Q re booking on Venere.com
 

Do the rates quoted on the Venere site include taxes, or not? I see where they show if breakfast is or isn't included, but no mention of taxes. If taxes are included, does the booking confirmation from Venere actually state that taxes are included in the rate?

I think it depends on where you are staying. The venere policy is:

"8. Room rates
All the rates found in our website are provided directly by the properties and are per room and per night. ... As a general rule rates contemplate taxes but this depends on the country visited. For instance, in Italy all properties - with some exceptions - include in their fares the relevant taxes whereas American hotels never do. Be informed that tax values are subject to changes and therefore, even if taxes are included in the price, they can be calculated only approximately."

I recently booked with venere and looked at the email they sent me confirming the reservation and it is silent on the subject of taxes. I also looked at the voucher the hotel sent me and is is also silent on the subject. The last time I used venere, I know the taxes were included, but that was for italy.

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Thanks for your responses. I just emailed the customer service dept. at Venere. My concern is based on a recent Tripadvisor review where the hotel insisted on charging tax because the booking service (don't know if it was Venere or not) didn't state that it was included.

I emailed venere a simple question a couple weeks ago and am still waiting.
Good Luck

yes, i also have been waiting for a couple weeks for a response from venere, without luck
in the meantime, i e-mailed the hotel directly and got an answer to my question. you might try that.

I didn't book with venere because of the confusion and unstated things like taxes. I used VeniceBy.com (part of WorldBy.com) and have been very happy with the service I've received from them. I got an email from my "personal travel consultant" after 2 days saying she noticed I'd not heard from the B&B and that is not conducive to their customer service standard so she would contact them to see what was going on. Book with another agency if Venere is not meeting your standard!

Maybe it is just my experience but none of the hotels in Europe that I have booked have listed a better price in Venere. I fail to see what the advantage is to book via a website where their "customer service" department doesn't even answer your questions.
I have always obtained a better or lower price dealing with the hotel directly.

I have used venere.com for Italian hotels and have no problem with them. Like others said, they're just a booking service and questions need to be asked to the hotels themselves.

As for why I use them? Yes, their rates are often the same as other sites or the hotel's own, but they offer instant confirmation for all the bookings I've tried. I don't like wasting time emailing the hotel (or fill a form), and then wait up to 24 hours or more to get a reply.

BTW, do a Google search and you should be able to find some 4% off coupon codes. That'd be good for one booking per account.

Their instant confirmation tends to be a bit strange anyway. They basically go to the hotel and check availablility behind the scenes. If the hotel has none they will simply send you a cancellation. Always best to book directly with the hotel IMHO. The hotel saves on the commission fees to the booking site which they prefer and I think will often give you a better room.

Nope, it is not always best to book directly with the hotel. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. It pays to check several sources, including the hotel.

On our last trip we ended up booking one hotel directly and one thru a booking website. The hotel in Prague just would not match the price we found on hrs. com and on venere.com. This has happened on several trips we've taken around the world.

Eleni is right, in my experience - it depends on the country. When I've used them to book in Italy & Germany taxes have been included, but in Spain they weren't. I think it's down to the custom of each country.

Rufus, yes I do agree that you can sometimes find a better deal when booking via another site. If thats your priority then yes I agree that you should look around.

However, I booked via another site for a hotel in Talloires. I booked and was confirmed a lake view. I save probably 30 euros or so booking this way over direct hotel prices. When I got to the hotel, the "lake view" was more looking out the side of the hotel where we could see a small corner of the lake and not a full on view. I complained and was told that it was considered a lake view. A clear lie and something that I could have avoided if I had booked directly with the hotel.

So it really just depends on what you are after I suppose.

Like others have said, sometimes it is cheaper to book through Venere (or other similar companies) and sometimes it is better to go directly through the hotel.

My experience with the room I just booked on Venere is a good example. For the room I wanted, the hotel site listed a price of 190Euros, Venere's price was 134Euros. I e-mailed the hotel and said I was considering booking through Venere for 5 nights at 134Euros and asked for the best price they could give me. The hotel wrote back and said 180Euros a night was their rock bottom price. I e-mailed my thanks and said I was booking with Venere, the hotel wrote back and said they were looking forward to seeing me.

I booked with Venere. Then when I got the confirmation of the reservation directly from the hotel (my experience with Venere is you get two confirmations, one from the company and one from the hotel), I e-mailed back and asked for confirmation of the total price of the room including all taxes and fees. They wrote back with the total, which worked out to 140Euros a night. I have no idea what the extra 6Euros a night from the Venere price is for, but I'm comfortable waiting until my check-out to find out. And I do have the email from the hotel showing the total surprise so I won't face any unpleasant surprises on check-out. (And, if I were unhappy with the total price sent by the hotel, I could have cancelled my reservation without penalty.)

So. Even with the extra 6 Euros a night, I will be paying 40Euros less a night (200Euros total for 5 nights), than I would have if I booked directly with the hotel -- even after giving the hotel the opportunity to meet the Venere price.

The bottom line is -- as with all prices for travel-related expenses -- you can't generalize about the best way to do things that applies to every situation. You need to shop (before I made the booking with Venere, I checked many other hotel sites for their prices), and to double-check, and to evaluate each situation on its own.

Morgan--you have no way of knowing what room you would have ended up with had you gone directly with the hotel instead of a booking agency.

I've had both good and bad room experiences no matter how I reserved the room.

And if having a particular kind of room is important to you, you can email the hotel after making your reservation and ask them the same questions you would have asked if you booked with them directly.

After a couple of inquiries to hotels about lower prices on other booking services, and their inability or unwillingness to match, I no longer ask. Note these were all for cancellable rates. The booking service has already done the work of getting the lower price, so why try to redo it? I've booked with several booking services, both prepaid and not, and I haven't had any problems as a result.

I started asking after a hotel I had booked with a service complained about the fee they had to pay the service and said they would have beat the price if I had only asked. So now I ask. Usually the hotel won't change their price, but they do often enough that I keep asking.

------Morgan--you have no way of knowing what room you would have ended up with had you gone directly with the hotel instead of a booking agency.----

Actually in this case I do. I had spoken with the hotel previously and discussed where the room would be located. I didnt book with the hotel because they were higher and went with the 3rd party site. To me the room is more important than the price (within a certain range). If you book directly with the hotel you can discuss what rooms they have and where you would like yours.

This reallly applies more to a smaller hotel than say a Hilton or Sofitel with hundreds of rooms.

Hi HU,

I use Venere to find hotels that interest me.

I then call the hotel and ask if they can give me an equal or better price.

I ask the hotel all of the questions I have.

I generally end up booking through the hotel.

You will almost always find someone who speaks English.

((I))