I'm trying to wade through the information on Russian visas. Can anyone tell me if I book hotels through a on-line booking service like Travelocity, Expedia, Hotels.com, etc. how I will get my invitation and voucher for the visa?
Thanks so much!

Usually, you can just e-mail or fax the hotel and request an invitation once you've booked your room.

Travelocity, Expedia, etc., do not provide visa services.

There are many "official" looking websites, when you do a search that are NOT, and may or may not result in a visa.

You must send your original passport, and you must be very careful where you send it.

Best bet is probably to contact the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington, DC. Telephone: (202) 298-5700 Fax: (202) 298-5735

They will fax you an application (in Russian and English). It is essential that it be completed properly, with particular attention to date format. They will explain the requirements and processing time requirements.

There are many, many visa support services available - some charge a ridiculous amount for doing what you can do for yourself. But, if you're not sure of what you're doing, it would be worth a small fee to have an expert make sure nothing goes wrong.

If you're going to use a service, make sure you find one that others have used successfully and recommend.

We went to Russia with Viking Rivers. They provided the form and a list of required documentation, along with recommended submission dates (not too soon, not too late). They also provided a selection of reputable visa support services with reasonable fees. We decided to use a support service so if there was a problem we would have assistance in sorting it out. But, everything went just fine.

Thanks!
I like the idea of prepaying the hotel with Expedia to avoid any "extras" like conversion fees.
I'm planning to send the visa to the consulate myself; I'll just need the supporting documents.
Question though - I'm going to be in Ecuador until about 3 weeks before my trip. I thought I would probably use the 3-5 day turnaround because we can't send in the paperwork prior to our return. Did you find the estimated times accurate?
Thanks again!

I just did this.

I am taking an Amadeus cruise. I used Zierer services http://zvs.com/

Through Amadeus's instructions - I was told not to send it in before 90 days before the trip. I sent it in about 80 days before. One of the questions on ZVS form was "when did we need it back by". I don't leave until May 30th but put May 1st down just to be careful.

I paid $194 including shipping for the visa.

I did not pay for any expediated service and received my passport back and visa in about 17 days.

I did not want to handle this on my own as I had several thousands of dollars tied up in the trip and didn't want there to be any problems

Skedaddle--- we actually visited the Embassy of the Russian Federation in NYC and they gave us a list of about 20 agencies in NYC who do all this paperwork for you. I agree w/dkbooks; this type of transaction with such risky approach (3-4 TOT), better be left to the experienced. We also paid a reasonable fee, but did not have to weed out all the procedures and felt comfortable with the fact that the Embassy themselves vouched for this agency. They handled the Visa and invitation (we provided passports, flight/hotel info).

Thanks, folks! Sorry for the late reponse, I've been in Memphis for the last few days and couldn't access the web.
Thanks for the recommendation, Theresa! Viejero2, which agency did you use?

Skedaddle-- we used ECVO Tours, Inc. located in 45 West 34st Street, NYC, phone number (212) 563-6394, e-mail [email protected]. Galena took care of us, the whole staff was Russian. Galena is original from St. Petersburg and gave us many pointers for this gorgeous city. They were very professional and again, listed by the Embassy under their Authorized Travel Agencies listing. I have a list of about 11-12 other agencies in case you want alternatives. Hope this helps.

Before booking through Expedia, be sure to check rates for the same properties through other resources, including directly with the hotel. Sometimes there are good rates on Expedia, but sometimes rates for the same type of room are much higher. Often, it is more convenient to pay in American dollars, but sometimes this actually costs you significantly more.

You also want to book only a hotel that you can also contact directly to verify your reservation, which you should always do when booking via a third party. Make sure the hotel has your reservation recorded properly shortly after you book, and again just before leaving home, and that the reservation is listed as prepaid.

Thanks for the recs, guys!
The ecvotours.com website seems to be all about Uzbekistan - do you think they have changed their focus?

djkbooks - I was actually able to book through expedia when all the other sites said there were no rooms. So, I did e-mail the hotel to make sure they had my reservation, however, I didn't think about asking if they had it indicated as pre-paid - good tip! They want $30 to issue the invitation and voucher. Trying to decide if I just want to do one of the visa services for the invitation, too. It seems like it would be cheaper as a total. Does anyone think there is a risk to getting the visa invitation from an agency (presumably they will indicate that I am staying at some other hotel)?

Skedaddle:

An "invitation" is part of the documentation required which must be submitted with your VISA application.

I'm not totally positive, but to the best of my knowledge the agency you use will get an invitation from your hotel, probably charging you considerably more than the $30 to do that on your behalf.

My understanding is that the visa invitation companies just issue an invitation for a hostel or something so that you get the invitation and voucher, then you stay wherever you want. I've not seen any of these services ask for a hotel name where you are staying or anything.
If I get the invitations myself, that's $30 each for my husband and myself for both St. Petersburg and Moscow. So, $120 total vs. $60 for the invitation service to issue them.
On the other hand, a complete visa service (ex. russianvisaguide) appears to issue the invitation, pay the counslate fee, do the legwork, and send it back to me overnight for $158 each. I'm a little worried about timing as I have another trip scheduled to arrive back 5/25 and we are headed for Russian on 6/16!

ECVOTOURS.COM is a worst place to buy your tickets! I bought tickets with them 2 months before and now 3 days before flight I keep calling them every day and asking where are my tickets and they tell me every day thet they will send them tomorrow. And that happens every day for 2 months! They don't give me my money back and don't give me my tickets! They are thiefs and not a real company! Newer order tickets with them or you wil be in trouble nad lose all your money!!! ECVOTOURS are THIEFS!

I dealt with ECVO Tours in 2005 and we were extremely pleased with their services. Very professional and courteous staff. Timely delivery of services, calls were returned promptly. Based on my PERSONAL experience, I do not hesitate whatsoever in recommending them.