed with European Destinations.
Finally, after 3+ hours of waiting, we received a call from European Destinations. They told us they could not move us that night, as all rooms were filled in all the nearby hotels. This WAS A COMPLETELY FALSE STATEMENT by European Destinations, (read LIE) as every hotel we tried in finding Astoria Gardens Hotel, had extra rooms. The agent at European Destinations became aware we knew of their fraud against us. They never offered to reimburse our $350 hotel expense nor provide us payment for lost time in Rome.
We believe that the "Customer Service" policy of European Destinations Solar Tours is this:
1. Deny. Deny there is a problem.
2. Deflect. Blame the hotel. They offered this hotel as the primary choice in the package!
3. Defraud. Refuse to help, lie, refuse compensation.
The Saga Continues: On Monday May 18, 2015 from back home, we called European Destinations “Customer Support” and were routed to the Philippines - yes, no one in America to take our concerns to. Over 70 minutes on the phone and nothing was done at all. I sent this lengthy letter to at least 5 email addresses at European Destinations and nothing. After many hours of calling and emailing, I received an email from Danielle Deorio in Sarasota Florida. She REFUSED to take my calls (her phone is 941-706-3035 and email is [email protected]). She made us an email “offer” to give us less than our hotel costs, and we declined. Danielle Deorio is the “Manager” of European Tours. She is a poor manager, refusing my phone calls. She took zero responsibility for the lies told us by 2 European Destinations agents while we were in Rome.
We believe good customer service does not exist at European Destinations or Solar Tours, at least not for us. We hope you choose more wisely than we did.
European Vacations Reviews
Before you book with European Destinations or Solar Tours, be sure to read and decide for yourself!
We booked an 8 day European Destinations vacation costing $4,310 for 2 people, after talking to the staff by phone twice. European Destinations promised excellent customer service, and 24 hour service should we have any problems. For us, these claims were complete lies.
We arrived at the Hotel Milani in Rome Saturday May 9 at about 2pm. There was an older man at the reception desk who was outwardly rude and put out by our arrival – his answers were short, he was very dismissive and barely looked up at us. The general appearance of the hotel was not to the standard of the Hotel Monterosa in Paris nor the Gardena in Venice, the two other hotels in the package.
When we entered our hotel room, we noticed it was very hot and attempted to turn on the air conditioning and noticed after 15 minutes, it was still putting out hot air. There was also no wi-fi in the room as stipulated on the European Destinations website. We called the front desk and they sent up a bellman who was unable to make the air conditioning work; next they sent a wi-fi technician (a janitor) who worked with us for 45 minutes only to discover what they already knew – that NONE of the floors had wi-fi, for months.
It was a sweltering 86 degrees in Rome and our room was baking hot. We spoke with a hotel manager Guiseppe Pino for another 45 minutes to no avail. To actually get the names of hotel personnel was nearly impossible. The manager refused to tell us his name! Only the Bellman revealed some names to us for a tip. No one at the hotel wanted to take responsibility for the problems. Guiseppe Pino told us if we wanted air conditioning and wi-fi in our room, we would need to go to another hotel. After wasting two hours, Guiseppe offered to move us to another hotel across the street; he was very surprised that we took him up on the offer!
Guiseppe reluctantly took us to the hotel across the street, the Hotel Giorgi – the room was nice but again no one could make the air conditioner work. The gentleman on reception kept telling us it was on, but we could feel nothing and the room continued to get hotter.
At 3pm we began calling European Destinations regarding these problems; the first person we spoke to was Alan Operator 330 and he told us none of the hotels have air conditioning in Rome in May – we discovered later that this was totally false. He tried several times to blow us off and make us accept our $60 a night 2 star dump hotel, with no A/C and no Wifi. After spending $4,310 for 2 people on an 8 night European trip, we were greatly displeased with European Destinations placing us in such a cheap and shoddy hotel. Then, European Destinations refused to help us secure a hotel with the services that were promised and paid for. Also, we discovered that all guests were provided with breakfast included, BUT NOT GUESTS from European Destinations. European Destinations is so cheap, they negotiated out the free breakfast!
During the course of the evening, we wasted a total of 3 hours, we spoke to Lizeth at "customer service" of European Destinations Solar Tours who promised to call us back in 15 minutes with some kind of solution. We heard nothing for 30 minutes, so we went into town with our cell phone, and returned several hours later, it was very hot in the room, no air conditioning, no wifi, and still with no call from European Destinations.
After no resolve to this issue nor phone call, at 10pm that night, completely at our wits’ end we moved to the Astoria Gardens Hotel which was a 3 star hotel, the standard of hotel European Destinations should offer for a $4,310 vacation package. We paid $120 per night (x3) out of our own pocket. We were totally exhausted, we had wasted hours and hours of our precious time in Rome and very disappointed with European Destinations.
Finally, after 3+ hours of waiting, we received a call from European Destinations. They told us they could not move us that night, as all rooms were filled in all the nearby hotels. This WAS A COMPLETELY FALSE STATEMENT by European Destinations, (read LIE) as every hotel we tried in finding Astoria Gardens Hotel, had extra rooms. The agent at European Destinations became aware we knew of their fraud against us. They never offered to reimburse our $350 hotel expense nor provide us payment for lost time in Rome.
We believe that the "Customer Service" policy of European Destinations Solar Tours is this:
1. Deny. Deny there is a problem.
2. Deflect. Blame the hotel. They offered this hotel as the primary choice in the package!
3. Defraud. Refuse to help, lie, refuse compensation.
The Saga Continues: On Monday May 18, 2015 from back home, we called European Destinations “Customer Support” and were routed to the Philippines - yes, no one in America to take our concerns to. Over 70 minutes on the phone and nothing was done at all. I sent this lengthy letter to at least 5 email addresses at European Destinations and nothing. After many hours of calling and emailing, I received an email from Danielle Deorio in Sarasota Florida. She REFUSED to take my calls (her phone is 941-706-3035 and email is [email protected]). She made us an email “offer” to give us less than our hotel costs, and we declined. Danielle Deorio is the “Manager” of European Tours. She is a poor manager, refusing my phone calls. She took zero responsibility for the lies told us by 2 European Destinations agents while we were in Rome.
We believe good customer service does not exist at European Destinations or Solar Tours, at least not for us. We hope you choose more wisely than we did.