Hi everybody-as some of you know I have been researching a possible trip to Venice in late October. As I research hotels I am running across something similar to what I found when I was planning a trip a few years back to Quebec-namely that you can get much better deals at the "chains" or larger hotels. For instance on the Quebec trip we ended up at the Intercontinental which was a 4 star because they had a deal for 2 rooms for the price of one....and we were travelling with friends so it saved us a lot of money.

So it made me wonder what others' experiences have been on international travel. I guess it makes logical sense that the bigger hotels or chains have more margin to play with-so it isn't really a surprise, but I was curious if others take advantage of these kind of deals-or if they prefer to stay in more quaint typical hotels when they are abroad. I know that at the moment-the best deal I am finding in Venice is at a Best Western-quite a bit cheaper than the other hotels around 90 euros compared to an average of around 140 euros for others. And the Venice Best Westerns have a lot more ambience than the ones I have stayed in here in the US-although not some of the "shabby chic" charm of some of the other favorite hotels in Venice.

Anyway-I was just curious about others experiences, deals and biases

I've stayed at several chain hotels (2*, 3*, and 4*) in Europe because I got excellent prices through Priceline, or occasionally I found that a chain hotel was the cheapest option for what I wanted even when I couldn't use Priceline. I think Best Western hotels are individually owned, so there is a lot of scope for individuality. I didn't think that any of the chain hotels I stayed at were "cookie-cutter" in any event. All of them have had some unique features and I enjoyed all of them.

I've stayed at two different Best Westens in Venice and others around Europe - they're great!

There are some really good deals from chains. My favorite (since my partner is a senior) was a deal a few summers ago at all SAS hotels in Scandivavia where they gave seniors their age off in discount. In other words if you were 65 you got a 65% discount. And yes, if you are 100 years old, you get the room free! (We'll have to wait awhile for that one!) I also booked about 10 months ahead at the beautiful Munich LeMeridien hotel at a price of something like $110 US a night! It was an internet special offered way ahead. As the travel dates drew closer I checked that rate, and there were no rooms for less than more than double that amount that we booked and paid. I've never seen offers like that from the smaller privately owned hotels.

Best Westerns in Europe are different because they are independently owned hotels. I have gotten big discounts from BW direct and at other times found the rooms cheaper by contacting the hotel directly instead of the BW 800 number. You just never know with them.

You guys are giving me a lot of reassurance-so I may just stay with a Best Western in Venice-Victress-which one was your favorite. I may even break down and try priceline...

I do know the BW are individually owned but I think they are tend to be quite competitive pricewise-we stayed at wonderful one in Avignon called the Cloitre St Louis. It is now a Clarion hotel. It was fabulous-we got reasonable rates at the time when the summer festival was on. And it was very cool because it is an old cloister-so half the rooms are old and kind of "church-like" while the new addition is very industrial modern-and there is a great pool up on the roof!

I wouldn't suggest Priceline for Italy. The reported results haven't been that great.