Linda

I have been following these boards and recommendations for hotels in Italy. I am planning first-time trip in May of 2002. I've noticed when I go on certain hotel booking websites, alot of the recommended hotels are already full (upon checking for Rome and Florence so far). Is that possible? Do I have to book each hotel now? I thought I could wait until a few months, at least, before I leave. Any tips or comments?

Jen Ratta

Although I don't know if this is the problem in your case, I have noticed that some hotels say "Unavailable" but really mean that they haven't started booking that far in advance. Just a thought.......

Robin

I suspect Jen is right. Although I haven't booked anything in Italy recently, I've never had any trouble booking five to six months out, and sometimes much later than that. An exception might be a hotel that is popular with groups, where a tour could conceivably book the whole hotel, but even that is unlikely. I'll be interested to see others' responses.

Ed

While many people use them, I don't recommend using hotel booking websites. They'll almost never have "last room availability", among other reasons. <BR> <BR>Highly unlikely many, if any, hotels are booked up already for for next year May. However, many/most of the more desirable value-for-money hotels are quite small (50-100 beds; 20-50 rooms), well known and do tend to book up quite far in advance for peak periods. (And May has become a part of the peak in recent years.) I say the best are often booked three months in advance, sometimes four. <BR> <BR>So, there's no need in most cases to book now, but for May, if you're particular about the hotel(s) you want, you should probably make your reservations shortly after the first of the year. <BR> <BR>And while there's nothing wrong with checking various websites, including the hotels' own, for info and "deals", I do suggest dealing with the hotel directly. While e-mail is an option, I far prefer fax (or phone.)

PostGirl

We went to Italy this past June. I reserved one of the Florence hotels 8 months in advance, same for Rome. Wasn't going to chance anything as I definitely knew where we wanted to say. Italy is a popular place, and May 2002 will be a popular tourist time I'm sure. I say book early if you can.

John H

I'd also suggest booking as early as possible. The early bird does indeed get the worm, in terms of the best value for money. The smaller, very nice lodgings do end up getting full first, whether it is because they are perennial favorites among individual travellers and/or because groups use them. Like Ed, I would suggest faxing or e-mailing directly to the hotels in question. <BR> <BR>john

Robin

Hi Linda-- <BR> <BR>I didn't read originally that you were trying to book via services. I agree with the others who suggest contacting the hotel directly. Email is wonderful where it's available, as you don't have to worry about time differences or language barriers. That should work even this far in advance.

Diane

I booked our May 9-29, 2001 hotels in Oct and Nov. that is the Rome, Venice and Florence places. I started to get anxious in March and booked for the Amalfi coast, Tuscany (an outstanding deal with internet discount), and Verona. While re-confirming all places the month before we left, I never heard back from our very first stop in Chiusi. Even phone calls went unanswered. So I called another B&B linked to it on the web and she confirmed that he was temporarily closed. She gave us a room which turned out to be fabulous. (Business people in small towns are delightful to deal with personally.) Timeframe: the week before we left! At the extreme other-end of the spectrum, we found a room in Orvieto at the Tourist Info office for a Monday night, and just walked in to a place in Frascati for the following night. Based on my experience...you can book the "big 3" cities this October/November and probably get your first choices. I'd probably wait until March to fill-in, and even go so far as to suggest you try waiting until arrival. The Tourist Office in Montepulciano had several people leafing through brochures and choices for the area. Orvieto was no problem, as I found. And I think we could have found someplace on the Amalfi Coast with a gorgeous view (that was my disappointment with our place -- the interior was terrific,but it wasn't up high enough for a real view) on a drop-in or Tourist Info Office basis.

Barbara

I booked my hotels in Florence, Venice, Milan, & Verona in March for April-May arrivals without many problems. Some hotels were already full but I was still able to get good (reasonable rates & centrally located) hotels. The more popular/well known hotels were the ones that were already booked. There are many resources to find hotels in Italy, books, magazines, the internet, etc.

Maria

I agree with Jen -- we were in Italy this past May and last year I was so anxious about planning our trip, but found that at this time (July) most hotels were not equipped to quote rates and availability for the following year. I sent emails directly to hotels around October/November, but didn't actually book until after January and had no problems securing rooms.

Susan

Linda, <BR>I suggest about 6 months out UNLESS you are really really trying hard for one special hotel. For example, I'm staying at the Pensione Accademia in Venice (always wanted to stay there...) and booked a year in advance! (They cashed my deposit check too!) It's very well known, and I'd heard that it books up a year in advance. I tried 2 years ago, 8 months in advance and they were fully booked. <BR>Whenever you book make sure you reconfirm your reservation at least once. I have read some horror stories on here about people arriving only to be told that their rooms were "given away" because the hotels over committed! Yikes. So, fax, email and fax some more.

Linda

Thanks for the many replies; your help is invaluable!