When to book?
 

Hello. I am making my first trip to Europe with my husband this summer. We will be traveling (from the US) to London, Paris and Rome for 2 weeks during the last week of May and 1st week of June. We know that we should start booking the airline tickets quite soon. However I am not sure about booking rooms. I am a planner and looked last summer at rates. Right now rates are way higher than they were last summer. I don't want to book a hotel with the really high rates now. We are going to use priceline (and biddingfortravel.com) to book our London and Paris hotels but will book Rome on our own. I know that the rates for the hotel should come down but when do you think it would be best? Thanks for the advice. :)

I don't think there's a hard rule for this. If you are interested in a popular hotel, especially a budget-minded one, I'd book asap. I would absolutely not assume that hotel rates will come down. Just be aware of their cancellation policy, and keep it in mind should a better deal present itself. The falling dollar may be reducing the number of Americans traveling to Europe, but it's not discouraging Europeans or Canadians, to name two, from traveling.

I totally agree with Elaine. I doubt prices will come down. In fact, they could very well go higher. If you find rooms within or close to your budget, book ASAP.

Thanks! :) I think I will book all hotels right after the Christmas holiday. I am so excited!

I've never heard of hotel rates going *down* the longer you wait. I guess it's possible if they have empty rooms, but unlikely.

I booked my hotel rooms for May a couple of months ago and some of the places only had a few rooms left at that time (but these were small places). Book asap - if the hotel rate goes down, you can always cancel and re-book at a lower rate.