I have stayed in hotels rating from 2-star to 5-star. Usually, the 3-star places are just fine for most leisure purposes as long as you don't INSIST on accomodations like a 4-star business class hotel, e.g. require air-conditioning, room service, etc.

Usually, my 4-and 5-star stays were related to profssional needs, i.e. location and business services needs or convenient to a conference meeting, and these always involved a corporate discount. When staying at these properties for leisure, rest assured I was getting a good rate, or would easily trade this for a 3-star.)

WillTravel and Mary_Fran offer good advice: the star system is rarely related to how clean the hotel is, and is more about the on-site amenities, particularly in France. Some rating systems are too variable to predict, so look at them as a starting point, but do your homework on tripadvisor.com, venere.com, and Fodors personal reviews.

My preferences can also vary by location and time of year: we need A/C in southern Italy in warmer months (underpowered it is in many hotels) or when I anticipate more street noise (my favorite 3-star hotel in Paris is out of the question in warmer months when I need to open windows, as the disco across the street plays late into the night.) I put a high priority on location over on-site amenties in places like major cities, where I know these things are readily available. In contrast, we want a few more on-site services in the small mountain towns of Switzerland (e.g. cocktail lounge and good on-site restaurant.) Also: we'd rather do two twin beds in a 3-star than a queen bed in a 4-star.

Personally, the best values when using sites like Priceline are to go for the 4-stars at a low price, but given Priceline rules, you'd probably need 2 rooms. This is not the cheapest way to go (I have some flexiblity in my budgets,) but it is often a good deal.

hello!
if you book with venere.com, feel free to use this discount code to get 4% off!

BH5F85S

mtlgirl: As I mentioned on another thread -- You have plastered the same message on several threads - and that is the <b>only</b> info you have <u>ever</u> posted on Fodors. Seems you are fishing -- or maybe phishing?!!?.

It would look a lot less phishy if you actually joined in the discussions . . . . . . .

Keep in mind that the Albergo del Senato in Rome, which receives enthusiastic reviews from so many people, is a three-star hotel.

As has been said above, you need to do your own research on each hotel and not book places based solely on the number of stars that they have.

Wow, thanks everyone! Sounds like we would be perfectly happy in most 3 stars...don't need the spa and grand lobby, as long as it's clean and interesting......

janisj said:

<i>mtlgirl: You have plastered the same message on several threads - and that is the only info you have ever posted on Fodors. Seems you are fishing -- or maybe phishing?!!?. </i>

Interesting. Good eye, janisj. I wondered about this and found another thread on this board which contains some helpful information about the Venere Discount Code:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34848076

from that thread:

<i>This is the discount from venere:

Offer your friends a 4% discount on their first hotel reservation with Venere.com and you'll collect bonus points redeemable at over 20 online shops including Amazon, Cadooz, Digital Pix and Air Berlin.
You can earn 1 bonus point for each friend you are sending this code to using our email form. Each bonus point is worth approximately 0.50 Euros. Moreover, every time one of your friends makes a reservation with the discount code, you earn 4 bonus points. Your friends will also receive a discount code of their own when they make a reservation...

...even the friends of your friends will earn you bonus points by booking with Venere: you will collect 2 bonus points for each first reservation made by a friend of your friends and 1 bonus point for each first reservation made by a friend, of a friend of your friends.

I've given my code to friends and others on this forum but haven't &quot;cashed in&quot; the points so I don't know if it works. I do know the 4% works to book because I used someone's code on this forum to book rooms in Venice in April....My code is 9WD4FGM so you can use that to save 4%. </i>

So you get a 4% discount if you book through Venere, and mtlgirl gets some bonus points for your booking.

Venere is letting it's guests drum up new business for them, which seems pretty clever. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, though I'd be surprised if Fodors would like that kind of commercial enterprise conducted here, and it would seem only fair that mtlgirl should disclose that her action in offering the code is not purely altruistic.

Still, Venere is my favorite booking site, and I've never even used the discount code. I've never had to pay in advance for a booking on Venere, the user reviews they post are helpful, and I've never encountered a snafu with a booking.

Sorry if I've hijacked your thread, but I found all this interesting.

Funny, I never set out to stay at 3-star hotels. It's just the ones that suit me, get good recommendations, and are in my price range... that's what they turn out to be (Amsterdam, Venice, Paris).