I'm splitting my ealier post, as I should have done in the first place. Sorry for the goof. I'm traveling to Venice and Rome with my sister in October. We arrive in Venice on Oct 6 and plan to stay 3 nights. From what I've gathered, staying on the island itself (is that proper to refer to Venice as an island?) is worth the money in commute time and money. Looking at hotel prices, I'm guessing we have to budget around $225 a night. Has anyone had succes with Priceline or would we be better off booking through aa hotel site directly? I've jotted down names of a few of the hotle search engines others have recommended , but any help is, as always, greatly appreciated.

Priceline doesn't work for Venice as well as for other (big) cities. That's my impression. Maybe some people have different experinces but I have not read anyone booked a hotel on Priceline when speaking of venice. Search for Venice hotels here and tripadvisor.com. You will get lots of ideas and recommendations.

Sit with time and patience and browse this forum for Venice hotel recs. I just saw a wonderful recommendation from poster Marigross. Look it up.

As far as booking venue, used to be that calling the hotel directly was likely to get you a better deal....not any longer. Web consolidators are dealing well with blocks of rooms and many have come up with "recession rates". I recently got a Priceline recession rate for a NYC Times Square 4 star hotel that made me jump of joy!! Orbitz is pretty good site as well. Another good research site is venere.com, which integrates past customer ratings, rates, and location criteria very well to come up with selections that best meet your needs. Best of luck! I went to Rome with my sister a couple of months ago and we had a wonderful time, makes me want to cry every time I think of it!

I would look at Hotwire and betterbidding.com for a Venice hotel, but I would not necessarily expect the best deal from it. If you bid on Priceline, you have a good chance of getting the Hilton Molino Stucky, which is not in the location I would want to be for 3 nights in Venice, although I am sure it is a nice hotel.
I keep recommending this site, but it is really good for checking a lot of consolidators at once.
www.hotelscombined.com

There are numerous 3* options for two people that are cheaper than your price range, that are actually in Venice proper. But make sure you get twin beds, for the comfort of you and your sister. Also, consider the cancellation options, if that is significant to you.

I liked La Forcola, but read the reviews to decide if you'd be happy with it. At your budget, you could probably get two single ensuite rooms with breakfast there.

What I would consider, based on the excellent reviews and knowing that I personally like the location, is booking Ai Mori D'oriente Hotel on GTAHotels.com . That is one option I found through the hotelscombined.com site, but you might find another you like better. Of course compare it to the hotel's own site as well.

Gracie!

You could also consider an apartment... some agencies rent short term - www.veniceapartment.org for instance.

We loved Corte 1321 B&B. Five minute walk to Rialto bridge. San Silvestre vaporetto stop.

http://www.corte1321.com/en/sent_request.htm

(Owned by mother/daughter Americans. Wonderful place; large spacious rooms. Good continental breakfast.)

For what it's worth, I found great accommodations in Venice through www.italiancollection.com. They have a lot of selection and varying prices, and the people who recommended them to me (friends and relatives) were all happy as well.

I stayed at Hotel Bisanzio with my best friend last june and really enjoyed it. Close to Saint Mark's Square, thought located in a quiet street. Wonderful breakfast.
http://www.bisanzio.com/

Thanks for the help. I just spent the last 7 hours (literally) going over reviews of Venice hotels on tripadvisor.com. I narrowed my choices down to 4 hotels and then went directly to their sites. What a nice surprise that they each gave some sort of discount, either for a 3 night stay or for booking 60 days in advance. I settled on Hotel Santa Marina. It had very positive reviews (one person griped about the brusque hotel clerk) & is located close to St, Marks Square, but (allegedly) off a quiet side street.

We're paying 408,00 euros for the 3 nights, which I think is a pretty good bargain. Now, it's off to find a Rome hotle. Thanks again! Check back in October for my trip report.

Oh yeah, breakfast is included....

Sarge56,

How is the area around Corte 1321? What type of room did you book, deluxe or Superior? It looks very nice.

Thanks

ttt

cafegoddess, the area around Corte 1321 is a busy market area with lots of shops and food markets. The B & B itself is down a quiet street and you enter into a courtyard to get there. You can hang out in the courtyard and have breakfast, and you'd never know how busy it is just a few steps away.

All the rooms are very nice and it is centrally located to move around Venice.

rialtogrl, It sounds very nice and my kind of area. Thank you. Aloha.

I stayed at Taverna San Lio (http://www.tavernasanlio.com) for a few nights in 2007 and loved it. The rooms were big, the bathroom was big. Breakfast was included and it was near the Rialto Bridge. I posted some pictures on www.tripadvisor.com along with a review. It had A/C but we were there in Sept and didn't need it so can't speak to that aspect. I really enjoyed it and the price was better than other places I looked at.

Looks like the have some specials on their web site now:
Offer detail

From July 01 2009 to August 31 2009 - Starting from 90 Euro

2 nights stay special offer

Conditions:
MINIMUM STAY 2 NIGHTS
Double room 90,00 euro per night, breakfast included,

cafegoddess- The first thing I said to my daughter when we entered our room was, "Wow, it looks JUST like the pictures on their website!"

It was very easy to find, about an 8-10 minute walk from the Rialto bridge.

We booked a "double" room, but could have slept 3 in our room. There were two double beds and a large day bed. Storage for our luggage was ample. Bathroom was large, by European standards. We had a shower, but I know they have at least one room with a bathtub. The bathroom window opened out onto a small canal.

Our bedroom windows opened out onto a lovely green courtyard, where breakfast was served. (You could also request breakfast be sent to your room, if you wished.) Breakfast was very nice, with croissants and other rolls, oj, tea, coffee. Great assortment of condiments from cream cheese to Nutella to jelly. Perfect for us.

We had a lovely chat with one of the owners the morning after our arrival. They were very accommodating, as we had already arranged for late check-in (10pm), but due to a transit strike in France, our plane did not arrive in Venice until midnight. They were very gracious about our late arrival.

We loved this place. Computer with internet was right outside our room, and the day clerk was very helpful with directions and recommendations.

We would not hesitate to stay here again. Loved it!

karbop1 , Taverna San Lio looks interesting, but I find it kind of odd that there are only 3 reviews, with the latest one from last year. They had no rooms available for my time table, anyhow.

Corte 1321 looks lovely, but their prices were a bit high, as were Hotel Bisanzio. The others you guys mentioned were either out of our budget range or had no rooms.

I think I did pretty good, though.

Sarge56,

Thank you, Corte 1321 looks good and the price is pretty good. My husband and I has never stayed in a B&B so we might try this one, we are in the planning process.

How is your daughter doing?