Italian Tour Operator Amandatour Strands Customers, But Travel Advisors Save the Day

Becky Lukovic’s long weekend began last Friday with an urgent message from Travel Experts cautioning against using Amandatour, a 30-year-old luxury tour operator based in Florence. Unfortunately, Lukovic had four FITs—each with three or four hotels, tours and transfers—booked through the company. Worse still, one was for Monday, for a new client, an older couple on their way to a 10-day tour of Italy.

“I know these things escalate very quickly, so I reached out to my rep immediately,” Lukovic said. When hours passed with no reply, she took action. “It wasn’t a situation where I could just cancel and rebook. I had clients booked in Positano in September, which has been sold out for months.” But of course, it’s all about knowing the right people. She called her friend Jonathan Epstein at Celebrated Experiences, who called his friends at the hotels and got everyone rebooked at the original rates.

Next came the worst part for Lukovic: calling the clients. “Basically they were sitting in the airport when I told them what was happening, and that they would have to pay for everything again. I said best case they will receive a refund from Amandatour; if not they can dispute the charge on their credit card and I will provide whatever documentation they need. Then I followed up with an email recapping everything point by point. I said I’ll personally guarantee any other charges not covered by the credit card. I know I am stressing about this—but they are stressing about it times 10, so I wanted to put their mind at ease, to say there is a plan in place, to make sure they know exactly what I am doing for them.

“If my clients knew all the stuff I go through on their behalf, all the little blips I smooth over, they’d be amazed. But usually I don’t want them to even know about it.”

Lukovic figures she has spent about 10 hours so far and will likely spend another 10 before it is all settled, all through no fault of her own. She has often used Amandatour—including for her own trip to Italy just two weeks ago.

For the client, it’s a great lesson in the value of a travel advisor. Lukovic charges a fee of $25 a day, so $250 for this trip. “If they had just arrived on their own, they’d be there at the front desk not knowing anything was amiss and then what would they do? It’s great to have someone who will drop everything and just work on your behalf,” she said.

Her lesson for travel advisors? “I’ve had pieces of trips fall apart before but this is the first time I’ve had an entire trip explode with a client on the way. When something like this happens you are reeling from the shock; it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Just break it down into pieces, just like you are planning the trip from the beginning. Look at it very methodically and don’t panic.”

Amandatour Director of Sales for U.S. Enza Baglio, told TMR that while she could not discuss the company’s finances, she did say she is not aware of the company going out of business; her understanding is that “there are some issues but they are working on it and we hope they will get everything resolved soon.”

In the meantime, she offered, “I am here to answer when agents call.”

The company was acquired in January by ARKUS, “a Multifunctional Group consisting of institutional investors, entrepreneurs and companies of the advanced tertiary sector, united by identity values and characterized by a holistic vision of doing business, which offers its know-how for the achievement of business objectives, even in processes of corporate restructuring and turnarounds,” as its website explains. ARKUS also did not reply to TMR by press time.

Other agents check in
Other travel advisors shared similar experiences. When Donna Ferrara Greenspan “woke up Monday morning to emails from a hotel manager in Florence who said Amandatour had not paid the balance for my clients, I thought it had to be a mistake. I am lucky because I had booked with EZ Italy, who guaranteed everything,” she said.

“Thank God I have relationships with the hotels, which are honoring my quotes and confirming directly, and DMCs have come through to pick up the bookings and assist me as well,” said Roe Naccache.

For Carrie Mahoney, owner of Carrie Mahoney Travel, advisor success is all about personal relationships. She got the word on Thursday from a fellow agent, who emailed her directly from a hotel in Italy, where her reservation had not been paid by Amandatour.

“I wasn’t sure what the situation was but I reached out immediately to all the hotels, the car from the airport, the water taxis and tour operators, and said my clients are coming next week and I’m not sure if you have been paid; if not please hold the reservation and they will pay when they arrive,” Mahoney said. “I spent all weekend making all those arrangements. Then when it became clear the hotels weren’t going to be paid I printed out everything and sent a package to the clients’ credit card company, so they should have no problem with the refund,” she said.

Nothing like this has ever happened to her before—but no matter how careful you are, glitches will happen, she noted. “I’ve used Amandatour for a few years, based on the recommendation of a colleague, and we both found them to be very responsive. They had a great staff and were easy to work with and always paid their bills. It is a loss,” she said.