Just wondering if anyone could recommend hotel/B&B's that would have air-conditioning? Seems like most don't and, from experience visiting during the summer months, could anyone tell me if it would be absolutely necessary to have this be criteria for choosing a hotel?

Also, during the Summer Festival time, July 25 on, does the city become just too crowded and tours filled up?

Topping!

I booked Best Western, they have a.c. I had read too many posts of people complaining.

A/C's in Europe come in all degrees of effectiveness - -from just a duct that blows outside air into the room to A/C as we know it here. Since A/C in European homes is very rare, people generally don't expect it in hotels either. Certainly not in B&B's. You will just have to open windows and pray that they don't face out on a busy street. European cars, because of their small engines, tend to be very noisy! And European windows, generally, have no screens, so you will also just have to learn to love flies and Schnaken (mosquitos).

Salzburg is usually very crowded during the Salzburger Festspiele. That, and the likelyhood of cooler nights, speaks for getting a room outside of the city in a place that is along one of the rail or bus lines. A car is a nuisance in Salzburg at any time, but especially so during the festival.

The Novetel that we stayed in had reasonably good a/c, a good thing with the very hot, humid weather outside.

I stayed at the Best Western in August 1998. It does have a/c but we did not need it. It is pretty cool at night in Salsburg. Even during the day it was not as hot there as it was in say Venice, which we went to from Salsburg.

I was there during festival time and it was pretty packed. The 3 hour Mozart bus tour was interesting. I am so not a group tour person but this was interesting and they drive you to places outside the town center that you would not get to on your own. It ends at the Mozart museum, which was great.