I have always called hotels directly to reserve a room for our trips to italy, but recently i've been coming up with better rates on discount sites such as Romaclick (which features the properties I'm interested in) and Venere. My husband thinks dealing directly with the hotel will insure a better room, but i'd like the lower rate if possible. No, they won't honor them. i tried What are your opinions about using these sites.

Hi Ecco,

Do you mean that you booked through a deiscounter and the hotel wouldn't honor it or tht you asked the hotel for the discount rate and they wouldn't give it to you?

Discounter guarantee the hotel a certain nuber of bookings for which they receive a discount. They then resell the rooms to you.

Sort of like long-distance telephone carriers.

No, haven't used a discounter as of yet. I've seen rates quoted for the Trevi Hotel in rome for 168 euro, but the hotel will not do better than 200 euro directly, which is 16 less than the "official" rate in late October. I'd prefer one of the larger rooms with the great beamed ceilings, but i'm thinking the discount would get me a smaller one overlooking the alley!

Hi Eccomi,

It's not necessarily true that you will get a terrible room through a discounter.

First thing is to see if the discounter sight gives you a description of the room.

Second is to ask to see the room.

Third is to say, "I'm sorry, this is not acceptable".

PS. After making your booking, contact the hotel direct and ask them to confirm what you are getting by eml or Fax.

I recently booked a hotel in Venice through Venere.com and the reply from the hotel said "double superior", just like Venere said. It was 40E less than the hotel wanted.

Good luck.

Hi again,

If hubby wants to be sure of a better room, why are you filling his life with anguish and tears by going for lower price?

Indulge the poor fellow.

I don't think the idea of asking to see a room and then leaving if you don't like it is that feasible a lot of the time. Definitely not in high season, and some discounters make you prepay.

I think if there is a hotel with a range of rooms, you will most likely get the inferior rooms if some guests pay more and you pay through a discounter. If not, that isn't very good business for the hotel to give someone paying less a better room. Any good business rewards good customers and for fairness will not give someone paying more a worse room. If there is a range of rooms that are clearly defined (superior, deluxe, etc), you should get something within that category, though.

Hotels deal with discounters to get rid of rooms that are excess capacity. If they won't match the discount rate, they don't seem to be hurting for business. Most hotels will because they are getting the customer anyway, but not paying the commission to the broker.

Hi Christina,

I didn't mean to imply that if the room was unacceptable that you leave. You should be shown a different room.

If they won't do that, you wouldn't want to stay there anyway, not even at full price, because the service will be just as bad as the room they showed you.

"If hubby wants to be sure of a better room, why are you filling his life with anguish and tears by going for lower price?

Indulge the poor fellow."

Very funny, ira!
I'll pay the money!

I recently got married. The hotel where my wedding was started telling the guests about 3 weeks prior that they were "out of rooms". I called the event planner and she said that yes, the hotel was out of rooms. She then added that plenty of the rooms were available on hotels.com. SO...most of the people coming to the wedding went to that site and purchased the tickets. CRAZY!!!!!!!

RightO, Eccomi.

You'll be happier, too.

Spend the time you would have devoted to hotels to looking for the best reataurants.