When checking in at the Rialto in Venice about 8 years ago I asked if we could have a room with a canal view. A few times hotels have moved us to a view room just for the asking. This time it would have been an extra $30 a night so we didn't take it. I regret not having had a week in Venice with that view!

At the start of a month in Europe on sabaatical, I decided to go extra cheap and stayed in the Hotel Candide in Athens. It was twenty dollars a night and it felt like it. I think my whole experience in Athens was colored by the dirty room and shabby interior--and I normally don't mind "run down" hotels. Since then I've always been particularly careful in choosing big city hotels.

My biggest regret - staying in hotels for years and not staying in apartments. Pick your city - you will find apartment advice on this forum!!!

I really try to stay at a hotel that has been recommended by someone...I work with the public and am constantly getting referals for places. I double check them against travel books, tripadvisor, and this board, taking into consideration that what others don't like, might not be undesirable to me.
What does get to me, which sometimes is unavoidable, is the noise level outside or above me. We like to stay 3-4 days in a place...what annoys you on day one is usually unbearable by day 4. We would just stay and hope it got better (or different) and it usually never did. We didn't want to waste the time finding another place...that is my regret...we have not enjoyed a few cities because of where we stayed. NOW, I am up and out the next morning, and still have 3 great nights to enjoy instead of 3 more nights to endure.

Apartments are dreadful, whilst suitable for families, for the ordinary traveller they are never as comfortable as an hotel. Even serviced ones do not offer the same holiday feel affored by hotels.

Apartments are never relaxing, they'd be a regret for me I'm sure.

As for hotels, staying in hotels that have been opened less than half a year is another mistake. It takes at least six months for them to get their act together. Boutique hotels are pretentious, and posey generally, so they are best avoided. Where possible well maintained classic properties are one's best bets, including hotels newly created, but in a classical style in a classical building.

daph,
My husband and I stayed at the Rialto in a room with a view of the canal. it was fabulous! We didn't have to pay anything extra as they were doing some repair work which did not impact us at all but I guess they had a problem renting out the rooms. Yes, you should have paid the $30 but we probably wouldn' have done it either!

Elle, our experience with the Seventh Arts was some years ago and perhaps they've redecorated, although I've never read anything to that effect. The staff there were quite nice, though, so I hope that has NOT changed! It's more for people who really want to be in the Marais. And for movie fans, the hotel is definitely Turner Classic Movies country.

My husband was pointing out something interesting to me.

On TripAdvisor there are a fair number of small hotels which have dozens of reviews. Then there are some four-star business-oriented hotels in major cities which perhaps have only one or two reviews. He suggested the discrepancy might be due in part to shills for the smaller hotels.

Any idea if that is true?

My experience with TripAdvisor has actually been that the reviews are often more negative than I am about a property. There have been some instances where I was afraid of going there due to the bad reviews, but when I arrived I found nothing to worry about. So I definitely pay attention to TripAdvisor, but I do have some concerns.

One our major regrets is to have spent a lot of money at the Anassa hotel in Cyprus, since the place was really not up to our expectations: noisy rooms, noisy and overworked staff, overpriced and lack of service.

I've used trip advisor a lot, and, while it's true that people with complaints are more likely to write something than people with good experiences, you can see some hotels get lots and lots of negatives, and others get lots and lots of positives, and others are somewhere in between. That is useful information.

Re: Hotel du 7eme Art--No, I don't think they've renovated or anything. The rooms I've seen on the web look just as you've described them.

The staff has already displayed its helpful spirit, however. When I confirmed, I inquired about the possibility of using American Express, both to hold the reservation and to pay the bill. I once had an awkward situation (at the Hotel Monge) where I used Am Ex to reserve and planned to use it to pay, but when I presented it at check-out, Julie said, "I'm sorry we don't accept American Express". Fortunately, I had wiggle room on another card, but I love to use Am Ex because I like to keep my revolving credit low.

Anyway, I received this response from 7eme Art: "Am Ex is fine! Don't worry! Everything will be fine! Jean-Luc". Made me smile. . .

On my 1st visit to Paris we stayed at a hotel across from Gare De L'Est. The group I was with called it Hotel Du Dump. The AC didn't work towels were threadbare, rooms were noisey, neighborhood was dicey and I loved every minute of it I WAS IN PARIS. One morning in the lobby I met an Australian traveler moving from a hotel down the street he felt like he was upgrading his accommodations by moving to the Hotel Du Dump. This being my first visit to Paris, I had no expectations of what the hotels were like and found the dump acceptable. On subsequent visits I had higher expectations and the Du Dump was not acceptable.

I regretted a little hotel between the train station and city center of Blois. My room was dark, smelled of smoke and had cigarette burns on the furniture and bedspread. It had a "window" into an airshaft. It was my first experience with those little French hotels near the train station. I was too green to know I could ask for a different room. I just took what was given to me. Now when I get a place that isn't as nice as I would like I think, "At least it isn't Blois."

I regretted a little two star hotel in Amsterdam. I didn't know that 1 & 2 star hotels in Amsterdam are run as flop houses for potheads. I'd hate to see what a hostel is like there.

I regretted my hotels winging it in Germany in the late 90's. Friends I was going to meet ended up not being there rather last minute. Instead of booking hotels I stopped where I wanted and spent the night. I later determined I spent about 30% more for hotels then I did the year before. I could have taken that money and stayed a few more nights, could have put it towards my next vacation, etc.

I never have problems with a noisy hotel room. I always travel with those soft foam ear plugs. They're very small, incredibly light and let me have a quiet night whenever and wherever I want one including airplanes.

Hotel Blauvac in Avignon. I had reserved a single room. The room was so small you had to crawl across the bed to get from one side of the room to the other. The window looked out onto a very narrow space between buildings and into the window of the adjacent building. The curtains didn't quite meet - thank goodness I had a big clothes pin. On the wall in the bathroom was a contraption that smelled like VERY strong bathroom deodorant and and made a strange ticking noise. The name on this contraption was RENTOKIL - I decided it was probably a bug killer of some sort. If I closed the bathroom door it helped, but then I had visions of huge bugs taking over the room. I immediately went down to the desk and requested another room, even if I had to pay more. They were booked, so I had to stay there for 2 nights, but luckily was able to "upgrade" and spent the last 3 days in a wonderful room. What a difference a room can make to your total enjoyment of a city. BTW the staff there were just wonderful.

My biggest regret is being stupid.
What I mean is, I wish I had checked Here on Fodors BEFORE I rented a studio 1 block from St. Severin church in Paris. Loud, louder, loudest...I didn't know the people SANG until 6 a.m. and yuck, the smell of hundreds of Gyros (or, bits o' lamb on a stick...) I arrived at my pied a terre on Sunday and on Tuesday, was in my favorite hotel; well NOW it is my favorite hotel! <GRIN>

Let me tell you the story of The Hit Hotel.

We were booked at a *** country hotel in Umbria in the town of Portole. When we arrived, after a lengthy drive through the woods and hills, we discovered that the "town" was nothing more than 3 buildings, 2 people and a dog. So we pressed on to the city of Perugia.

It was All Saints Day, so it was hard to find a room as a walk-in. We finally ended up at a motorway inn called The Hit Hotel (in English!)...and they had a vacancy. Great. It must be a big hit, right?

It's not that kind of hit. We were the only non-gangsters staying there. I got sick on the curry chicken, and I also inadvertently said the wrong thing to a wise guy from Chicago. Not a lot of sleep for me that night.

Actually, not that bad a place, in a 1970s Ramada Inn sort of way.

Here's an article I threw together about our worst experience in Europe; the other one took place in northern California and so isn't eligible for this forum, but it was the absolute nadir.

http://www.bonjourparis.com/pages/ol...articleId=2297

Had to top this one. Some posts are priceless! And the nominees are:

Gardyloo, for "you can't smell mildew over the web....." and "well, just what was Mrs. O' Flaherty going to do with Pat's room now that he's with that hoor in London....."

jlb - Survivor award.

SuzieC - best one liner since Sally Field's: "my biggest regret is being stupid..."

...to name just a few.

Willtravel, wonderful, funny thread! By the way, perhaps it is just because 2 and 3 star hotels command a disproportionate share of the market that so many reviews of them get posted on tripadvisor.

My worst experience was B.F. (before Fodors). Booked 3 nights at Pensione Seguso in Venice for my DH & (then) 13 yr. old daughter. Got to hotel too late and exhausted to immediately go to another place, but would have if we could. It was filthy (even by teen-age standards, which gives you an idea of how bad it really was), floors were slanted, beds were cots, bathroom was down the hall (we never would have agreed to this), management was grumpy. We had paid for 1/2 board, but left that morning after coffee and were lucky to get a large room at the lovely (and very nice management) Hotel Flora.

Sue, what I don't quite get is why some hotels with 40 rooms have a couple dozen reviews, and other hotels with 500 or 800 rooms have 1 or 2 reviews on TripAdvisor. I suspect it might be because those small hotels are in some guestbook, so it is very motivated people who book them and then review them.