We will be in Rome for three nights in late September. In trying to find accommodations, I was dismayed to find that so many of the places I tried to book online were already full. Would I have better luck trying to contact hotels by phone?

Have you looked on www.venere.com yet? You can put in your dates and it will pull up what is available.

You have six months.

No way you’re too late.

E-mail is a fast and efficient way to make reservations, and most hotels of any quality will give you that option. The phone, on the other hand, is wasteful, in time and money.

Have a great trip.

Hi - not by phone, try emailing the hotels directly instead of using one of the online booking services, they are given only a few rooms to book - besides you will, often times, get a much better rate going straight to the hotel. September should be a relativley easy time to get a room, so keep checkiing, adn good luck. Bon Voyage

It's true some hotels have availability by phone that they don't have by email. So give them a call (it need only cost pennies with a long-distance plan or a calling card). But if you go this route, make sure to get some sort of printed confirmation.

Try direct with the hotels. With online hotel sites such as venere.com , which is great, they don't have official info from some hotels past the next season yet. It sometimes comes up as "not available" Hotels have to price plan for the upcoming seasons.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I have looked up scores of hotels, B&B's, and townhouses on venere.com. Many say "not available". I did wonder if I were too early and some will open up later.

also booking.com is good. I use them and venere. Sometimes one will have hotels the other doesn't and visaversa.

sburrow, don't be discouraged. I booked our lodging for Italy for our October 2006 trip in ... September 2006.

BUT...I emailed, and re-emailed, and re-re-emailed. I did NOT deal with any of the booking agencies, I dealt directly with the hotels/b&bs in all cases. I did NOT telephone (well, I faxed one place early on, but when I got the phone bill, I decided I wasn't going to do that anymore!)

I wrote short, simple notes in Italian and in English, telling the managers that we would like to be placed on a wait list, if possible. All but one or two of the places I was interested in were willing to wait list us. And we eventually got reservations in every city we were about to visit!

Just be prepared to put some time & energy into it. Don't take your first "no" as a final "no."

Thanks for all the good advice. I will press on emailing the hotels directly.

If you book with the hotel directly you can sometimes get special rates using cash for instance. I would email or call if I really wanted a certain place.

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