Our commitment is to excellence, and we have certain systems, methodologies and a code of conduct we adhere to so as to maximize guest enjoyment and operational efficiency. Please take a moment to review this document.

If you are not in agreement with these terms, please write ciao@italianfix.com within two weeks of receipt of your registration confirmation and we’ll promptly refund any fees paid to Italian Fix. Italy travel is not for everyone, and Italian Fix is not the right company for everyone. By carefully reading each paragraph of this document you’ll be able to discern if this is the right trip for you.

Tour Participation — Conduct

Guide Roles: On your tour, the guides will be managing several different guest personalities, dietary preferences, life experiences, sleep patterns, and natural rhythms. Their work is to facilitate travel logistics, to ensure your comfort, and to be a cultural reference point, and they are responsible for coordinating included meals, transport, activities and day trips, all in an artful and professional manner.

Service Providers: While traveling with guides is a great plus for any visitor to Italy, it is important to remember that they do not have control over other service providers. We have developed great relationships with our providers over the years, and our guides are professional and experienced in navigating the travel ins-and-outs of Italy, but it is important to remember that “Italy stuff” and “travel stuff” can still happen, and is par for the course when visiting this part of the world. Restaurants can be slow, trains can be cramped, air conditioners can be broken, unexpected traffic can cause schedule delays, kids can be noisy outside your door. Bring along earplugs if you’re a light sleeper, and remember that patience and a go-with-the-flow attitude can be the best way to make sure your trip to Italy is a successful one.

Group Activities: All group activities are included in the price of the tour, but they are all optional, so you are welcome to skip individual activities or entire days if you like. If your body is telling you that you’re tired, or if you’re not feeling up to something, please feel free to take some downtime.

Transportation: Ground transportation within the daily schedule is included. We will travel in private vehicles and on public transportation. You may experience discomfort because of motion sickness, congested public transport, and heat. If you are prone to motion sickness, please place yourself at the front of any cars and buses, and inform your guides so that they can help to make things more comfortable for you. If you need motion sickness medication, it is available at Italian pharmacies.

Amenities and Hotels: Beds in Italy, pillows in Italy, room sizes in Italy — these are all things we wish we had control over, but unfortunately our reach is limited to what is actually available. Our guides will do everything in their capacity to make sure you’re comfortable, but only so much can reasonably be done in any one hotel. Because we strive to provide our guests with the most characteristic and unique accommodations available, our hotels tend to be smaller establishments — they are not chain hotels where everything is uniform. As such, size and style can vary greatly from room to room in any one establishment. In some destinations on some tours, guests may be divided amongst two or three different hotels. We do our best to be fair to all of our guests, and to make sure that everything balances out, but please expect there to be differences between your room/hotel and your fellow guests’ rooms or hotel — it is simply impossible in the destinations we stay at in Italy for everyone to get exactly the same thing.

Class of Tour and Hotels: Hotel classes in Italy are not what you may be used to in your home country. Italy works on a 1-5 star system, and this denotes the amenities available to you. Our hotels are generally located in older, historic buildings that don’t allow for expansion, so their rooms may seem small. Chain hotels in newer buildings away from historic centers are able to offer larger rooms, but we deliberately avoid sourcing accommodations like these because they are not compatible with the Italian Fix aesthetic and experience we aim to provide for our guests. You have booked an excursion with a mid-range tour operator. We are not luxury, nor are we a budget travel company. You will not find any 5-star properties on Italian Fix tours. Hotels on our tours are 3 and 4 stars and they are chosen to balance value with service and location. If 24-hour reception, room service and porters are requirements for your travels, please decline your booking with us.

Dinner table conversation: Politics in our current world climate can be hot dinner conversation, but they can also be a highly divisive subject. Should you choose to chat about politics or any other controversial topic, please remember that others might not share your viewpoint, and that all views are to be discussed in the spirit of openness to others’ opinions and beliefs. We all want to feel welcome at the dinner table.

Punctuality: Please try and be punctual for meeting times set for the group by the guides. If you are running late, please notify your guides via the WhatsApp Group Chat (details about downloading WhatsApp to your phone or device to be emailed prior to the trip).

Issues on Tour: If an issue arises for you during the tour, please alert the guides directly. They are there to listen to you, to do what they can to attend to the issue at hand, and to solve it to the best of their abilities.

We request that should an issue arise for you on tour, you have a private conversation with one of your guides. This etiquette is in place to protect the other guests, who might not be having the same experience as you. Over the years, we have learned that when one guest openly voices a dislike, it puts the other guests into problem-solving mode on that guest’s behalf. Guides are the ones tasked to solve problems, not other clients, and so we ask for the benefit of all clients on the trip to kindly keep this in mind, and to make issues known to the guides on the trip so that they can resolve them.

All Italian Fix Tours are Physically Active: This is an essential part of the Italian Fix tour experience. We may be walking more than what you are accustomed to, on a daily basis, and the Italian terrain we visit is often steep, uneven and without elevators. All participants must be capable of fully and happily participating — without any assistance — in the following levels of activity:
 

• Carry or roll your own luggage for up to ten minutes on uneven surfaces, and carry it up as many as three flights of stairs.
• Be comfortable on your feet for up to four hours walking and standing, both inside and outdoors in all weather conditions, such as sun and rain.
• Sleep with no (or inadequate) air conditioning, and with church bell or village noise.
• Be able to walk up very steep stairs daily (sometimes stairs stretch for 300 or more yards).

1. Once you have paid your $795 deposit and have been placed on the trip of your choice, you have two weeks (14 days) to cancel your booking and receive a full refund
2. After this two-week grace period has passed, the $795 deposit becomes non-refundable.
3. The remaining balance for your tour is due in two installments: 30% is due 120 days before the start of your tour, and 70% is due 60 days before the start of your tour (you will be sent a payment form 14 days prior to each of these due dates).
4. Once each of these installments for your tour has been paid, all monies are non-refundable, but you can switch to another tour in our 2023 season up to 60 days before your tour start date at no additional charge (subject to availability).

1. A $795 deposit is collected when you request a spot on a tour. This deposit is fully refundable for two weeks (14 days) once you have been placed on the tour of your choice. After this two-week grace period, the deposit becomes non-refundable.
   
2. The remaining balance for your tour is due in two installments: 30% is due 120 days before the start of your tour, and 70% is due 60 days before the start of your tour (you will be sent a payment form 14 days prior to each of these due dates).
   
3. Once each of these installments for your tour has been paid, all monies are non-refundable, but you can switch to another tour in our 2023 season up to 60 days before your tour start date at no additional charge (subject to availability).
   
4. Our system is automated, and all invoices are emailed to you when a payment is processed. If we cannot process a payment, we’ll notify you. Please review your invoice upon receipt and contact ciao@italianfix.com if you have questions.