Hotel Reservation Process

Have you emailed them directly? Some hotels I stayed I communicated with them directly through email. When booked online from their site, all I got was an email from them saying they have me booked for my set timeframe, in the room type I selected. No confirmation number, just my info and theirs within the email.

We always email hotels directly to inquire about rates and book rooms. If they need credit card info to secure the reservation, we simply telephone them and give it to them over the phone. Sometimes we get a booking number and sometimes not. At the very least we have the emails confirming the booking, rate, and etc. Nothing wrong with using the internet, we just prefer to deal directly with the hotel and have never had a problem.

Yes, I am dealing directly with the hotels and have emails confirming my reservations at each hotel.I just imagine they have to manually block out the corresponding nights in another system that's not integrated with the emails. But it seems to work.

If they have sent you confirmations what is the problem?

Instead of reducing you to a number, they are remembering you by your name. Problem?

Getting the confirmation from a hotel in Germany per E-Mail suffices. There are hotels/Pensionen in Germany which don't even send you that. You send them by e-mail or air mail (as in the old days) a letter of confirmation, stating the particulars, ie, type of room, price per night, length of stay, date of check out, how many in your party, en suite or not, etc., not the other way around. Or, I just call them up later to confirm. I've made all my hotel/Pension reservations for the May/June trip, got an e-mail confirmation from all but two. These two Pensionen will send me nothing, the receptionist said she wrote down my dates (eingetragen), that's good enough, and it's understood/expected to be good enough. As a courtesy I call them up from a pay phone a day or two prior to arrival to let them know about when I'll show up.

We've always booked directly, via email, with the Pension, Garni, Gasthof, etc. and receive an email confirming our reservation. Never been asked for a deposit or anything else. We've never, out of over 90 nights in Germany, Austria and northern Italy, not had the room waiting for us.

If you have confirmation emails, you are in their system or book.

Paul

I would not be concerned and agree that they may use an old-fashioned method such as hand-transferring your info to another format. A day or two before arrival, they may not necessarily send you a reminder (as larger computerized systems do), but you can always send one to them. Just hit Reply and add something like, "Looking forward to staying with you and will arrive around 18:00."

I agree with what others have said and your correct some web sites are pretty ordinary, I must admit I have made a few bookings which I was concerned about ( I always book direct) and then I have emailed them. sometimes I have had to wait some time before receiving a reply email, which can be a bit worrying. but eventually they sent a email, often explaining that they are busy ( if its a small B&B etc)

I do make a point of including google translated text, in the appropriate language, in my email, in case they don't read english, ( just in case, but I really wonder if its worth it?) I also send an email a day or so before we get to each place to let them know our expected ETA. if nothing else it gives me piece of mind knowing that they expect us. given that the booking is sometimes 6 months in advance I think its worthwhile. this has worked for us without any issues thus far.