I've just booked a hotel for a stay in August..it isn't always easy.

Some of the hotels are closed right now and they do not answer e-mails; some of the hotels mentioned are NOT air conditioned and if you've ever been to that part of Italy and its humidity in July, well (and NO I am not trying to start up another one of these absurd "do you need air conditioning?" pissing contests..just saying, a LOT of hotels aren't so be aware).

Some of the booking engines will work...Venere.com for instance will list you the three hotels in Menaggio they have connections with; both the Bellagio hotel and the Belvedere booking mechanisms actually work right now although the Bellagio already has no lake view rooms available for some dates in both August AND September!

Lastly, when in doubt, you can always blame high prices on us stupid Americans who have this bizarre notion that some things are worth more than others.