Hi. I am unable to book certain hotels on one site (sometimes directly with the hotel) only to find it available through other means, for example venere or itwg. I am confused. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Sure. This happens all the time. Airline seats too.<BR><BR>Computer systems not updated yet - - or seats/rooms contracted to sell - - and those are all gone.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Yes, this happened to me a couple of months ago when trying to book a room in Paris. Then a few days later, they got back to me with a rate. So frustrating. In future, I'd prefer dealing directly with hotels thru their websites, even tho many hotels where I'd like to stay don't have websites. C'est la vie!

Never give up if it's a place you really want to stay at. One hotel in Rome told me one day they were open, the next they were booked. One agency said no openings, the next I tried got me a room. All this in the same day!

Also, sites like Expedia have a block of rooms that may only be available through them ( ie, Expedia special rates). Keep checking because people do cancel and the room may become available only through the site on which it was originally booked. I have found this with travel in the US (I travel alot for my job). I am sure it must apply also internationally.

Sure, it happens with theatre tickets all the time. I contacted a London theatre box office a few weeks ago and was told that the performance I wanted was sold out. However, I was able to get a ticket through ticketmaster.com, and a good seat too and the premium was minimal. Pays to keep trying I guess.

I've found several times that a hotel would have no vacancies on some hotel booking site/consortium, but I got a room when contacting them directly the next day. I think some hotels limit the number of rooms they allow those sites to book. I've had that happen with Utell and even with the Relais & Chateaux website. NOrmally, I do try to book directly with the hotel but sometimes those websites can be convenient (supposedly). The one I got directly even tells you to book through Utell, they have some deal with them, at least their owner does. In these cases, it was not a timing incident, as I tried regularly at various times for several days (don't ask why I didn't just do it directly right away, I was just lazy about writing the letter, trying to send the FAX at odd hours, etc., and had some time to fool around).

The absolutely best hotel internet site I've seen is www.accomodate.org<BR>They use several search engines and the list of towns in Europe is the most extensive I've seen

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