I've used venere.com on several occasions and never had any problems. You can communicate directly with the hotel to confirm your reservation as well.

I have used them as well without problems

Ditto...

I use it to do a search and to read the hotel reviews.Then I go to the hotel site and compare the rates.Honestly the hotel rate many times was better or just matched!

I always use Venere in my research (the overview map with city neighborhoods identified is especially helpful) and have booked through them several times -- everything OK. I also confirm with the hotel.

I agree with kayd. It's a must for doing research.

Chapla, the hotel reviews are a must, saved me from bad hotels many a time.

One caveat. Expedia bought the company in 2008. A bias might be creeping in.

I've used Venere to book, but I also always do what Chapla says and check the hotel website as well to see if they offer a better rate. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I've not had any problems with Venere so far.

Hotel de la Bourdonnais is very near the Eiffel Tower. The area around the hotel has a good number of restaurants. We have rented apartments on Ave de la Bourdonnais and have been very satisfied with the neighborhood. It is also near rue Cler with its markets, shops and cafes, if that interests you.

Used Venere multiple times in multiple countries and never had a problem. The one thing you need to understand are the individual property cancellation policies. Each one is different and Venere really doesn't have anything to do with it. Some people do not realize this, cancel a booking only to find out there is a penalty to do so and end up blaming Venere when it isn't their problem at all.

dave

Have used Venere many times with no problems. As others have said, to be on the safe side, be sure to contact the hotel directly to confirm (usually I just send an email to reconfirm my Venere reservation). I also use the email as an opportunity to let the hotel know approximately when I will be arriving. In any case, it is always nice to have some direct communication with the people you will be staying with.

As other posters have mentioned....Venere is good for research, but I have found contacting the hotels has not only brough me better prices, but when Venere says there are no rooms available, the hotel still has them. They only block so many for Venere, Expedia, etc and keep the rest for people who contact them directly.

We booked 3 rooms for 2 night in Paris last week. Offer was prepay, non-refundable. Confirmed twice by venere.com.
But when we arrived there was no reservation. We got the rooms anyway, but the next day the room keys were disabled.
The front desk said that there was no payment received.
Everything was solved evantually, but not after much discussion with the front desk staff about the rate. On the morning of departure the hotel manager apologized for the problems and gave us free breakfast. I usually use either hotel sites direct or booking.com with which I never had a problem and you always pay directly to the hotel.

Have used Venere and never any problems. They abide by the hotel's policies regarding reservations, cancellations, etc. I always contact the hotel about my arrival time, for directions, or just to confirm and never any hitches.