I made a reservation with Venere.com for a hotel in Spain with the understanding that I would not incur any credit charges until arriving at the hotel. I have now had a charge in the amount of $25.70 USD from the hotel appear on my credit card. I have e-mailed venere to find out about this. Has anyone else had this experience with hotel booking services, and Venere in particular?

I have used Venere with the understanding that hotels are not supposed to do that. However, a couple of days before I left for Rome my VISA bill came in and one night's charge was on there. Being that I was leaving in a couple of days, I just brought the statement with me and showed it to them when I was paying my bill. I didn't give them a chance to lie to me and charge me full price so I don't know if they would have. I do believe that hotel is no longer using the Venere site.

As long as this charge applies to cost of the room and is not some extra booking charge. So far I don't have any explanation.

I have booked with Venere (a hotel in Venice) and my credit card has not been charged by them. The total amount of our stay has been paid by CC inour hotel on departure.

I would be interested in the response once you hear back from Venere. I know the hotels are not supposed to charge in advance, which is probably why the hotel that I booked is no longer on the Venere site. I wouldn't be surprised if Venere received a lot of complaints because of this hotel doing that. Keep us posted.

It might depend on the hotel. I know that I booked a hotel in Paris through ActiveHotel.com and it said I wouldn't be charged for anything, and I haven't. However, I went to book another hotel in Normandy for just one night and it said right there on the reservation page that I would be charged at the time of reservation. Since I'm not going until October, I obviously will be waiting to book that room. Therefore, Venere may be the same, are you booking for just one night? Did you print out your initial confirmation? If so, you could challenge the charge with your credit card company. But frankly, if you're going soon and that amount is going to be applied to your room charge, it may not be worth your time. But do make sure to bring your statement or something to show that the amount has already been charged.

This is what the reservation says: "Please note that Venere.com never charges users' credit cards for their reservations. Unless different specifications on the property webpages or cancellation policy, any balance is to be settled at the property reception at the end of your stay using cash, cheques or any credit card accepted by the property" So I guess they leave it open for the property to charge, but I was not informed.

Yes, I am staying one night and it's not until September. I don't really mind that much as long as it applies to the room. I just didn't see that policy stated anywhere.