DOCK

I have found hotel rates cheaper on some booking sites than on hotel websites. While the savings are considerable up to $50 in one I am concerned however that we may be relegated to a basement or an attic room. Anyone with any experience please clarify if you can.

tod

I find Venere.com the easiest to book on line with. Other sites do offer slightly cheaper accommodation but are sometimes obscure in their requirements.
One site even wanted the birthdate and names of all the occupants of a triple room I tried to book!

WillTravel

I booked with Ryanairhotels.com which seems to use OctopusTravel. I got a very nice room at a very low rate in Venice that was not substandard in any way, so far as I could tell.

A few days before departure, confirm with the hotel that they have your reservation. The only problem I've heard of with third-party bookings, with any agency, is when the hotel and the third party get their communications mixed up.

cambe

I booked with Octopus for a trip to Berlin and got a super room with a view.

DOCK

Thanks for the info. Octopus is $50 dollars cheaper than the hotel for a quad room in Florence so I am rather inclined to book with them. Venere, Expedia and hotels.ca are all comparatively priced with the hotel.I will likely book with Octopus and then confirm directly with hotel as well.

JJBhoy

DOCK,

I have booked with www.bookings.org a couple of times (for Amsterdam & Bergamo)& everything went fine. I also cancelled a booking with them without any problems.

Jim

isabel

WillTravel and cambe - I'm so glad you posted good experiences with Octopus. I also just found a hotel (in Sicily) that Octopus has for $50 less than the hotel's own site or than Orbitz or Expedia has. It seems to good to be true but I can't find any downsides to it - other than the fact that you have to pay in advance. But that doesn't bother me.

So if anyone reading this has heard anything bad about them, please let us know - otherwise I'm booking with them.

WillTravel

Isabel, I think Octopus is fine. My only issue would be with the reliability and honesty of the hotel. But if you confirm a few days before departure there shouldn't be a problem.

With my Venice hotel, I tried to confirm soon after booking, but they said that the agency would not give them the names of the guests until December (the month I was there). However, they indicated there would be no problems, and then when I checked again in December a few days before departure, I was indeed reserved.

DOCK

My concern is if I book the to good to be true rate in Florence and then at check-in they have a "problem" and have to move me to another hotel. Invariably one hears that the alternate hotel is often of lower calibre.So,I have decided to book with Octopus but to book another hotel which is cheaper than other sites as well as the hotel's, but not by this great a margin.

derekjones777

Found out over the past week that octopus travel no longer taking bookings - gutted as I have had some great deals from the over the years, found this site though http://www.octopustravelhelp.com/ who seem to be targeting old octopus travel customers...