Before anyone calls me a Luddite, I have booked hotels online numerous times and think the ability is great. I have had no problems with missing reservations, inappropriate credit card charges, or major nasty surprises of any kind. <BR><BR>However, I thought I would pass along a lesson I learned on a recent trip to Italy. I had booked a room in Amalfi through venere.com. Partway through the trip, we decided that we wanted to bag Amalfi and stay in Tuscany for the remainder of the trip. I called the Amalfi hotel to find out what sort of cancellation penalty we would pay (we were past the no-penalty deadline, which was two weeks prior to check-in) and was told it would be a one-night room charge. That seemed fair (if a bit painful; it was a pricey hotel), so I said please cancel. When the clerk pulled up my reservation, he said that I would have to cancel online since I had booked online. That was the first I had heard of this requirement. <BR><BR>I was a bit perturbed that I couldn't just cancel since I had the clerk on the line, but life is what it is, so I tried to get online to cancel. The clerk at the hotel I was staying at (Zi' Martino in Castagneto Carducci, a wonderful family-run establishment) let me get on his computer, but for some reason venere.com wouldn't recognize my userid and password. Rats! I decided I would just send an email cancellation request and see what happened, but since I don't have a hotmail-type email account (I have a work account and a DSL account here at home), I had no way to send an outgoing email. Zi' Martino to the rescue again; the clerk let me use his personal account to send my message. The good news is that the cancellation apparently was accepted; my credit card wasn't charged at all by the Amalfi hotel, not even for the one-night cancellation penalty (which I fully expected and would have paid without question). <BR><BR>Just something to keep in mind--you may not want to book online without checking the cancellation policy first. You never know when your plans are going to change, and as we all know, the internet can get quirky just when you need it most. <BR>

Well, in my experience, when you book online all the particulars are included, if you're paying attention. I always print as I go for documentation and future reference. And I would be inclined to know the cancellations policies before booking and/or supplying a credit card number.

I find that very unbelievable that venere.com could not revise your reservation although you were talking with a rep. directly. Maybe they're making it hard for the guest to cancel?<BR><BR>Of course, I don't know if it's different overseas, however, I'm sure that if one books a hotel room online with a major hotel chain, someone can help to revise the reservation.<BR><BR>Supposing you did not have the use of a computer-you'd be stuck?

A couple of clarifications. Donna, there was a note on the reservation confirmation that said please visit venere.com to check or modify your reservation, but I didn't see anything to indicate that this was the only option. I won't swear that there was no notice, but it certainly wasn't at all prominent if it was there. If I had been alert to the possibility (which is why I'm posting here in the first place), I would have checked more closely. <BR><BR>Jean, I may not have been clear. I wasn't talking on the phone to a venere rep, but a rep at the hotel itself. The hotel wasn't part of a chain but (as far as I know) a single operation. My reservation confirmation only had a phone number for the hotel itself, not venere, and I didn't see a phone number on the venere site to allow me to contact them directly. I didn't think that sending an email through the site to the webmaster would provide the hotel with fair notice of the cancellation. My hope in sending the email to the hotel directly was that they might be able to rent my room to someone else if they knew I wasn't coming. <BR><BR>Again, this isn't meant as a bitch; I'm just trying to pass along information.

Website for the hotel where Julie stayed in case anyone is looking for a place to stay in the area:<BR>http://www.zimartino.com/gb/hotelgb.htm#top

Several years ago, I had booked a hotel in MA for a couple nights on my way back to the West Coast. A friend passed away, and I was able to change my flight. However, when I called the hotel chain's 800#, they did not want to cancel my reservation, because it was made by my travel agent and so I would have to pay a cancellation fee. They did not want to accept my explanation. It was a weekend- and I wasn't able to contact my TA. But when I got home, she called the 800# and received a credit for me. So, this type of situation can happen even here in the US. Having a Hotmail or similar account is quite helpful when traveling overseas. I have used mine frequently when on a trip.

No, Julie, I don't think you're b****ing. It's good of you to pass along this type of information to anyone who may think or is using venere.com. <BR><BR>Sorry not to have understood better that you were talking in person to a rep. I still think the rep. should have helped you out.

I recently booked a hotel reservation thru www.londontown.com for our trip this past May. They stated in my confirmation that the reservation must be cancelled 48 hours prior to arrival (local time) through http://www.londontown.com/cancel to avoid charge. Could have been a hassle if I'd needed to cancel, but they were very upfront about this requirement.

I think this is pretty common when you book through an agent or rep rather than the hotel itself. In fact, I've never seen it otherwise. I think it is expected and nothing wrong with it, hotels that have arrangements with agents like that need to keep things in order, both parties do--there may be some financial arrangements between the two that need to be keep straight (regarding commissions, fees, or something like that; the hotel may be paying them a service fee based on number of reservation days or something, or venere may get penalized for cancellations, things like that). You know they have some kind of contract or arrangement between them, so I don't think you should be perturbed about booking through an outsider and expecting the hotel to let you cancel directly. In any case, it's good things worked out well for you.<BR><BR>I think this is good and needed advice, though, for people who haven't ever thought of these things. I also think before traveling it is a good idea to get some mail account that can be accessed directly from any ISP if your own cannot, there are many choices out there of those. <BR><BR>Another tip to those who may not be aware, but my primary personal mail account is on AOL and they do not have the best record in keeping their mail accessible through AOL anywhere (www.aol.com), so it is good to have another email account if you have AOL and really think you may need to use mail when traveling and may not have a machine with AOL loaded. That software has been down for weeks now and you can only access your AOL mail through AOL Australia, actually, if you want to use regular internet (www.aol.com.au). I called them to complain and found out how to get it through Australia but their lack of attention to basic features like that when they have millions of clients who may want to use their mail from www.aol.com when traveling is incredible to me. They know it isn't working but don't really seem to care that much. That has happened before, also, that is was unusable for several months.

I had the same problem with a hotel in London. Yes I did receive confirmation information and it did give cancellation instructions but the number to contact was blank! I didn't think much about it until I had to cancel very close to the 48 hour time limit. The hotel could not cancel for me so I had to really work to finally reach a person that could help me. I now have learned that if you book on line you can not cancel with the hotel directly and you must make sure you have all the correct and complete information you need to cancel.