Does anyone know if hotel prices in major Italian cities go down in general from the summer to the Fall ? I've read that airfares from the US go down then but haven't been able to find out if the same happens with hotels.....Thanks for any replies!

Which month?
Only late Oct. and Nov.

I've seen hotel pricing that fluctuates with the season. Check with the hotel you're thinking of booking and see what is on their web site. There is no set rule for the entire country.

Whether airfares or hotel rates go down or not depends on the market environment of the destinations. Relying on one rule fits all rule of thumb can lead to major disappointments. You can check both the airfares and the hotel rates on your own for specific destinations without incorrectly assuming that the price trend applies in your case.

For conference cities, I usually see a major jump up in airfares and hotels between late summer and early fall prices as the vendors change the price strategies to take advantage of people traveling on company money and those who must be there on specific dates. (price inelastic travelers.)

I would not base my trip on when hotel prices might go down. You need to consider weather and amount of daylight hours. Nov. might have a bit lower prices, but is the rainiest month. No one will enjoy a trip walking around in the rain all the time. If cost is so much consideration to you, you can book your group into convents for very little (see my post on your other thread).

You need to list what you want to spend per night (and amenities needed) instead of wondering when prices might change. You can't expect prices to go down in major cities of the world as there is always something going on in large cities. It's like asking when hotel prices go down in NYC. Rome does have a bit of price drop late July and Aug. as it's too hot to be there, but I don't think you would want to be there either when it's so hot.

I can't think of any reason they would go down in October, if they do go down, I'd expect it to be later November. I would expect them to go up in the Fall compared to late summer. Hotel rates can vary based on some big holiday or festival, also, although I don't know of any at that time. But I'm not an Italy expert.

but I agree it is easy just to check a few places you are considering to see. IF you just want a real broad idea, no.

oh, and whether international air fares to Italy go down doesn't correlate to hotel rates going down in major cities at all. Air fares from the US to Italy may depend a lot on tourism, but hotel rooms do not. A lot of people going to hotels in any major European city are not necessarily tourists from the US, they are Europeans and many of them are business people and aren't flying from the US.

The best way to save is to base yourself someplace for a week or two at a time. We spent 995Euro for TWO WEEKS in Umbria at a flat near Spoleto during the month of September. From there we were able to daytrip all over Umbria and parts of Tuscany. The ladies who stayed in the flat above ours even went to Pompeii for a day (via train...and it was a long day for them, but they were Brit who were used to traveling like this on their vacations. I think they had even driven their own car.)

If you pay in cash, you can also negotiate better deals at hotels, but you need to start out from a position of strength -- "I need one week - 7 nights - what's the best price you can give me?" Even if it is less than a week, some places will offer you 4 nights when you pay for 3. And then, if they haven't already, ask if they'll give you another discount if you pay in cash. We did that last year in Rome, and then we had all week to get the right amount of cash from ATMs because he didn't even want us to pay until we checked out!