I am planning a trip for my family for this summer. I have hotels suggested by my travel agent and would love any ideas or tips. I have been several times but it has been years since my last time.
It will be five of us so we know we need two rooms. I have 3kids-triplets who turned 15 yesterday. They actually enjoy history so long as it isn't all history

Rome we have either hotel vento Roma or empire palace hotel. Then in Florence I am thinking ambasciatori then in Venice Allegro All Angelo. Any tips or suggestions are welcomed. Thanks.

Hi Anne,
I hope you enjoy your trip in Italy. As you have suggestions for Rome & Florence, I will only give my views on Venice.

We stayed at a beautiful hotel - Ca Pagan. The owners are wonderful and will suggest great restaurants and places of interest. It is about 100 metres from the ferry stop, which avoids an expensive water taxi.

It only has 6 or 8 rooms, so you may need to book early.

Enjoy.

I don't care for the location of either of your Rome hotels, which are located close to one another in the same nieghborhood. I stayed there once and tired quickly of the extra 15-minute wal each way very time I cam and went for the hotel. I think a family with teenagers would prefer to be in the historic center, closer to the areas of Piazza Navona and Campo de Fiori.

The Ambasciatori is one of Florence's most traffic-congested unpleasant streets, sandwiched between the main train station and bus station. Again, I'd look for a location a bit away from the train station, more toward the Duomo and/or river.

Your choice in Venice is right next to Piazza San Marco, and area with lots of shops and an easy walk to the main sites.

Based on these recommendations, I would not think that your travel agent has ever been to these cities.

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate all of them and will look into it!

And, in Venice, I'd stay away from Piazza San Marco and the Rialto. Both of these areas are very crowded, especially in the summer. Venice is not very big; you can get around quite easily from almost any place in the city proper.

I assume the hotels are ones which will give the travel agent a kickback. Have you looked up their reviews at sites like www.tripadvisor.com and booking.com?

The kids will love Venice (no cars, waterbuses and water taxis!) and enjoy Rome. Florence is best for fans of Renaissance art and architecture. But it makes a good base for daytrips, by train to places like Pisa and Lucca (ride bikes around the top of the city walls) and by bus to Fiesole and Siena.

<<<I have hotels suggested by my travel agent and would love any ideas or tips.>>>

Anne - I haven't used a Travel Agent in 16yrs and I think you'll find the vast majority of posters here don't either for booking hotels and airfare.

So I don't know how TA's work today but as far as booking hotels someone has to pay the TA.

Either the hotels give them a special discount and they charge you the actual rate or they book the hotels and then charge you a commission?

Perhaps years ago it was the former but today I'd guess it's the latter.

When I used them they would give me a Italy brochure listing the hotels they only use.

I recall it was 2*, 3* and 4* hotels with maybe 4-5 hotels listed in each Star rating.
So my options were *very* limited back then.

Today with almost all the hotels having websites sometimes with Special deals on them it is alot easier and very likely cheaper to directly book with them plus you can make requests as to your room (side-by-side, street facing, etc.) or ask them questions.

And then there are reliable websites (hotel.com, book.com, venere.com, etc) where you can also book hotels.

I would post how much you are being charged by the TA for a Double and Triple per night so people have an idea of your price range and can give you some recommandations for other better located hotels.

Also search venere.com by location for hotels, then go to tripadvisor.com with your list and read the comments from people who have actually stayed there most likely recently.
And also post and search here.

Bottomline: You will have access to basically All the hotels in Rome, Florence and Venice, you can get reviews of people that stayed there and very likely at a cheaper price than a TA can offer you.

Agree that either or both of Venere and Tripadvisor are indispensable for finding hotels. I use Tripadvisor--you can sort by area, price, etc., read reviews by travellers who've stayed there, then get quotes right from the same site.

Even if you decide to book a hotel recommended by your travel agent, you should still check it out on those sites to see what you're getting.

how long are you going to be in each place, Anne?

if more than 3 days, you might be better off with an apartment.

a two--bedded apartment will probably cost less than 2 hotel rooms, will give you much more space and freedom, and should make daily living cheaper as you can buy in your breakfasts, eat in a bit, buy wine to drink in the apartment instead of having to go to a bar, etc.

and I agree with all the advice about locations - you want to be a central as possible, with the exception of Venice, where San Marco is probably not the place to be.

Agree with the TA comments. Unless you are paying the TA a fee or hourly rate for their work - they will limit themselves to those hotels that pay TS commission (not very many and typically the most expensive).

If you are paying the TA a fee - you need to find one more familiar with italy. If not - then you get what you pay for (nothing) - and I would look for options yourself.

Think about the apartment idea. We used www.sleepinitaly.com for a Rome apt. For 3 days & really enjoyed the extra space and washing machine in the apt. Also we used La Calcina hotel in Venice which had 4 apts in addition to the hotel rooms. The rates included a full breakfast which is especially great when traveling with teens. In Rome the kids will love hanging out in the piazza an one square at night watching the street performers.

That's Piazza Navone - gotta love auto spell check!

An apartment that might work for you in Venice (I am staying there right now) is http://www.vrbo.com/149494

It will sleep five very comfortably.

Your kids might like http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-teenagers.cfm

Or click on my name for several Venetian trip reports.

Thanks so mush you have all given e good advice. I will check it all out before doing anything.

We stayed in these properties in December - Couple plus 3 teenage kids.

The Venice property was 5 in one room - a bit crowded, but only for 2 nights, and a great location near Rialto Bridge - may be crowded in high season, but terrific in early December.

We had two rooms in Florence - brilliant location in a great street an easy walk to everything in Central Florence - and a fabulous historic building - take a look at the website!

The Rome apartment was also beautiful - in Centro Storico - we walked everywhere from here - a pleasant stroll from both Piazza Navona and Campo de Fiori and surrounded by interesting antique and artists shops and galleries.


Venice
http://www.hotelmarconi.it/hotel_mar..._venice-en.htm

Florence
http://www.hotelscoti.com/index.html

Rome
http://www.rentalinrome.com/campodef...ricalapartment