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[tuxedo_cat]

Hi folks -- looking for some general advice about using the discount sites to book a hotel overseas.  It's been a while since I've done this, and from reading some of the other threads here and some of the reviews on TripAdvisor.com, it's clear that unpleasant surprises are not uncommon (lost reservation, incorrect dates, misleading info). Here's my general sense about the upsides and downsides of using the discount sites instead of booking directly with the hotel, but I have a feeling these things may differ depending on which site you use:

Upsides:
* the discount! It seems like quite a LOT in some cases ($110 v. 110 Euros per night)
* the reservation should be guaranteed if you have a record of it (is that true?)

Downsides:
* you must commit to pay for the whole stay up front; if you decide you hate the place, you're kind of up a creek
* in the past one of these sites sold my info. to a scam company that started charging me bogus monthly fees which I didn't notice for months.

I would greatly appreciate any corrections, advice, strategies, anecdotes you might have -- which sites seem to have fairer policies.  I'm a bit wary of both priceline and expedia at the moment.  Any advice about using venere.com?, which I've not used before (seems to have great discount rates).

And of course if you want to pass along anything specifically about booking a hotel in Venice, that would be super.  I am travelling next month -- Thanks!

[thisisme]

you must commit to pay for the whole stay up front; if you decide you hate the place, you're kind of up a creek
* in the past one of these sites sold my info. to a scam company that started charging me bogus monthly fees which I didn't notice for months.

It depends. If you do not just use any site but the ones that are well known you should be fine, like expedia, hotels.com or hrs.com. They have different conditions, often it depends on whether you will arrive before 6pm. Then you can still look at the room and cancel.

Anyhow, I recommend checking out the comments on the hotel on different websites (also tripadvisor) and decide for a hotel and then book it for the best available rate. More than that you cannot really do, unless you have lots of time in Venice to check out all the hotel first...

By the way, at tripadivisor, for some cities there are some very negative comments for a variety of hotels by first time posters. I have no deeper insight into this, but decided to ignore those for my search

[wegie]

I've done a fair amount of travel in Europe using either venere.com or hotels.com and have never had the slightest problem. I usually research using Tripadvisor, Lonely Planet et al, then compare the hotel ratings and make the booking on which of the two is cheaper for the chosen hotel.

[tuxedo_cat]

Thanks, thisisme and wegie. This was easier and less risky than I thought.  Booked through venere.com, got my confirmation with the same rate posted -- you can cancel without any charge at all until 3 days before your arrival date, if you cancel later than that, they charge you for just one night.

Now I have to see if "double" means one large bed, or two twin beds.  And I'm assuming "no bathroom," just means that there is no private bathroom and you share one down the hall, which I don't care about.

I wonder how the bedbug situation is in Venice -- sounds quite awful in a lot of other cities.

[cranefly]

Find online reviews about anywhere you stay. You'd be surprised what gets categorized as "3 star" or "4 star" in foreign countries.

[wegie]

"Double" on this side of the pond almost universally refers to one large bed.

"No bathroom" can either mean shared bathroom down the hall or small shower room that doesn't have room for a bath tub. Although I'd be inclined to suspect the former.

Bedbugs? Not really a problem over here. They're no more prevalent than they are in the US.

Cranefly - some of the European star systems (the French one in particular) focus only on facilities. In France it doesn't matter if the manager is a graduate of the Norman Bates school of Hotel Management, as long as there's an en-suite and a breakfast room, the place will get three stars.

[tuxedo_cat]

Thanks for the translations, wegie.  It's reassuring to have a bit of report about the bedbug situation.  When I was looking for accommodations in London while traveling with students (ooh, wouldn't that be a good thread, perhaps there already is one), I was pretty alarmed at the number of bedbug reports (and the photos!).  Not to mention the nightmarish fallout of disposing of beds and furniture if you happened to bring the little beasts home in your luggage.

Find online reviews about anywhere you stay. You'd be surprised what gets categorized as "3 star" or "4 star" in foreign countries.

Omg, I don't know how people traveled before the advent of tripadvisor.com.

[cranefly]

I didn't mean any offense to Europeans by suggesting a difference between the star systems, only to check because expectations of North Americans can differ from those of the rest of the world. I've been to some wonderful places that other people have complained about, of course, so you have to take the ratings with a grain of salt.

I've never seen nor had an issue with bed bugs and have travelled widely staying in some pretty ugly places, so I don't think you need to be paranoid about that. Just keep your suitcase off the floor.

[dolljepopp]

I've generally had good luck with activehotels.com and booking.com. (I live in Europe and travel a fair amount.)

What I want:

• I won't stay anywhere I can't get an en suite bathroom.
• I want in-room Internet access, either included or free. (Note: Italy is one of the lesser-wired western European countries overall.)
• In most countries, I look for at least a three-star. (In Germany, I will usually accept a two-star, as they seem to be obsessively clean regardless.)
• I look for places that will throw in breakfast.

I have only occasionally had to pay up front (online) and that has usually been to get a great rate on a far-pricier hotwl than I would normally book.




-dolljepopp (who has had to book hotels in ten different European countries in the last couple of years)

[tee_bee]

I've had very good luck with hotels.com for getting rooms on Tronheim (Norway) and near Arlanda (Stockholm) Airport and Schilphol (Amsterdam) airport. It got me very nice discounts on nice airport hotels. And I use them in the US too--indeed, I am now sitting a deeply discounted hotel room in our nation's capital, at a rate that no other site could find.

[profxfiles]

The biggest problem I have with pre-paying is that you cannot change your plans at all. On my last trip to central Europe, I pre-paid for a hotel in Vienna. When I wanted to change the date slightly (arrive one day earlier, leave one day earlier)to get a MUCH cheaper airfare, I was told that I could not change the hotel at all and my only option was to cancel the entire reservation (with NO refund) and completely rebook. They were COMPLETELY inflexible, and they could get away with it because they already had my $$.

[bread_pirate_naan]

If you want to stay dead center but quiet and comfortable, Ca'Centropietre (Dorsoduro) is lovely and beats everything else by price and hospitality. Also, ask around.  You'd be surprised how many people know people who own an apartment.

Edited to add.  Tripadvisor reviews are extremely reliable.  Always comparison shop, as many booking sites get a cut.  If possible, find the place you want to stay and then book direct.

[eddean]

I have had good luck with www.venere.com. I still checked other sites for reviews and emailed the hotels with questions. Found great places at $100's less than other sites. I have used them for Venice, Rome, Riccione and Bologna.  Also for London and cities in Scotland. Now if I could just get them to pay me for this promo.

[tuxedo_cat]

I have had good luck with www.venere.com. I still checked other sites for reviews and emailed the hotels with questions. Found great places at $100's less than other sites. I have used them for Venice, Rome, Riccione and Bologna.  Also for London and cities in Scotland. Now if I could just get them to pay me for this promo.

I am now post-trip, so I thought I would check back and register a report.  I'm just going to echo eddean here:  I booked through venere.com, they did not require me to pay up front, nor did the hotel make any such demands when I got there.  They also seemed to have better rates than some of the other websites.  I also called them on the phone before making my booking to double check about their policies, and while there is a penalty if you show up on the day of your reservation and you want to bail (they charge you for that first night), I found the whole process delightfully civil.

The hotel I got in Venice was also exactly what I was looking for: no frills, bathroom in the hallway, not much in the way of breakfast, but I had a perfectly good bed to sleep in, so that's really all that mattered.  The reports on tripadvisor.com were accurate and very helpful.  In fact, I started with that website, because they tend to have lots of reviews, and then on the tripadvisor site, they offer you links to booking sites like venere.com.

The one very important thing I would be more careful about in the future is that the outlets in my room were very old, and I really couldn't plug in my laptop to recharge with my adaptor (whole unit was too heavy to keep a safe current going).  That was a definite inconvenience (I was there for a conference, and still needed to work on my paper), and not something that ever occurred to me to worry about.

Thanks for your advice everybody, and certainly others can keep this thread going if they have similar questions or suggestions.

[neutralname]

I agree that tripadvisor reviews are very useful.  On the other hand, I don't necessarily believe bad reviews because complaints often seem unrealistic.  So they need interpretation.

I'd recommend using Kayak.com to compare the results from different services.