Kicked into touch by Villa Monticelli

It is a moment England’s rugby fans will never forget. Jonny Wilkinson scores with almost the last kick of the rugby World Cup Final at Telstra Stadium in Sydney to give England a dramatic victory over Australia.

The date: November 22, 2003. Together with friends in Australia, I made a commitment to be in France for the next World Cup four years later.

We wouldn’t just attend World Cup rugby matches, it would be a month-long adventure in France.

A house was booked for a week in Languedoc; a boat was secured for the Canal du Midi, a hotel was reserved in Arles. Later, expensive tickets were obtained for one of the games in Marseille.

Hotel rooms in Marseille were booked for three days and confirmed for the quarter-final matches. Or so I thought.

It was back in April 2006 that I began an Internet search for rooms in Marseille during the World Cup.

The description on Villa Monticelli?s website sounded perfect … “a few minutes away from the Prado beach, this Italian style home is ideally located in the 8th “arrondissement” of Marseilles (in the Saint Giniez area), next to the Bagatelle Gardens, the most residential sector in the city”.

I emailed Villa Monticelli (www.villamonticelli.com) and quickly heard back from Colette and Jean Paranque, the owners. “Yes, we have rooms available and we would love to welcome you to Villa Monticelli.”

Jean said the 2006 room tariff of 85 euros per night could be increased in 2007, which I happily agreed to.

I was asked for 100 euros deposit but as I don’t have a euro bank account in Australia, I offered my credit card details as security for the booking, an offer that was readily accepted. That was more than six months ago.

Happily, we had secured two rooms for three nights. Or so I thought.

A few weeks ago I emailed the Paranques to confirm that we had obtained our tickets for a quarter-final match and were looking forward to staying at Villa Monticelli.

An email came back from the Paranques informing me that they were fully booked on the dates I had confirmed last year, and they could not accommodate our group of four.

Strange, surely they must have made a mistake and maybe thought that I was attempting a new booking, so I emailed a reply to say that I had a confirmed booking secured by a credit card. No reply.

I emailed once more and my message was again ignored so I contacted Anne Chapalain at the French Tourist Office in Singapore. She quickly flicked a pass out wide to the French Tourism Office in Sydney, suggesting I contact one Herve Le-Feuvre.

Whoever Herve Le-Feuvre might be, he didn?t respond, instead sending another pass along the line to his marketing department who, after another prompt from me, replied that they were “processing my request”.

Later the French Tourists Office in Sydney phoned the Villa Monticelli in Marseille, who said they were fully booked “and unfortunately can’t go through with your booking”.

“They didn’t and they will not take any cents from you,”said Yasmine Gouirah from the French Tourist Office marketing department.

That’s a relief because they had reneged on the booking and still have my credit card details.

This incident raises several questions and is a warning to supporters planning to travel to France for the World Cup.

Most people would assume that an email confirmation of rooms booked, backed by the security of a credit card, would be enough for the Paranques to honour the booking.

Additionally, Villa Monticelli did not bother to inform me that they had cancelled the booking and, but for my follow up email, our group would have been turned away and sleeping on the streets of Marseille in October.

It also raises a question that if a booking secured by a credit card is no guarantee of a room during the World Cup in France, could there be dozens of disappointed supporters sleeping on the streets of Marseille?

I have now begun the task of trying to find new accommodation less than four months out from the Marseille quarterfinals and, as expected, my first few attempts have been returned with the message, “Sorry, fully booked”.

A report by Ian Jarrett, TravelMole’s Editor Asia.