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Add this additional check for your 2021 lodging reservations

Posted by (Hayden, Idaho, USA) on

Hi, i just happened to find this out - thankfully before I arrived in Europe. Passing it on to help others.

I sent an email to a popular hotel in Italy with this travel forum because I wanted to use my 2020 voucher. I didn’t hear from them for a couple of weeks until receiving an email yesterday. In the meantime, I really wanted to secure a reservation for one night at that hotel, so I went ahead and reserved a refundable room through Booking.com for a night in August. I assumed if I heard back, I would cancel the Booking one. If not, I still wanted to stay there and would pay for the one night.

In their email, they said they have not been open since November, and they are waiting to see if they get enough reservations to justify opening in August. Currently they are not at that quantity.

The clue that I am now checking with all of my hotels are the reviews on Booking.com. If I see reviews from June/July, I know they’re actually open. When I checked this hotel, the newest review was in 2020! Hope this prevents one of you from having an unexpected bad experience. 😉

Posted by
2661 posts

Thanks for the info and the tip!! I know 2 of my Switzerland hotels are currently open and the third is scheduled to open a few weeks before I arrive early Sept. I plan to email all 3 hotels a few weeks prior to arrive to double check the reservations.

Posted by
2622 posts

Thanks - done! Another reminder that Booking.com is not always up-to-date.

Posted by
3687 posts

I understand checking booking.com reviews but wouldn't it be more direct to call, email or check the website of any hotel that you are interested in to see if they will be open when you wish to travel? I mean even if a hotel was open in June or July, that is not proof that it will be open in August.

Posted by
497 posts

This is helpful. I made all my ressies direct with each hotel and personally emailed each as follow up so I know they’re open. Will be sending a double check about 2 weeks before we leave which cannot get here fast enough!

Posted by
427 posts

Thanks Jean, this is a great reminder. We are going to Italy and Switzerland next month and have used Booking.com for many of our reservations. We will reach out directly to double check that our reservations are confirmed. Good luck with your trip!

Posted by
13905 posts

Well Jean, I have to say I did not see that coming. I wonder how far out they decide if they have enough reservations to open? Yikes.

Thanks for the heads up on this.

Posted by
7247 posts

Hi everyone,

Here’s an update: I received an email from Booking.com today that they were cancelling my reservation for this hotel. I really hope this hotel stays in business in the future! It was for Hotel Berna - one that many of us have recommended for Milan short stays.

Posted by
32702 posts

that's very interesting - and sad - I've stayed several times at the Berna and its Dependence.

They have a small chain of 2 or 3 others too - I wonder how they are.... I expect they are missing the business travellers and those attending conferences and Fairs.

Posted by
7247 posts

UPDATE: i received an email yesterday from Hotel Berna that they are reopening at the end of August. Unfortunately, I will already be past Milan by that date, but it’s good to know they are still in business.

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