r/RomeTourism

What it says in the title. I took a taxi down to FCO from inside the city walls, and my hotel helped make the reservation. I was charged 65 euros. I did notice the signs plastered everywhere saying it was 55, so I asked, and was told the extra 10 was for the reservation. I didn't want to kick up a stink so I went with it.

Not going to lose sleep over 10 euros one way or another, but I just want to know if it was a scam or not.

Thanks for the help.

How is Trastevere viewed by Romans? Is it an upper class neighborhood where lots of people desire to live? Or more for young people, or tourists? So many Trastevere restaurants are recommended, so I wanted to get a sense of the authentic vibe of the neighborhood. Grazie!

I booked a hotel for four nights in Rome near the Vatican on Booking.com. I decided to take the risk as I have used Booking.com in the Uk and was able to get a refund through customer service when things didn’t work out. When I arrived to the property in Rome the room was not in good shape. The sheets hadn’t been changed/dirty and had hair. The toilet was disgusting and the seat wasn’t even attached. Biggest problem was that there was no hot water. I immediately contacted the hotel and they said they would send someone to fix it the next day. Someone came just made the bed, didn’t change the sheets and the water was still cold. I tried to contact them again but the hotel has ghosted me. I have tried to contact at booking.com but that didn’t work either. Today the hotel owner contacted me on WhatsApp telling me to drop the keys in the mailbox plus the city tax of 6 euros per person per night. That is quite a lot of money. As I have given up on getting a refund back from booking.com, could I just not pay the city tax and leave? What would realistically happen if I don’t pay it? I have already paid for the full stay on booking.com.

We stayed at a 4* hotel in Rome last night and left two travel bags with reception after checking out around 11am.
We picked them up around 2pm and went straight to Fiumicino.

The bags stayed with us the entire time, including as cabin baggage on the flight to home.

Once home, we realized a small handbag was missing from inside one of the main bags. We’re 100% sure it was packed before checkout. We also noticed some cosmetics/jewellery pouches inside the luggage had been left half open.

We’ve asked the hotel to preserve CCTV footage and we’re filing a police report.

Has anyone experienced something similar at this hotel, or with hotel luggage storage in Rome? Any advice on getting the police to request the CCTV footage from abroad?

He robs a young tourist and causes her to fall: immediate intervention by the Polizia Roma Capitale

A 57-year-old man arrested

There were moments of fear yesterday afternoon in Piazza Vittorio where a 20-year-old Canadian tourist was robbed of her cell phone.

Two men approached the girl, and one of them snatched the phone from her pocket. When she tried to fight back, he grabbed her, knocking her to the ground, and then walked away.

Our officers from the SPE (Public and Emergency Security) Unit intervened immediately. The patrol, passing through the area, was called by the young woman's family: the officers immediately took care of her, checking her condition and reassuring her. The girl, who had suffered some scratches, chose not to seek medical attention.

Meanwhile, the search has begun. Thanks to the information gathered, officers were able to quickly track down and arrest one of the perpetrators, a 57-year-old Romanian man with a criminal record. He was later recognized by the victim and arrested.

Investigative efforts are continuing to identify the second individual involved.

Source: Polizia Roma Capitale
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1351200037123738&set=a.417391197171298&locale=it_IT

Took a taxi from the train station to the hotel. When we got off the taxi, we went to the back to take the luggage out. We have 3 luggages in total, and we took two out ourselves. The driver took out the last one.

When all of them were out, he pointed to a chipped spot on his car, claimed that we had chipped his car and demanded 20 euros. He started to get really heated, so we decided to just give him 15 and leave. However, I’m almost 100% sure that we did not chip his car.

Is this a common scam in Rome?

OK, here are my pro-tips. Pickpockets sounds too lighthearted. These are professional gangs of THIEVES who are preying on unsuspecting people. Also this is on the heels of a bit of a rage, because I have lived in Rome for many years, and have been pickpocked 3 times. I have been too generous with my understanding of vulnerable survival migrant populations. These are not people at-deaths-door, they make a living doing this, they are professionals, and treat it like a sport. The police are unable to keep up with this, and I have seen citizen-justice videos on social media, because there's just no official way around it. In any case, I really hate the pickpockets and think they need to be stopped.

1. Distraction: this is the number one set-up, but distraction can take different forms. Distraction can be crowding around a subway or bus door pretending they are oblivious and don't notice you. While you push your way politely through, one of them will do the grab, while the others crowd around them to hide the view, and further slow you down in your attempt to exit. Hold all your belongings tightly near your chest. Don't hold your bag down by your side or behind you. One of them will get into it at low-angles or side-angles. Sometimes they work in places where they know you will be distracted by a fountain, a monument, a photo op, a busker, a concert, a sports event, a sports bar with screens, any place where your attention is drawn to something else. They take advantage of your focused attention, and then get away before you know who did the grab, and where they went.

2. The Getaway: they either slide into the anonymity of the crowd, or their escape route is part of the set-up.

• In a crowd, they will subtly surround you to protect their activites from view of others. One does the grab, then hands off to another, they disperse, and meet up at another pre-defined location.
• On transit: they do the grab just as you're exiting, so that when you step off, the doors close, the bus/train/metro departs with them on it, and you're left standing on the platform wondering what happened and what to do next. Or they will create a crowd you inside the vehicle, jostle around like the train momentum is causing them to lose their balance, and they bump into you, one wil apologise or engage you while another is grabbing your things. This is timed precisely so that they do the grab right at the moment that it arrives at the next stop and they all get off and disperse. You're left on the train, and as it gets moving you realised something is missing, and you can't get off the train until the next stop, and by then they are long-gone.

3. What They Do: They hand off the stolen bag/items to another teammate/accomplice. They then continue on their way and hide in plain sight and play ignorant if you ask them. They goods will be disassembled and tested for functionality. Is your phone locked, do your cards work, is there something they can sell on the blackmarket like sunglasses, wallets, keychains, jewelry, tickets. Do you have anything listing your address where your keys might work - an apartment, airbnb, hotel room, a rental car? Let this inform you about what information you should and should not keep in your bag or whatever. They will be testing the cards on low-cost items, either a tap payment on another bus or metro station, or they'll go to a small shop and try to buy something cheap, like a pack of smokes or candy or a bus ticket. Something less than €10 just to test if its still working. Then they will try bigger purchases online or at a shop.

4. What You Should Do Immediately:

• Freeze your bank cards. If you still have your phone, log into your mobile banking apps and freeze or cancel all your cards immediately. If not, get to a computer to log in an cancel/freeze your cards. If you can, call your bank or card providers and explain what happened. My bank security office actually called me because they noticed unusual activity on my credit card (the thieves were trying to do online purchases in another country).
• Lock your Phone: if they got your phone, get to a computer, log in so that you can track and lock your phone remotely.
• Ask for Help: Don't be afraid or embarassed to ask for help. Most tourists and locals will help you if you are in trouble. I have had taxi drivers give me free or discounted rides and a coffee and a hug. I have had a bar manager offer to review the security videos. A neighbour who opened the gates for me. A colleague who gave me €200 cash when i had access to nothing.
• Police Report: Go to the closest Carabinieri office to get a police report filled out and printed in hard-copy. This is not a fast process, it is not always first-come/first-served. Filling out yet another robbery is not exciting police work, bYou will need this for getting a new passport issued, making flight changes, and/or insurance claims. It can also get you a hotel room at a discounted rate if your keys were stolen and you
• Security Flags: Call your hotel, landlord, bnb host, to make a security flag that you've been robbed, and whether or not the address was compromised. You'll need new keys, or that the thieves may have access to your place.
• Consular Services: Bring your Carabinieri police report and 2 passport photos with you. These offices are not open 24 hours, so you might need to wait until the next morning to get the ball rolling on a new/temporary passport issue. This is also a slow process, but explain what happened to you, and your context. You will probably need to pay for things in the meantime. Ask to borrow money or for a friend to help you pay for online services.
• Flight Changes: If you lost your ID and payment cards, this is very difficult to do. You can log in and depending on your tickets, you might be able to rebook or cancel your flights. These often come with conditions and costs. You may need to show the police report, you might have to enter new personal details if you got a new passport issued. You might need to pay for changes or a new flight. If you can't do it online, then try the customer support lines.

5. Shore up your Patience: Yes, you're in a crisis and a very stressful moment, but raising your voice, having an emotional breakdown, or shutting down and becoming defeated, will not help your case move forward. Kindness goes a long way in Italy. I have had Carabinieri officer personally help me by translating documents (they don't have to do this), a consular staff cut her lunch short to make some calls to verify my references, and call in some favours from my home country's passport office. A taxi driver turn the ride meter off when I told him my story, he even gave me a few coins so I could go get a coffee. Kindness goes around.

My boyfriend and I were exploring the Giardini de Villa Borghese last week where we stopped for a cup of coffee within the park.

We chatted with a man who seemed like the Owner or Boss. He was interesting and was making some small talk, relating to places we’ve both gone within the States.

He then started talking about how he provides tours for celebrities and the super wealthy. He mentioned he can get private Vatican Tours at night, but they cost “10 thousand US dollars”. (Not sure if he was trying to sell us this as it’s is very obviously out of our budget, or if he was just trying to show off).

He then pulled out his phone and said “Yeah my sister lives in California and sent me this clip the other day, I had no idea it was happening”.

It was a clip of a familiar actor (looked like Luke from Modern Family) being interviewed on the Steven Colbert show. The actor said “Yeah! We were going around Rome last week and there’s this guy, <NAME>,** **he will take you on late night tours around the city. This man works with Scorsese. He’s awesome!”

I sort of zoned out the rest of the video as I was highly skeptical it was AI.

Has anyone else seen this tactic? Is this a new way for people to gain credibility?

tl;dr: Restaurant owner showed us a clip on his phone of Stephen Colbert interviewing an actor who name dropped him and highly rating his tours. Video also claimed Scorcese was one of his customers.