Best Way to Make the Hotel Reservation?
 

Okay, I'm close to booking a room at the Albergo Del Senato for my 4 night stay in Rome, but am looking for recommendations the most secure form of booking. Do you book online at a particular site? And when you book, can I request a certain room with a view of the square? Any insight would be wonderful. I keep reading horror stories regarding hotels loosing reservations and so forth. This is a honeymoon so I'm extra paronoid! Thanks for the help.

I'd reccommend using Expedia for your bookings. However, I always phone the hotel a few days after I have used Expedia just to check that they have the reservation as per my specifications.

And I keep reading horror stories about divorces but I assume they won't apply to you.
I would e-mail the hotel DIRECTLY (assuming you have their e-mail address) and ask them to quote you a rate and also would ask them for exactly the sort of room (view/no view; balcony/no balcony, etc., etc.
You might very well get a better rate using a booking service such as www.venere.com but sometimes, not always, booking sites will be re-selling rooms the hotel cannot sell so it is always nice to have two quotes.
The "lost reservation" issue.

If you book through a site, you can confirm with the proerty directly through e-mail, fax, etc., if they have received the booking from the service.

If you are communicating directly with the hotel, take THEIR written e-mail confirmation of the room WITH YOU when you go...they'd have a hard time disputing it.

Good luck.

I on't think that Expedia would have ever crossed my mnd for this hotel. Are they listed there? I would have recommended www.venere.com though I think you could also correspond diretly with the hotel by fax, mail or e-mail. A website booking provides the added "safety" (perceived? actual?) of third-party arbiration, in the event of a dispute, and "secure" (https://) credit card info handling.

I think you need not worry about venere.com "losing" your reservation, and you can always do a follow-up confirm with del Sehato by e-mailing them directly.

Best wishes,

Rex

just a thought, but why don't you book directly with the hotel or call them directly if no internet is available...its the most perfect way in my mind...

A phone call - so that I can ask specific questions about, e.g., a room with a view - followed up by a fax with my credit card number and a request for a fax back for confirmation always works best for me. That way, I've actually talked to a human, had an opportunity to ask for details that may not be explained on a website, and have paper proof in hand when I arrive that I have a reservation.

Not everything can best be accomplished electronically.

I just use the e-mail to make my reservations, even if i know the language of the country that I am going to visit..

it works well for me..In my e-mail I specify what are my needs and preferences..

When the hotel answer back, I then send my credit card numbers...I make a copy of that also..
Before I leave the country, I send another e-mail to confirm the date of my arrival.

topping for our paranoid friend

So I took your advice and found the website for Albergo Del Senato in Rome and emailed them directly. I am curious what they respond.
If I don't hear back within a few days, I will call them and see that they have. I checked Venere.com and couldn't find them on the site, but will check Expedia. Thanks!

Don't worry, someone will respond to you, usually Alessandra

francophile03- Sounds like you have stayed at the Albergo Del Senate before. Any tips on the hotel? Best room for honeymoon trip, best way to book, best way to get below the rack rate? I would love to pick your brain.

I almost always make reservations by Fax. Sometimes, if the hotel uses e-mail, I make preliminary inquiries by e-mail, and sometimes (infrequently) I call with questions. When a credit card deposit is required, I always use Fax. Once, with an agriturismo in Sicily in 2000, I requested my reservation by mail, but never received a reply or a request for deposit, even though the reservation turned out to be fine. The next time I went there 2 1/2 years later, I made the arrangements entirely by phone.

Okay, Dumb Question of the Day! Are you ready? Everyone is saying to just call the hotel to confirm or to just ask questions. Do you use a calling card of some sorts or just call from your home phone? How much does calling Italy from the States cost? I haven't done it before so it sounds scary.

I get calling cards from the corner store and pay only a few cents per minute. Other people get special rate plans to phone Europe. Check your current rate plan to see what overseas calls cost - it probably is not that much.

For my previous trips to Europe, I have called the hotels, then faxed credit card information, and gotten return fax with confirm. This works the best for me, as it does for St. Cirq. Of course, the phone calls add up- and get expensive! Recently, I decided to try the "10-10-987" number, and I couldn't believe how cheap it has been to call France! Just 39 cents for the connect, and then 3 cents a minute. A HUGE difference from AT&T - I know, cause I just got my phone bill.

I ise 101-68-68 and then the number in Europe. It costs about 9 cents a minute to Europe, so virtually nothing to call a hotel for information.

TravelBug --

i'm also going to italy for my honeymoon this june and am likely just as anal as you are... don't mean that badly at all. I just like to double and triple check to make sure everything is done right.

I booked my room at the Albergo Del Senato back in the fall. I emailed them (back and forth) to confirm the room rate and kind of room i was looking for and then i faxed them my credit card info. I followed the fax up with an email letting them know that I had faxed in my details and asking if they could confirm when everything was all set. They did send such a confirmation email.

Hope that helps!

I like to email. On the couple occasions I used a call it was very stressful and I wasn't sure I absolutely understood everything. With an email both parties can ponder over the communication. You can look at the written message,revise things,etc. and you have a record of it.

Thanks for the info on the calling cards and calling plans, I will check with my long distance carrier and see what deals they have for calling Europe.
Question for nbs, (2 posts up), you said you booked your room at the Senato in the fall and are all confirmed; what kind of room did you end up with? If you don't mind me asking. Also, since you are traveling right around the time we are, did you find any deals on flights?

We stayed at the Del Senato in Sept. I can't say enough good things about it. The hotel has been refurbished and everything was so lovely. I did all the booking and confirmations by email from their own website. Remember there is a big time difference. They always responded to my emails within 2 days. They did NOT usually respond over the weekend however.

I requested a room facing the Pantheon. They have other rooms facing the back which some people feel are quieter. But we had no trouble with the noise. The hotel wrote back and told me that they would give us the room facing the Pantheon if it was available but they could not guarantee it. However, when we arrived, we did have the room with the Pantheon view.

I would have to warn you the room and the bathroom were very small by US hotel standards. However, the bathroom was completely modern and all the room furnishings were very elegant.

It was the perfect location. Couldn't have been better.

Travelbug --

we decided on a double room and also have requested that it face the pantheon.

in terms of other deals -- we are using frequent flyer mileage for the flights so unfortunately i can't help there...

we like to travel around a bunch and meet people and not just stay in one place -- so despite some warnings from this forum, our itinerary does have us bouncing around a lot... but i think for this particular vacation, even though it is a honeymoon, it is what we are looking for....

we start in bellagio at the belvedere and then go to venice to the locanda orseolo and then florence to the tourist house ghiberti and then positano to the poseidon and then end in rome for 1 night at the del senato...

I use email for almost all of my reservations and it works great. I can easily create a form document, just cut and paste, change the hotel and/or dates, and click it's gone. I can crank out reservation requests much faster via email than a fax. A fax is an ok second option, but the phone calls to Europe do add up and I find having all of my travel documents on my laptop to be a real convenience, and I can track my reservations status much easier. Of course there are those places that do not have email and then you have to improvise. Usually you can find a web site that will have these locations available. I think most hotels now have email access - at least in the USA and Europe.

So I emailed Albergo Del Senato for a double room facing the Pantheon for a 3 night stay toward the end of May.
They quoted 285 Euro per night. I thought that was reasonable, until I began searching the this site and venere.com and noticed that a rate of 245 Euro seems to be the right price for a double.
Do you think if you contact the hotel directly, they quote a higher price? Or is our room in a 'higher' price bracket than a 'normal' double room?
Are 'all' doubles the same price, or does it vary dependent upon the size and view?
Anyhow, just wanted to get your thoughts on this. I don't want to reply to the hotel and mention that I can get a 245 euro rate, when they're quoting me 285 euro. Maybe I can ask if they have any cheaper priced 'doubles'?
Any advice?
Thanks!

gottheitch-

Does the venere's website tell you that the €245 room faces the Pantheon? If it doesn't, maybe the cheaper room on venere faces the back. Here is a recent thread that describes the hotel:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34469558

I'm too lazy to got get a calling card. I just use AT&T - the $2 (approx.) always seems worth it to me to discuss the room/apt. with a real live person.

Gottheitch,
We have reservations at the Albergo del Senato in May which I booked directly by emailing hotel. I questioned the difference in rates and was told the higher price was for the pantheon view, called a superior double. The $245 is a regular double, without the view. I emailed them my credit info. Hope your honeymoon trip is wonderful. One of the couples in our group will also be celebrating their marriage so we,too, hope all will be as special as we've read.

I recently reserved a room at the del senato via e-mail for late April and was given 265 EUR for one of the superior doubles with the balcony. I too noticed the higher price but figured it was for the "superior" double.

I found e-mail to be a fantastic method of communicating, largely because of the time available to ponder written communication and iron out any misunderstandings. Also, as a lawyer, I like written communications to document a relationship/agreement when possible.

As far as booking through third parties, I don't see how that can possibly help other than getting a lower rate. It just allows them to blame each other and double the number of people you have to complain to in the event of a mistake.

Jason

So we got email confirmation from the hotel today - one nice thing is that they promptly reply to our emails.

ccthomp,
Interesting, however, that they mentioned that the 'regular' (don't know exactly what that means, maybe not facing the Pantheon?) double rooms go for 265 Euros. Our 'superior' double room was 285 Euros. What does 'superior' means anyway? Is it only that it faces the Pantheon or that it has a balcony? Do any of the 'superior' doubles have a balcony?
Just curious!
Thanks

I don't know what we'll end up with when we arrive, but here is what I was told was available when I asked about availability of a room with a balcony facing the pantheon:

"1 Superior double room (top floor, facing the Pantheon with a small balcony) at the rate of Eur 265,00."

I believe the other poster said they got a "regular" room for 245 Eur.

However, givent his hotels popularity and other posts on this board, I would not be suprised to have them try to give me something else when I arrive. That's why I'm taking copies of the e-mails.

Jason

So the Albergo del Senato replied to us saying that for the 385 Euro rate, they can give us the superior double room #608. They didn't mention anything about a balcony.
Has anyone stayed in this particular room by chance??
I assume #608 is on the 6th floor. How many floors are there?
Thanks!!

Sorry, that was a rate of 285 Euro, not 385 Euro!!!

There are 6 floors at the del Senato. According to a previous poster, the superior doubles, facing the pantheon are recently refurbished and on the hotel website you can see the upgraded bathroom and wood floors. The regular doubles which do not face the pantheon are larger but not as newly redone. I was told balconies or terraces are only on the 6th floor.

thanks ccthomp!
I don't know if these questions have been addressed yet, but I was curious about the rooftop terrace...
Will this be open toward the end of May?
What is actually served on the terrace? Is there breakfast served? Or is there only a bar to serve drinks and snacks?
And what are the times of this service? How late do they serve drinks at night?
Thanks!