Hotels/Inns/Don't respond
 

Am getting very frustrated that I am not getting answers about rates and availabilty for Oct. Nothing from the Salzburg area, and scant from Vienna. What am i doing wrong? Never had this problem in other European countries.Help! Lisa

I'd try and give them a call or use a third party booking engine such as Expedia.

..try venere.com

Hi lisa,

Many smaller hotels don't bother answering emails.

You might get a better response if you faxed or phoned.

Dial 1016868 first. You can call Europe for about 10 cts./min

Ira, you are so right!! I have sent e-mails to 3 different hotels in Switzerland and no replies. I thought something was wrong with my e-mail service.

Small hotels and B&Bs all over Europe just haven't gotten the hang of using e-mail yet. Pick up the phone and call them. If you use 101068 it costs only pennies per minute, and you can get a feel for what their service is like by the way they talk to you.

I have found it much more satisfactory to call the small hotels. If they have availability, then you send them a fax with your credit card # to confirm. I usually call using 10-10-987, and it's really quite inexpensive! 3 cents a minute, plus $.39 connect charge.

Not to be contrary, but I've been booking small hotels and B&Bs for several years by email and have never had a problem. It surprises me to hear how commonly you all find that to be the case.

I think it depends on the hotel. Even large well-known hotels in Paris don't respond to multiple emails until they feel like it.

Generally, if we don't get a prompt reply to a request for information, I assume they don't have a room available and look elsewhere. The places with rooms open for your date usually respond quickly.
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Lisasnv, I had the same problem with many hotels in Florence for my roadrunner e-mail account. Then one hotel kindly informed me by fax that they had tried to reach my e-mail repeatedly with no success. So I opened a second e-mail on yahoo just for those hotels to reach me, and they didn't have any trouble reaching the yahoo account for some reason.

When you e-mail a hotel requesting information, be sure to add them to your e-mail address book. Several e-mail carriers refuse e-mail from sources not in your address book. This is a spam fighting measure. Don't know if this is what happened to you but it might help.
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Thanks to all who responded, the venere site is going to be helpful also. Did get a couple answers and selected one pension in Vienna.Lisa

I stayed at a lovely little pension in salzburg for 2 weeks last christmas. found it on www.salzburginfo.at then click on accommodation, then bed and breakfast. i had a reply within a day and it was right on the bus route and next to a supermarket about 10 mins by bus to the oldtown. was 22euro a night for a single room but shower/wc in the hallway. 38 euro a night for a double/twin room with private facilities. no breakfast but the supermarkets was so close i just went and bought fresh bread and yoghurt each morning.