Hi folks,
I'm ready to start booking some rooms for a May trip, but have some questions...Book directly with the hotel or with a booking service? If a booking service, which do you suggest? If directly with the hotel, do you suggest email, phone, or fax?

Also, I don't know Spanish (will work on very basics before I leave, but not there yet). Any tips for bridging possible language barrier in booking a room?

Thank you for your advice.

If you have hotels identified, an have determined that they have a website, you may be able to get some comparison pricing from www.tripadvisor.com or www.venere.com

If their web site is comprehensible to you in Spanish, or it is in English, you can probably find an e-mail address. I would e-mail in English, using short declarative sentences. Clearly mention the date of arrrival, the date of departure, the number of rooms, the number of persons in each room, and the number of beds in each room. Ask "do you have a cancellation policy or penalty?" then volunteer that you will send your credit card asconfirmation when they have confrmed availability and price. If necessary, be prepared to send your credit card info by fax, if you feel safer doing that. Some websites will be setup with a secure (https://) server.

Make sure and check out www.parador.es as you plan your itnerary also.

Best wishes,

Rex

I suggest booking directly with the hotel via email or fax. There is at least one person at reception that knows to speak English.

When I was booking hotels in Spain I sent the e-mail in phrase book Spanish and in English. The answer usually came back in Spanish which I could translate with a dictionary or Babel Fish. My experience was that there are places without any English speakers around.

Thanks for the assistance all! Gavin--I too thought there would be places without English speakers, particularly since we are going to some small towns. I'll give my first phrase book inspired email a shot tomorrow.