Yeah, I was being lazy and just wanted to hire someone really good to cut through any administrative hassles and potentially save time in lines. We did the same thing in Athens where we had the concierge at the Grande Bretagne arrange a tour guide for us so we wouldn't have to plan anything ourselves. In both Rome and Athens, where we booked guides through top-end hotel concierges, they were just OK and yet the charges through the hotel were pretty exorbitant. That's my lesson learned!

I think there are apps now where you can book a guide with user reviews and the like. We did that in Quito and had an OK guide give us a half-day walking tour. He wasn't amazing, but at least we weren't paying through the nose for it.