florence & venice hotel problems
 

My family of 4 will be in these cities in June and we are having a very difficult time finding affordable quad hotel rooms. I can't find anything under 250 euros/per nite. (We would rather have 2 doubles but that's really out of the question money wise.)<BR><BR>I've seen lots of hotel suggestions on this site but very few with family sized rooms. Anyone have any suggestions that are based on recent experience?

We stayed at the Croce di Malta in Florence last week. It is close to the train station, and within walking distance to the Duomo, Dell'Accademia, and the Ponte Vecchio. We paid a conference rate of EU 210 for a double. One thing I noticed about the room is that it could accommodate four! A small bathroom and king bed are in the loft, and a sitting room with pull-out couch is below. It would be tight, when eveyone is in the room, but it slept four. Not sure what the charge would be in June and for four, however. The included breakfast was just coffee, roll, and orange colored water - but there was a swimming pool in the courtyard! Hope this helps!<BR><BR>

Venice: If you don't mind staying on the island of Murano and taking a short vaporetto ride to the main island(s), try this one. Quads for 150 euros with airconditioning, private bath, TV, and breakfast.<BR><BR>http://www.venicehotel.it/venice_hotel.htm<BR><BR>

Another suggestion might be going with an apartment. My husband and I have rented one in both Florence (95 Euro per night) and Venice (120 Euro per night) for this July. We are also looking at the aspect of being able to eat in on some days/nights in order to save money on meals.<BR><BR>I have seen numerous apartments for families ranging in size from 2 to 6 or more. I can give you the contacts we've used if you're interested. I was just really surprised in my research at how much less expensive apartments were over hotel rooms in both cities.<BR>

I just did a text search here for &quot;apartments AND Venice&quot;. Many threads came up with good info for you. The most interesting was one called Apartment in Dorsudoro but it sounds like it may be taken by other Fodorites depending upon when in June you're going! They found the website for it on Slowtravel.com<BR>The Pensione Accademia has at least one large family room and the Galleria has doubles for 110e so if they had 2 that would work.

Hi<BR>try looking for an apartment at<BR>www.venicerentals.com<BR><BR>also I've read good things about this Venice budget hotel here and elsewhere<BR>Hotel Bernardi-Semenzato, <BR>Campo SS Apostoli, Cannaregio <BR>check the Rants &amp; Raves comments here at fodors.com<BR><BR>The Hotel Canada also has quad rooms tho' I don't know current prices.<BR>No elevator.<BR>

We stayed in quads in both Venice and FLorence. In Florence we stayed in Hotel Casci (www.hotelcasci.com). It's a very pleasant and friendly 2* hotel. The family that runs it makes you feel at home form the moment you check in. It is great value. In March 2001 it ran under $200. Venice is more expensive in general. We had a quad at Hotel FLora (www.hotelflora.it). This was the most charming of the hotels we stayed in Italy but also the most expensive. It was about $300. The quad at both hotels was one large room with a double and 2 twin beds. Both included breakfast. <BR><BR>In general many hotels don't advertise on their own websites or on booking websites that they have family rooms because in many cases they only have 1 or 2 such rooms. If you are interested in a particular hotel, email and ask. We found several that way. We also asked specifics regarding bedding arrangement, etc.

I agree with MFNYC's suggestion of the Casci in Florence. It is a two-star (so don't expect luxury), but quite comfortable. The room we stayed in was a quad (even though we were only 2 people). It was bright, quiet, clean and had a nice bathroom.

We enjoyed the Casci in Florence also. The hotel is in a great location, our quad room was very large...lots of room to move about...and the owners/staff were wonderful to us as well as with our chidlren.<BR><BR>In Venice we stayed at the Hotel Canada. The location was good...but we would not stay there again. Our quad room there was at the top of the stairs and although we had our own bathroom...it was across the hall right where everyone came up the stairs...so you felt sort of on display. Also the shower drain did not work properly...after 1 person showered it took around 6 hours to drain...so we had to alternate days to shower...amongst 4 of us. The desk staff were very cold too...so all in all it just was not a positive experience. <BR><BR>Both of these hotel stays were in the spring of 1999...so maybe things have changed for the better at the Hotel Canada. Hopefully someone else has a more recent and positive experience.

For quad rooms in June, you may also have trouble with availability at the more popular small hotels (such as the Casci), since it is already mid-March. <BR><BR>If you've not done so already, I suggest you search for quad rooms by your dates on venere.com. It will show you what is available, and give you rates for your total stay. I just did an arbitrary search for three nights in Florence starting June 15 and found plenty of availabilty at good hotels within your price range. (Including the Casci!)<BR><BR>You can still book direct with the hotel if you prefer (I always do), but this way you are dealing with places that actually have the type of room you need for the dates you will be there.

I went to Florence not too long ago and stayed at the Hotel Le Due Fontane. It was a lovely place to stay and very near EVERYTHING!!

In Florence, we stayed in B&amp;BInPiazzaDellaSignoria. It is a wonderful small hotel with large rooms. They also have apartments or suites that could accomodate 4 people. We paid Euro 240 for the double, I think<BR>the rates for the quad are around 300 though.

laurel,<BR><BR>I haven't been yet but have been doing a lot of research for a future trip. I'd been reviewing an apartment site that had been recommended by several folks on here. Guest in Italy looks to have a good selection of short term rentals listed for both cities that will sleep 4 people for under $200 on a per-night basis. Some listed only allow for weekly rentals. The Venice apartments appear to have 3 night minimum stays.<BR><BR>We were thinking that even though there are just two of us, that an apartment, if clean and functional, would be a more comfortable experience and provide more options for dining, etc. Maybe others here would be able to add more info on the company, recommendation-wise, or a search should turn up more info as well.<BR><BR>http://www.guestinitaly.com/<BR><BR>Good luck!

You can also try a search by dates on venere.com for 2 doubles and compare availabilty and costs between that and quad rooms. <BR><BR>It actually is possible within your price range; plenty of decent 2-stars will come in just under. You could also save a few bucks if you like by booking one of the rooms without private bath (the kids can deal with dorm-type bathroom down the hall arrangements, can't they?)

laurelt:<BR><BR>In Florence, you might try the Hotel Dali (www.hoteldali.com). I have reservations there for my trip later this year. They don't have Quads, but a double w/ bath is only 75Euro per night. You could get two doubles for much less than your budgeted 250Euro per night.<BR><BR>Also, go to www.eurocheapo.com for some other great, budget hotel ideas. I've used them extensively to plan for my upcoming trip to London, Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome. <BR><BR>Good Luck,<BR>Jennie<BR><BR>

laurelt -<BR><BR>Along the apartment vein, I have been researching apartments for part of our honeymoon to Italy. The poster above mentioned &quot;guestinitaly&quot;. I noticed, while doing research for rome (perhaps this does not remain true for florence and venice but it's worth a try!)that alot of the apartments on &quot;guestinitaly&quot; are also listed on another site, &quot;www.sleepinitaly.com&quot; The prices on &quot;sleepinitaly&quot; were cheaper - sometimes substantially so! They had a number of apartments available for shorter stays. It may be worth it to take a look at both and compare prices. I can't comment on the service as we won't be leaving until September but they have been great thus far when communicating by email. I did however, have to pay a non-refundable deposit of 50 Euros. This may affect your decision. Good luck!

I should have checked prior to posting - not many common listings for florence and venice between the two sites I mentioned above - the few that are listed twice are actually cheaper on &quot;guestinitaly&quot;! However, at least you can view more apartments!

hotel Galleria has a large room that can accomodate 4 people. We had 2 very small doubles in 1999 that ran about $110 including breakfast. It is right by the Accademia bridge easy walking distance to San Marco, great pizza place outside, helpful staff, right on the canal.

Thanks so much for all the wonderful info. I have a lot of research to do!

I, too, would recommend staying in an apartment in both cities. I've used Venice Rentals and would highly recommend them (and have done so on previous posts). I've also stayed at the earlier mentioned apartment in Dorsoduro - I definitely would NOT try to put a family of 4 in that apartment.