Surprise extra charge

I read the item “Venice’s 2-tier pricing” (Jan. ’08, pg. 24), regarding different prices for locals and tourists at restaurants and hotels and for water transport in Venice, Italy. Yes, there are scams in Venice as well as unintentional and unneeded services and their subsequent charges, but, more often, there are just high prices.

All bars and restaurants are required to give you a printed receipt, and if you have a grievance you may be required to take it with you so that the Guardia di Finanza can see it. It indicates that the establishment has collected the tax. This practice is mentioned frequently in Donna Leon’s books on life in Venice, which I recommend.

On an October ’07 visit I believe we were “taken,” getting an unnecessary service for which we were charged €20. At our hotel in Venice, a train ride away from Mestre, I had asked the man at the desk for a taxi to the airport. The driver of the water taxi took us not to the airport but to a parking lot where a van was waiting to take us to the airport. I had been told about the charge for the taxi but not the charge for the 5-minute van ride, an extra €20.

Later, the man at the hotel claimed he had ordered it because I said I needed help with the baggage. This is questionable, since I was told later by other personnel at the hotel that there are luggage carts at the regular taxi landing at the airport.

Was it a scam? I can’t be sure.

G.F. MUEDEN

New York, NY