Hello all-
My husband and I are taking my parents to Italy (the big three: Rome/Florence/Venice, plus Varenna) at the end of April 2005. It's the first trip for all of us. Is it ridiculous to make hotel reservations now? I have a list of places that really sound great, but I'm uncertain if reservations are a good idea, this early. Thanks for your input!

Some of the hotels may not even take reservations yet, I think usually they open up 6 or so months in advance. If you do make a reservation, carefully check the cancellation policy. As long as you can cancel without penalty there is no harm in making an early reservation. You can email the hotels that interest you and request info. They may not even have rates for '05 yet but it can't hurt to ask.

There's no harm in reserving hotels early, especially the more popular hotels/rooms. Just about all hotels allow cancellation up to one month before your arrival - make sure to check though. BTW, what places are you thinking about?

I had no problem making reservations in Florence for March way back in September, but I will say that a lot in Venice was already full at that time.

Some places may not take reservations more than a year out.

If you know the e-mail addresses for these places I would e-mail them and tell them your dates and requirements.

They will, in turn, either make an offer or tell you exactly when you can reserve for your particular timeframe.

In my opinion it is NOT too early to plan this.

Thanks for all of the feedback!

bardo-
I have my eye on...
Rome - Villa San Pio
Florence - Hotel Bellettini
Varenna - Albergo Milano
Venice - La Calcina

You'll find the 'Helpful Information' on Italy thread worth a look > > http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34443340

dana,
Have not heard of any of your hotels. I mapped your Rome hotel (see link below) - it's not terribly convenient, IMHO. Ideally, you want to be about a mile north and 1/2 mile east from Villa San Pio. Any reason you chose to be this far out?

http://www.mapblast.com/(cc0kin20wd5...53+Roma+RM|L1|

I looked at the Villa San Pio when I was researching our Rome hotel. It looks absolutely wonderful, and gets good reviews, but I decided against it because it did seem rather out of the way. But this might appeal to you and your parents. It might be a nice respite after each day of touring the sights.

Oh, also, I am booked at La Calcina in August. It has gotten good reviews here, and it was recommended by Karen Brown's B&B guidebook. I believe it books up quickly, so you might not have a problem booking so far in advance. Debora and Allesandro have been so kind and helpful in their emails to me.

We are staying in two of your mentioned places as they get high reviews on both here and TripAdvisor.com.

Thanks so much for all the input! My parents are very light sleepers, and said they would love to be in a very quiet hotel. Looking at the Villa San Pio website - although it IS indeed out of the way - seemed to be in the kind of neighborhood they wanted. (It's going to be their 32nd anniversary, so why not make them happy, right??) Thanks again to all! I'm waiting to hear back from the Bellettini and La Calcina.

I have stayed at the Belletini and it was a good location and a nice hotel. Room was in the annex and it was HUGE compared to other hotel rooms in venice, rome and paris. A year is a little early, I dont think april is as crowded so you probably dont need it so much in advance, but it cannot hurt either.

Dana: I have actually stayed in all the hotels you listed except the one in Rome (not familiar with it) - go figure! I agree one poster, it never hurts to contact the hotels this early. They will let you know when they start booking and this way you'll have the hotel portion of your planning in motion. I think you will be very happy dealing with everyone from your wish list of hotels. Florence - Hotel Bellettini: Found this to be a quiet oasis in the center (yes, center) of Florence and the women running it were characters and extremely helpful. Egidio & Bettina at the Albergo Milano in Varenna are fabulous and so attentive to all their guests - it's very popular and since Varenna is so small (and there are so few rooms at the Milano) you will definitely want to book as quickly as possible. As someone else already mentioned, Debora and Alessandro at La Calcina are terrific and respond very quickly to all e-mail requests. Hope this helps and good luck in the planning...keep us posted.