Has anyone else noticed this? When I first started on this worthy forum, all I had to do to find good, trusted accommodation in any city was to ask - and Fodorites with personal experience would make their qualified suggestions.
Now there seems to be a trend to refer such requests to one or more of the plethora of accommodation websites out there, which I'm sure most of us already know about - and which offer a huge and confusing range of options.
The value of this forum, I thought, was to get personal recommendations and 'intelligence', eg is it clean, is the breakfast good, close to the railway station, main piazza etc.
So, in good faith - any recommendations for Palermo, Sicily? We will be arriving on a late night bus from the airport, and will be looking for good value rather than high end.

I think it's a bit more difficult for Sicily as not as many have traveled there (on my bucket list). The search function here has never been that great, but if you search Google for Fodor's and whatever you want (Palermo budget hotels? Palermo B&B's, etc.) you should turn up some threads. I don't know how up-to-date they will be though. Also try searching Google for Fodor's Sicily trip reports.

If you are looking for budget, Eurocheapo includes reviews/ratings on their site.

http://www.eurocheapo.com/palermo/hotels/all.html

Hotel Joli has been recommended several times on this board. You can do a search and see what people say about it but I remember good reviews.

I usually look in guide books for hotels.

It does seem like you're trashing the people you are asking for help from.

I'd just like to put in a word for the reservation web sites. Most of them have guest ratings and reviews that give you a very good idea of what to expect at the hotel. If it's not clean, you'll be sure to read about that in the reviews, and almost always there will be something said about the breakfast. After all, the people who make recommendations on Fodor's are also perfect strangers to you, and may have tastes entirely different from yours.

The reservation web sites have many ways to narrow down the plethora of options: you can select by neighborhood, or by price range, or by guest rating level, or by number of stars (not the best selector in Italy). Some allow you to check off your priorities on a check list, such a swimming pool, wifi, restaurant on premises.

I actually trust 36 people on booking.com who've rated a hotel at 8+ more than I trust a single person in a travel forum who says they loved a certain hotel.

Even in cities I know very well, such as Rome, I sometimes hesitate to recommend specific hotels, because, who knows, maybe they've changed ownership since I was there; maybe the person making the request has a higher expectation of luxury than I do; maybe I had the best room in the place and didn't realize other rooms were tiny and dark; maybe something I didn't notice will annoy them greatly. For instance, I sleep right through most noise, but it might be a severe detriment to a light sleeper. I actually think most people are better off wading through the reviews than giving too much weight to my personal recommendations; somewhere in those reviews you'll find a mention of the things that are important to you.

Sorry I can't help you with Sicily accommodations, but at least I'm helping to keep your topic near the top.

Have you looked at the Slow Travel site? That board is top heavy on Italy.

http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/hotels/list.asp?r=Sicily

Check out my trip report where I do name hotels and agriturisumo where we stayed in Sicily; click on my name to find it.

I also named hotels on my TR. I usually refer people to that rather than rereading it myself. However, For Palermo, I remember being VERY, VERY, VERY unhappy with a really horrible single at the Hotel Tonic, and very happy with my stay at Sky Sleeping B&B.

>>The value of this forum, I thought, was to get personal recommendations and 'intelligence'<<

It is - and hundreds of folks do post recommendations for specific properties - but some questions are better answered w/ a generic 'try Venere' or 'Look at booking.com'.

Like . . . >>and will be looking for good value rather than high end.<< . . . which could mean almost anything. What is your actual budget?

Hi all,

Thanks for your responses and the very good points you make - humble apologies if anyone has felt 'trashed'. I must have been fortunate before with similar queries for accommodation in Zurich, Venice, Munich and Garmisch which all resulted in excellent, personal recommendations and was hoping for the same again. So thanks to thursdayd, Michael and adrienne. Yes, I acknowledge that not everyone's taste is the same and that is actually why I find sorting through traveller reviews on websites a bit challenging. Actual budget? Difficult given different cities proffer different rates, Venice in peak season compared with a less popular destination, for example. Anyway, I have enough to go on now, thanks for all your help.

Click on my name for my Sicily trip of last spring. All hotels are reviewed. Sicily is wonderful.

Buon viaggio

I'm with bvlenci.

I post all my hotel reviews on trip advisor. When posting on this forum, I'm willing to recommend a place that I stayed if it still seems to get good reviews and if I have the time to check that out.

I am not willing to recommend the place I stayed in Palermo.

I'll stick to my recommendations and assume that the OP on any thread will check out to see if the accommodation suits his/her style and what others have said about it.

We are in Palermo right now staying at the Palazzo Pantaleo in room #5 (a suite). We are so happy with this choice. The owner, Giuseppe, is wonderful and so helpful. The location right near Politeama Square is safe, busy and very convenient to everything. We have walked everywhere. The room is large and very well appointed and the breakfasts are wonderful. I can totally recommend this B&B.

Also, the B&B is only about 1 1/2 blocks from the Politeama bus stop from the airport (the driver called out the stop so we knew where to get off).

Thank you Theatrelover, Trip Advisor agrees with you about this place! I have just sent an email to Giuseppe for April 13/14, if you see him put in a good word for us!! Enjoy your stay.

I found this B&B on tripadvisor. I will let Giuseppe know tomorrow before we leave that I recommended the place to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. If you are interested, check into Jacqueline Alio for tours at www.palermoguide.net. We never do tours but I thought it would be interesting to set one up with Jacqueline. We spent the whole day with her today doing the Jewish Palermo tour and then going with her to Cefalu and then she added in La Zisa and the Catacombes. We learned so much from her and it made our final day in Palermo so interesting and a real highlight. We're off to Erice tomorrow.

agree with bvlenci.

Hi "capekidnappers",
If you want to discover Palermo from close by I'll suggest to take the StrEat Tour Palermo. Marco is a lovely guy, he speaks good English and he'll bring you by hand to the most popular place where to taste Palermo's street food.
As for a lovely restaurant I would strongly recommend to pay a visit to Gagini Restaurant, close to the pleasure harbor: is romantic and they have great food.