Hubby and I are going to Crete and Rome next week. We found our hotels through Venere. The hotel in Rome had lower prices than any we could find on our own. The hotel in Crete had "booked up" by the time we finally decided to make our reservation - so we contacted the hotel directly to make our reservation. This experience shows that just because a hotel broker (like Venere) sells out of their room doesn't mean the hotel itself has no vacancies. I'll let you know of my experience with the hotels in two weeks, if you're interested.

Okay - we booked Hotel Ercoli in Rome through Venere.com last week and were very, very pleased. Our rate was the lowest of any of the hotels that weren't complete ratholes, the room was very clean and the staff was very friendly and helpful. No hidden charges - we paid 105 Euros/night for bed and breakfast - when we checked out, we gave them 315 Euros. We also checked out a day early than anticipated and they gave us no problem about that. The shower was very small for this particular hotel, but we knew that going on (found that out on TripAdvisor.com)

I used them when I couldn't seem to get a hotel in Milan for the first week in May, because of a few conventions. We got a great rate and a good hotel, so I am happy.

Just compared rates by emailing a Lucca hotel and checking at venere.com. The hotel's direct rate is 13 euro less per night than through venere.com. Suggest you compare before booking.

I just returned from an Italy trip and used Venere to book hotels in Rome and Siena. Both were great and the price I paid was the price I was quoted -- no hidden charges. And it was the same price offered when I contacted the hotel directly.

Perhaps the best feature of Venere is that it only shows you hotels with openings on your selected dates and in the neighborhoods you want. You don't spend a lot of time making contacts with hotels that don't have room for you or are out in some industrial park.

I'm a Venere fan.

But just because a hotel doesn't have availability with Venere doesn't mean it has no availability if booked directly.

That was my experience on Crete - Venene.com initially showed rooms available at one nice hotel, but a week later those rooms were gone. We contacted the hotel directly and got a room for the same price. It wasn't that the hotel had no rooms, it was that Venere.com had already sold their allotment of rooms.