Hi<BR><BR>I am hoping to get some feedback about using the website www.venere.it for booking hotels.<BR><BR>Has anyone used them? Have there been any problems?<BR><BR>Thanks.

I just used them to book several hotels in Italy. I haven't gone yet to see if there are problems, but this website was efficient and extremely prompt with confirmation numbers. You actually also get a direct response from the hotel. I don't expect any problems, but I'll let you know.

I used them last year for our trip to Italy and France. I booked Venice, Florence, Rome and Paris.<BR><BR>The rooms they showed and quoted were the ones we were given. They all included bkfst. (continental and sometimes american). The prices of the rooms they offered were the same prices quoted by the hotel for that particular room. <BR><BR>The only glitch, was that the hotels had other rooms, not as expensive to offer. For example, we paid $ 250/nite in Venice for our room, which was very luxurious, and had a view of the canal, but there were also $ 100/nite rooms at the hotel (San Moise). Lets face it, when you go Venice you come into your room late at nite and leave very early in the morning, the view is not that important (at least not to us).<BR><BR>Maybe you can use them to research and then you can contact the hotel direct, and see if you have other $$$ options booking direct.<BR><BR>Ana

A plus would also be, that if you change your mind, they don't have such a strict cancelation policy as other sites.<BR><BR>Ana

I've used Venere in the past with no problems. Just beware that a hotel room may show up as available, but then you will get a message from the hotel saying they have no rooms. I too like to use the website for research, then try to find the hotel's own email address to inquire about availabilities and make the reservation. This also allows you the personal touch, which is nice if it's a small family owned hotel.

Search venere here. You'll see that the positive comments run about 100 to 1. I have used probably a dozen times. Reliable for window shopping, inquiries (not every place always answers); reservations and cancellations (both have a 100% track record for me).<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

I used them this March in Italy and was very happy with them. I did change my mind twice about Rome and it was no problem to cancel. Also I got some great deals. Early March at the Metropole in Venice for 129 Euros breakfast and tax included.

for btd<BR>

Thanks everyone for all the feedback.<BR><BR>I like many others, prefer to contact the hotels directly, but finding the hotels websites and email information has proven difficult for me in many cases.<BR><BR>Some show up when you do a search, and others just don't, no matter what you do.<BR><BR>I write down a lot of the names that people recommend here but FYI for future seekers, it's really nice to post the web page information if you have it too.<BR><BR>Again, thank you all so much