Italy2005and6

We're traveling to Italy for the holidays-group of 5(2-Parents & 3-teens). I was hoping to find one contact person/office to do all 3-hotel reservations for Rome-3days, Venice-2days and Florence-3days. Can someone advise who I should contact? Or any advise in general will be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

wtggirl

How many rooms are you planning? I am guessin one for parents and next door for teens? Also, do you have a budget? That will help with your recommendations! I will try to respond with a few choices for you.

Italy2005and6

We want rooms in the Piazza Navona/Pantheon area, somewhere we can just go out and walk around. We are on a budget but I don't want too cheap, probably a 3* location. Either 2-connecting (or next door) rooms, or 1-large room. The same for Venice again in a centrally located area. I looked at some rooms and apartments on the web, but I just would like some recommends. Any recommends/advise is very helpful.

tuscanlifeedit

Saying 3 star isn't quite as good as naming a price. 3 stars can go all over the range in Italy; lately I've seen 3 stars on venere.com priced from 115 Euros to 250 Euros.

The Piazza Navona/Pantheon area isn't loaded with comfortable hotels at budget prices, but there are good recs here, depending on your price range.

I don't really know anyone you could call to get rooms in all three cities. Most of us here like to fish around for the best rates at the best hotels we can, and we search all over the internet for them. A decent website for searching for rooms all over Italy is venere.com, and I have also used Italyby.com for research.

But it sounds like you want a either a travel agent or an independent travel planner. That would be someone you could actually call who would find rooms for you in all three places.

suze

I always call, fax, or email hotels directly to make reservations.

But are you wanting to go thru a travel agent instead?

ira

Hi I,

I suggest looking at www.venere.com.

wtggirl

Italy2005and6, also try going to tripadvisor.com and put in your city and then hotels. Go down in order of ratings from 1st place until you see a price and location you like. In Venice I recommend hotel CA Formenta. I recommended it to a friend, she loved it and it rates #14 on tripadvisor. I love many places in Rome, but I can't remember the name of the one I have heard great things about directly behind the Pantheon. Maybe you can find it because it is right behind it. I also recommend the White hotel although that is a little north closer to spanish steps area. Good luck!

Italy2005and6

Thank you all for your advise. I guess my price range is about 250-300 euro per night for all 5 of us. 2-rooms would be fine.

Is there an advantage to booking directly w/the hotel? I'm so confused I was thinking of using a travel agency who specializes in Italy. I have no problem booking on my own if it will affect the pricing. Any tricks anyone knows to get the best rate? Thanks for the webpage info -- I will check them out.

CU

The guys above are correct. I have just returned from Italy and stayed in a couple of places. did all my bookings over the net and got good bargains. Have a look at ie.hotels.com.
I also used www.venere.com for one hotel and it was very good. The rates given over these cannot be got direct from the hotels.

elaine

Hi
companies like Expedia, or venere.it, or, a travel agent, can book hotels for you, but I don't see the advantage. I prefer to deal with the hotel directly, and I've had only one occasion in many bookings where a hotel wouldn't honor a 'discount' rate that was posted on the internet.
Most hotels have email, every hotel will have a fax machine and a phone.

For about 150 euro per room per night, that's the lower end of a three star.
Look into these (check for good ratings here or at tripadvisor.com)

Rome: Hotel Parlamento (they may already be fully booked) or
Hotel Portoghesi or Hotel Campo dei Fiori.

Venice: Hotel Ala, Hotel Do Pozzi, Pensione Accademia, Locanda Orseolo.

Florence: Hotel Casci, Pensione Uffizi.

Be sure to specify the configuration of beds for each room.

jgg

As others have said, I would definitely recommend booking everything yourself and not using a travel agent. There is a wealth of information on this board, Tripadvisor.com as well as SlowTravel.com.

In Rome I would recommend Albergo Cesari (albergocesari.it). We stayed in the quad room which was quite large and had a large bathroom. I would say that it was even big enought to put in a roll away bed for the 5th person, but all five of you sharing a bathroom, no matter how large might be tough. It is right near the Pantheon, and just a block off the Via Corso - for great shopping!

In Venice I would highly recommend the Locanda Orseolo (Locandaorseolo.com)but it might be a bit over your budget for all five (however, if you are willing to splurge a bit it will be worth it!! Read the reviews on tripadvisor - they are all true).

In Florence I would recommend Tourist House Ghiberti B&B. They only have doubles, and I am not sure if they have rollaways, but the rooms are very large, plenty of room for an extra bed and the bathrooms are large and very nice. They have computers with internet access in all the rooms which kept our kids occupied during down times. It is centrally located near the Duomo.

I always just booked directly with the hotels. The myriad booking sites always made me go buggy and mostly found the cost the same as booking directly.

Italy2005and6

Thanks everyone for all your advise. I definitely got more than I expected. I will try to book on my own -- it just seems more fun to do. Jgg, roughly how much is a night at Locanda Orseolo? I am planning to contact them. Thanks again everyone I really got the info that I needed. I will let you know how it goes.

jgg

When we went last March we paid 150 euro for double standard room with courtyard view for the kids and 160 euro for double standard room with canal view for my husband and I.

According to their website their prices run from a min. of 120 euro for a double "standard" room to max. 270 euro for a double "DeLuxe" room. (depending on your time of year.)

The standard rooms we stayed in definitely did not have room for an extra bed but they do say they have spacious rooms that accomocate three people.

Contact them and see what they say. They are some of the most gracious and helpful people you will run across.

Most hotel prices in Italy do include breakfast, and often they include granola, fruit, chesse and pastries. Locanda Orseolo makes a full breakfast with the above as well as grilled sausage, grilled vegetables, made to order omelettes and crepes!!

kadurk49

We stayed at Hotel Portoghese in May and really liked it. The location is great near Piazza Navona. I had previously stayed with daughter at the Pantheon area but much more expensive. Hubby and son are stay at Portoghese in Nov. when the family will be there for Thanksgiving. Hotel Portoghese was written up in a magazine last Spring. As far as Florence where we fortunatly will stay with daughter in her apt. we have previously stayed at Relais Cavalanti which also has a great location. It is also located right next door to the Irish Pub. Not so bad. I have stayed there twice and it is really nice. Good Luck.

elaine

Hi
just for search purposes, I'm mentioning that the name of the hotel is the Portoghesi.
Based on rave reviews I 've booked it for myself for next spring.

Amy_V

I didn't read all of the responses to your question...and I've only been to Rome and Florence.

I visited Rome last year and my husband and I stayed at Hotel Lancelot. This hotel is near the Colloseum, but don't be afraid of that location. It is actually in a quiet neighborhood only a couple of blocks from the Colloseum. It worked out to be a great location for many reasons: Easy access to all the sites in the city via small (and cheap) electric bus and it was great to walk by the Colloseum and Forum on your way out to see the city. I found the hotel to be clean and affordable and the staff was very friendly.

Two years ago we went to Florence on short notice. We were lucky to get a room at the Hotel Balestri right on the Arno. Perfect location in the historic city center. Easy to walk around this small and very walkable city. It was so close to the Ufizzi, Santa Croce and the Duomo. Try and get a room on an upper level - you'll end up with a view of the Duomo or the river and the hills beyond. Check their website for special offers.

Best of luck on your trip.

Italy2005and6

Thanks everyone. Hotel Locanda Orseolo is booked - bummer. I'm sending other hotels emails. One I'm considering is Hotel Locande Arte in Venice - anyone been there?

Also, on Venere.com it asked for a discount code -- does anyone know how to get this code?

Thanks!

fishee

The only Venere promotional discount code that I have is for 4% off -- A8FBZEH . It's not much, so if anyone else has a higher promo code on Venere.com please share!