I am going to go ahead and book our hotel for Rome, the River Palace. Venere.com and the hotel are giving me the same rate. There is a coupon code for venere that gives you a little off, but I have read about the hotel changing the rate when people get there. Would you recommend I book directly with the hotel to avoid this possibility? I just have never used Venere, so, I'm unsure. Thanks!

I always book direct with the hotel when possible to avoid any surprises. I understand Venere is a reputable company but unless the difference is significant, I would go directly to the source.

As a general rule, you never booked thru third parties when you can booked yourselves for a similar price. When I narrow down flights and hotels, I always call them direct and ask for rate. If the rate is less or not too much higher, definitely book directly. By personal experience, if there is a problem, it is far easier to deal with airline/hotel if you are their paying customer.

I use Venere for the reviews and finding a location that I want.

I only will book through Venere if I cannot contact the hotel directly.

Hi jcepk1
I have used Venere just once so far from recommendations here.
Speak as I find, they were very good and the rate was better than I could get direct from the hotel at the time.

I would use them again if the price was right.

Muck

I have used venere and been happy with it. They are good about cancellations, something that not all hotels are.

I usually start my search with tripadvisor, which gives me a gateway to a number of booking sites. It's worth getting quotes through all of them, because the deals they offer can differ.

I will never ever use Venere.com again!

While sites like Booking.com, Priceline.com, Hotels.com, GTAHotels.com and others send you confirmation and reminder e-mails, Venere.com keeps your reservation to themselves.

Somewhere along the line (back in February) I seem to have booked a room in Berlin through Venere.com. In my preliminary planning for a Christmas 2008 trip I also booked numerous rooms with some of the above-listed websites. When by July we opted to go on a cruise (ugh!!!) instead, I went back through all my confirmation e-mails and cancelled all my hotel reservations far in advance. Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail two days ago telling me I was being charged as a "no-show" for a Berlin hotel. I have no e-mail record of ever booking this. I never thought to look on the Venere website to make sure I didn't hold a reservation. The thought never occured to me since everybody else in the business seems to not only send you an e-mail confirmation, but also a reminder or two. In the 9 months between my booking and the anticipated arrival day they couldn't send me a single confirmation? Yes, the booking is listed on Venere in my account. But that's the only record.

It looks like I will be paying for my stupidity, or is it naiveté, by getting stuck with this charge, but I feel a need to vent and to warn others. DON"T BOOK VENERE!!!!

I have use Venere once, because it was a significant saving at the time. I received my confirmation email immediately & had no problems at the hotel when I arrived.
I have also used Travel rebuplic, booking.com, bookinhotels.com & hotelclub.com. All with no problems.
If you do use one of them I recommend that you make a note of the booking number & cancellation clauses, then check your emails immediately, most are sent instantly.
I can understand the problem with the previous incident, I have been searching & booking several hotels on numerous sites & it's easy to forget what's where (I blame my age!). That's why I now make a note if I can't print out immediately.

When I have booked through venere.com they have sent me emails to confirm the booking.

The most recent was at the beginning of 2006. Unless their procedures have changed since, it might be that Otzi was in error.

I have used Venere several times and always printed out the confirmation of my reservation with the relevant number.
Not once have I ever felt let down - actually just the opposite! I have been very happy with Venere.

I always use Venere unless its for a starwood, marriott or hyatt property and we'll be using points. I've found them to be excellent, no issues at all. I do, however, print out every confirmation and proactively contact them and the hotel a week or two in advance. I also do that for Starwood, Hyatt, Marriott, etc. It just makes sense to me.

While I understand the frustration, I simply fail to see how this is Venere's fault!

> Venere.com keeps your reservation to themselves.

What are you talking about ???

I believe that poster was claiming that they made a reservation on Venere and then forgot about it, and that Venere never sent them a confirmation email on that reservation. So, when they were checking all their emails to cancel their reservations, they forgot to cancel that one.

However, it sounds like others got confirmation emails, so the email was probably deleted at some time and forgotten about. Or, possibly, it was put in a spam folder by some email system. I think I've had some hotel correspondence put into a spam folder on either yahoo or gmail.

"I have used venere and been happy with it. They are good about cancellations, something that not all hotels are. "

ditto

Used it several times - no problems.
Love the idea that one does not have to pay ahead of time (like Expedia, for example).

Thanks Christina. You actually read and comprehended. I never said Venere was at fault. I said they run their business rather shoddily. Other booking sites send reminders. Venere doesn't. Learn from my mistake.

<i><font color=blue>&quot; I never said Venere was at fault. I said they run their business rather shoddily.&quot;</font></i>

Actually, you condemned them, in one over-heated swipe, lambasting them with CAPS and as many exclamation points !!!!!! as you can type, telling every Fodor's reader to stay away. All because <b>you</b> neglected to keep track of <b>your</b> reservations.

For further gall, you claim Venere.com &quot;runs a shoddy business&quot; simply because they don't provide &quot;reminder&quot; service to all those penny-pinching shoppers who can never make up their mind and are always in search of saving three more pennies, booking ten cheap hotels in a fevered furry so months later, they can cancel as they hop a boat for a cruise (no doubt cheaper yet) instead.

Venere.com was among the first and best sites on the internet for hotel shopping in Italy, long before any of the others found their way in to compete. More often than not, Venere.com still offers the best deals and their cancellation policy is very clear. But, for some customers, that's not enough. What a shame.

totally agree with NYCTS.
Venere is a good company !!!!!!!!!!

Just looked at my bookings record on venere.com - I've used them 22 times, beginning September 2003, the most recent this past May 2008. It's fun to look back and remember all the lovely places. In all but one instance the rating I gave for the accommodation was 9.6 (out of 10.0) or higher. The one exception was in Livorno, and that was 8.1, not bad but just a little dreary. My reasons for booking through venere.com are many, but chiefly because they almost always have better rates than I can get elsewhere and their cancellation policy is very liberal.

Regarding Otzi's experience: I can't imagine booking a hotel and not making note of the booking reference and cancellation policy. And I can't imagine making a booking and then not following up if I haven't received a confirmation. Sounds like a very strange way of doing things.

My last experience in Venice was that the Hotel I had booked &amp; confirmed, was over-booked.


A lady did walk me to another hotel
which was higher-priced. I fought the charge &amp; won.

However, it was aggravating dealing w/this on jet-lag.