Two Spaniards from Murcia Ruined in Rome After Two Days

Two Murcians lose €1,000 each in two nights in Rome

The money two young men from Murcia had saved over a month vanished during two nights in Rome. The bill explaining it —four bottles of Moët and six hours of private dancing— circulates online as a warning for future travelers. What doesn't circulate with the same clarity is the fine print: no one has verified the story, and there are traces that this same narrative was told three years ago with an identical script.

What peine at Poppea club

Manolo and his friend had worked for a month to save nearly €1,000 each. With that money, they planned to spend two weeks in the Italian capital. On the second night, a man in a suit suggested they enter a venue called Poppea. Inside, according to their own account, hostesses made them believe they were flirting, and the rounds of drinks didn't stop. The next day, their bank balance was zero.

The review, published on Google and picked up by La Opinión de Murcia on July 15, 2024, details the breakdown: four bottles of Moët and six hours of private dancing. With no funds left for anything else, they had to ask Manolo's mother for money to return to Spain just two days after landing. "Our entire vacation was ruined by this, please don't fall for it," the text concludes.

Can you spend two weeks in Rome with €1,000?

The figure doesn't add up. This is the objection that has weighed most heavily in responses. With €1,000 per person —including hotel, meals, transport, and tickets— two weeks in Rome require austerity bordering on endurance training. Some translate the calculation to Spain, noting that such money would be consumed in three or four days in a city like Barcelona without visiting any unusual places.

From this arises one of the most repeated interpretations: if the budget was that low, the disaster didn't start at the club, but in the planning of the alucinación. Others go further, arguing that the text is written as a joke, claiming the scene of the two friends waking up with a zero balance is too perfect to be true.

The repeating pattern: from Benidorm to Bulli

What does have precedents is the mechanism. Stories about venues with touts at the door, accumulating drinks, and an unaffordable final bill have appeared in travel discussions for years. One of the most detailed testimonies places the scene in Benidorm: a show venue where girls offered a ten-minute private dance for €50 or €60, and upon refusal, security staff demanded €20 per girl for having entertained the clients without proceeding to the private session.

The pattern repeats in other contexts. There is the case of a couple from Burriana who accumulated a bill of around €1,200 at a high-end restaurant and ended up calling their parents to transfer the money. The conclusion drawn by several voices: in these places, the problem isn't just what is consumed, but what is signed without asking the price beforehand.

Is it a scam, recklessness, or a recycled story?

Here, three currents emerge. The first focuses on the venue: if the charge didn't correspond to what was consumed or to a price informed in advance, there is ground to discuss the procedure, even if we are talking about an establishment in another country and an anonymous review. The second places responsibility on the customers: no one enters such a club unaware, and calling your mother to get home is the least discreet epilogue possible.

The third doubts the entire story. In 2021, a practically identical review was already circulating about two young men ruined in Rome on their second night. That detail, which has surfaced, is what has cooled the initial indignation the most: a textbook scam case can also be one of reuse.

What can be learned from the case

Beyond the joke, the episode leaves a couple of segarro rules. Don't enter a venue that touts clients on the street. Ask prices before ordering. And don't mix cards with alcohol and euphoria in a city you don't know. Some add a fourth rule: carry limited cash and leave the card in the hotel.

There were also those who, over time, preferred to look back with relief: someone who was in London and refused to enter Soho clubs despite having money on hand. Intuition, or simple prudence.

With this material, it is predictable that the review will continue to circulate as a generic warning and that the venue will proceed without public response. If someone appears with a formal complaint or confirmation of the invoice, the nature of the story will change. Until then, it remains in that uncomfortable limbo where real scams, costly recklessness, and well-told anecdotes coexist.