Help,

Am traveling with a friend to Italy in early May. A first for both of us and we are overwhelmed with trying to locate moderately priced/clean/central hotels. We we hoping to get prices in the 200Euro range.

Our itinerary is as follows:
Venice- 3 nights -looking at Al Piave
Florence- 2 nights - need a place to stay
Sienna- 2 nights - need a place to stay
Rome- 4 nights - looking at Hotel Santa Maria
Amalfi- 2 nights - looking at Aurora
Sorrento- 3 nights - need a place to stay

Can anyone help with suggestions for Florence, Sienna and Sorrento??? Any negatives on the hotels we are looking at in Venice, Rome and Amalfi

Thanks

Mention Rick Steves book and you'll get a discount at the hotel Santa Maria. You must be willing to pay cash, but we booked a room there in June for 155 Euros a night for 3 nights. Just a thought!

Since this appears to be your first post at Fodor's (welcome!) I'll spend some time with tips on getting info.

Search this forum for previous posts on the cities or hotels by typing into the text search box above. For example type Venice AND hotels in the box, then click find &amp; the threads will come up on the left. Or type the hotel name- Venice AND Al piave. I can tell you one poster here (screen name Fluffy-she did a trip report) had an unpleasant experience at the Al Piave in Venice. As I recall she only chose that hotel because she needed a room for 3. Others have had no problem there but if you just need a room for 2, there are <i>plenty</i> of options for 200e in Venice. Try to get a room with a water/canal view. I stayed at Pensione Accademia which is nice &amp; should have some rooms at that price. It is in Dorsudoro-about a 10-15 minute walk to San Marco. Another Fodorite, Bailey, stays at the hotel Wildner in a particular room with a balcony &amp; amazing view. I'll try to search for her post about it. I've also taken note of the Ca' Bauta in Castello- room 203 for terrace &amp; jacuzzi. Someone must have posted about it. The Locanda Orseolo is a newish place that's been getting raves (which means it may be booked). FYI, if you find a place you really want &amp; it's booked, book a cancelleable back-up elsewhere &amp; keep checking for cancellations at your 1st choice.

Tripadvisor.com is another good place to look for hotel reviews.

If you click on hotels above, then find each city, Fodor's has reviews &amp; user (rants &amp; raves) reviews.

Venere.com is a popular website for &quot;shopping&quot; hotels in Italy. Many people prefer contacting the hotels directly for booking though. The hotel should match any price quote you've seen at a 3rd party website. Good luck!

This is the thread with Bailey's info on her photos &amp; the hotel if you want to read the whole thing (but it's long).

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34459669

Her website for her Venice photos which include the one from the Wildner is here
www.pbase.com/baileyzim

Here's what she said about the hotel in response to my question:

&quot;This was my second stay at the Pensione Wildner....I love it....well, I love the view &amp; ELIZABETTA!!!!
They only have 16 rooms.....8 with the most incredible view. No elevator...so book early &amp; request a lower floor. Our room was #16, we had three floor to ceiling windows!!
Elizabetta is the heart &amp; soul of the Wildner....fluent in 6 languages &amp; kind in all languages!!
Don't expect an elegant lobby...but a nice breakfast room, w/ wonderful view is more than adequate. And the
price of breakfast was included in the price. We paid 130 per night....November rates!
Yes, I will return to the Wildner.
ps. The Alilaguna &amp; vaporetto stop is just yards from the front door.&quot;

I hope Bailey won't mind my quoting her. BTW, I noticed you posted the same question 2x. To find your post(s), click your screen name &amp; your posts will come up on the left.

You don't mean THIS May do you? All the good moderately priced places like Al Piave and Hotel Santa Maria fill up 6-8 months in advance for May-Oct. The really popular places like Pensione Accademia require 8 monthes advance in tourist season. You can always get lucky ands catch a cancellation, but don't count on it.

Your best bet at thos point is to wait until about 2 week s to go and try to catch some last minute cancellations. A lot of people overbook and then weed out their bookings near the end.

Both Platzer and I appear to be late to this thread... (and I wonder if &quot;ToItaly&quot; has not been able to figure out how to find this thread again?)...

&lt;&lt;You don't mean THIS May do you? All the good moderately priced places like Al Piave and Hotel Santa Maria fill up 6-8 months in advance for May-Oct.&gt;&gt;

... but, I don't know - - that sounds unnecessarily pessimistic and defeatist to me. &quot;ToItaly&quot; should still try looking at what can be booked right now

There are tons of hotels in decent locations shown on www.venere.com/it/firenze _well_ under 200 euro per night (in fact, there are 2-stars from 80 euro per night in okay locations). I used arbitrary dates of May 2-6.

Just one example.

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks for your responses and advice. This is my first time using Fodor's and I did in fact lose the thread.

We have been having difficulty finding moderately priced accomodations in Venice - guess it is a bit too close to our departure date. We haven't given up yet though. Fodors and Trip Advisor have been very useful reference points.

Hi T,

These links might help

http://www.hotelbernardi.com/en/hotel.html

http://www.pensioneaccademia.it/

http://alcampaniel.tripod.com/venezia/

there are nothing but good things posted about tourist house ghiberti in florence. i'm staying there the first few days in may for 150E. check out

www.touristhouseghiberti.com

OOPS,

Disregard my suggestions. They are in Venice.

Hi jenmarsh,
I will be at touristhouseghiberti the same time you are there. I'm actually staying there for 2 weeks while attending a language school. So I'll look for you in the breakast room!

&quot;... but, I don't know - - that sounds unnecessarily pessimistic and defeatist to me. &quot;

Sorry but I suffer the major disadvantage of speaking from actual experience rather than from theory like you. I tried Al Piave, Hotel Santa Maria and Accademia last November for this May. They were all already booked then.

Hello:

Just posted my travel journal from the first week of March and we loved the hotel Il Bargellino in Florence and the hotel San Moise in Venice.

Well, I stick by my opinion that it i unecessarily pessimistic to say that

&lt;&lt;All the good moderately priced places like Al Piave and Hotel Santa Maria fill up 6-8 months in advance for May-Oct&gt;&gt;

It's the first six words that I object to. If some hotels are booked up, then focus on the ones that DO have availability. And that's what Venere is for. It lets you focus just on the ones that DO have availability. And they are not to be assumed to be the bottom of the barrel. Not six weeks in advance.

I stayed at the Hotel Orion in November. It was clean, extremely central, less than 3 minutes from St. Marks Square and my room faced a Church and courtyard. The room was great, decent bathroom, exposed beams and mini-bar. Staff was very helpful. No elevator but they took my luggage up and even came and got it at 5:30 in the morning when I checked out. It's not the Ritz but not Motel 6 either. My favorite thing was the location.