I booked my hotel months ago online. It is a small, country establishment in Italy, and the owner was kind enough to accept my reservation many months in advance without requiring anything but my word that I'd show up. I've decided that in the midst of what was a 4 night stay, I'm going to spend a night elsewhere. The trip is 4 weeks away. Would it be rude of me to inform the owner that I will not be staying that night with the expectation that I won't pay for it? Especially since it may be hard to find someone else who wants it for just one night? Will letting him know by email with the explanation that I understand that he may still wish to charge me (for instance, if he can't find someone else for that night) be wrong and sour him on what would have been a lovely hotelier-traveler relationship? I'm okay with absorbing the cost of the night and paying for the room in the other city as well, but am I being too considerate? By the way it's off season, if that makes any difference.

Just tell him about your revised plans and ask what his policy is if you don't stay for one night. He may charge you for it, but why don't you wait for him to let you know before offering to pay.

Send him a polite email saying that your plans have changed, and you will now only be able to spend 3 nights. You are only cancelling one night of the four, and doing it four weeks in advance. I would certainly not offer to pay the extra night. Does the hotel not have a cancellation policy?

It would be easy if the one night was at the start or end of the four, but as I understand it, it is in the middle. Are you expecting to receive the same room back? Maybe make clear in your email that you will understand if you have to change rooms for the 2 parts of your stay - this may help the hotel to manage their rooms more easily. But if you really want to return to the same room, or to leave items in the hotel, I think they might be justified in charging you something.

As the previous posters said, I would just tell the hotel what your requirements are now, and ask what they will charge you for the 2 + 1 nights.

You didn't say how small the place is. Is it 4-5 rooms or is it 25-50 rooms (still small, but more of a regular motel size). If it's just a small B&B with few rooms, I think it would be wrong for you to put the owner in that position, especially because you want a night "off" in between. It's hard to impossible for these small type of places to get/find somebody just for 1 night.
He took your word and trusted you to live up to the agreement. Now you are trying to put him in a position where he will most likely loose that night.
I suppose you could always ask up front and it's possible he won't have a problem, but it's also possible he may, and if that's the case your stay may not be as friendly or fun because of the situation.
If this was a motel/hotel then I would not even blink an eye and skip paying for the 1 night.
Personally I would pay for the all 4 nights if it's just a tiny B&B type place.

Good luck and have a great trip!

I think it is nice of you to offer to pay for the night that you won't be there. Not only would this be a courtesy to the hotel (who as you stated is not a large chain had might be hard pressed to absorb the loss or rent it for just one night) but you will have the luxury of leaving extra luggage etc. in your room while you visit the other place. I think you are being very considerate, and the hotel may accept your offer or just let it go, but at least you have acknowledged that this may inconvenience them.

Hi G,

On our last trip to Italy we stayed at a small B&B.

I informed the owner that we would be going to another city for one night.

He asked if I would mind packing up and letting him store my luggage so that he could try to rent the room.

I told him that I would pay for the room.

He let us leave our things in the room, as is, and charged me only 1/2 price for the night, because he didn't have to clean the room.

As noted, call the hotel, don't email, tell them of your change in plans and see what they say.

With only 4 weeks notice, I think that you should expect to be charged something. It is likely that you are getting the 2005 rate as is.

Thank you for all of your thoughtful replies. The place is, in fact, a family palazzo that rents out two of its bedrooms. So to answer AAfrequentflyer's concern, yes, it's tiny. I've decided to simply absorb the cost since, as one of you mentioned, it would be next to impossible for him to rent it to someone else. Besides, the room in the other town, Lugano, is rock-bottom cheap (wish me luck on that one!) so I can rationalize the expense. As we are light packers, we won't have luggage to store, but at least if we're back early on the day of our return, there will be no trouble getting into our room. Thanks again for your helpful replies.

Good call. Curious, where are you staying in Lugano? The only cheap hotel I know of there is the Pestalozzi.

That's the one! Is it dreadful?

No, not at all. I've stayed there twice (review is on Trip Advisor). It's very nice, spotlessly clean, and the staff are friendly and helpful. Beds are comfortable. Some of the rooms have fabulous views of the lake. The only downside is that I didn't find the hotel's restaurant that good--try eating elsewhere. And it doesn't have airco, which doesn't matter at this time of year, but when we were there during a heat wave, it was a problem.

Yes, I just went to tripadvisor and probably read your review. It also sounds like it could be noisy. It's okay if it is. I should get out more at night myself! As I'm very excited about Lugano, it's good to know there is a decent budget hotel there. Any tips on Lugano, BTilke?

If it's in the middle of your stay, and they only have two rooms, then it's the right thing to do, to offer to keep the room for the night.
Do let us know about the palazzo; sounds interesting.

You will have a thorough trip report upon my return. I can hardly wait!!!

It's not really that noisy. There's a disco across the street but it's pretty quiet in winter. And the garbage guys may come by in the morning (which we found fascinating to watch, the garbage dumpster is underground and is brought to the service when the trucks come by. Clever Swiss.) But that's just a brief stop. The first time I was there I had a back room (their cheapest singles) and didn't notice any noise whatsoever.