My husband and I recently made a reservation at Hotel Diocleziano in Rome for the end of the month. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this hotel? Luckily I can cancel my reservation up to 48 hours before my stay. Also, I would love to hear any other accomodation recommendations for Rome, Florence or Venice. We are trying to keep them under $200 per night. Thanks for your help!

Try doing a search here for trip reports from others that have been and you will find a wealth of information about accomodations. I did that when I was planning my first trip last year and it was very helpful, especially for getting a feel of different neighborhoods and what might appeal to you. Also, Trip Advisor is very helpful for specific reviews of hotels and b&bs. Happy planning.

I don't know anything about that hotel, but the location is not very good. It's quite a ways from everything you will want to see. Look for something closer to the center, around Piazza Navona, the Pantheon or Campo de' Fiori. Do a search here and you'll get lots of info. $200 is less than 150 Euro.

The reviews on www.tripadvisor.com are uniformly positive, but like SusanP I'm not crazy about the location.

If your trip is "the end of the month" as in late October 2007, I don't think you should wait around for recommendations of lodging in Florence and Venice. You need to book something immediately.

We just returned from Rome on Sunday and I would definitely recommend staying where we did. We rented an apartment a few blocks from St. Peters Basilica and the Vatican. It had a wonderful view and it was a safe quiet neighborhood at night with great restaurants close by. You can check with www.VRBO.com to see if it is available. We only paid 95 euros a night. the property listing # is 93065. We were very happy with our choice here. I would at least check out the website.

We liked these hotels, which were under $200/night when we stayed there:

Rome, the Domus Julia (near Barberini Palace and Spanish Steps). Sister property to the Hotel Julia, with breakfast served in the hotel.

Florence, the Relais Cavalcanti (close to Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi)

Venice, the Hotel Riva (located at the confluence of two small canals with singing gondoliers, so ask for a corner room with a view of both)

I wrote a detailed trip report on each of these hotels and cities, if you search under my name above.
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Hi G,

If a B&B would interest you, I can highly recommend www.bedinflorence.it

We stayed in an apartment in Campo de' Fiori which we booked through realrome.com. They have lots of choices.... we left it too late to book what we might have liked but ended up with an apartment steps from Camp de Firoi which was great. Tim at realrome.com was great with helpfull info.

In Florence we loved the Hotel Davanzati. It is owned and run by a large family who manage everything from the front desk to the cleaning. It has wireless laptops in every room and yet it is located in an historic building that feels like a home away from home. The location is superb. Check it out on www.tripadvisor.com where it has been rated number one in Florence for the past several years.

Rome: Arco del Lauro in Trastevere, Daphne Veneto, Relais Banchi Vecchi.

Florence: Alloro B&B, Il Porcellino Guest House, Tourist House Ghilberti.

Venice: no recommendations.