What's the best way to find decent hotels on short notice?

It's never too late. People do cancel reservations so trying to get into RS hotels isn't a bad idea. You never know.

Trip Advisor is good to get people's opinions of hotels.

The other thing you can do is ask the RS hotels for recommendations if they are full. Then check those hotels on Trip Advisor or come here and ask.

Judey I agree with Frank as it may not be too late. I have a former RS recommendation in Florence, Italy if you need it. Have stayed there twice & almost booked for upcoming May trip & highly recommend it. Let me know.

Judey, If you went on tripadvisor,, and posted a post saying something along the lines of ,, " does anyone know of a nice hotel in ------, for under ( set budget here in euros) ,, and a bunch of people then replied back,, several naming the same place,, which,, oddly may not be in a RS book,, would you then consider that a good start?

I would , I do, and I have. After culling some suggestions I read the posted reveiws on the tripadvisor site,, AND any reviews I can find on other sites( usually Venere and Expedia sites have hotel reviews from people who stayed there)

I then will google and contact the hotel website directly to see if they have a good price.

I know of hotels with good rooms ( clean and decent, not fancy) for under 100 euros in Paris,,, if you want some ideas .

What is budget,, and what cities are you going to,, there are some amazing posters here who know Italy , Germany etc, very well,, I personally can't be much help there.

Budget is preferrably 100 Euros per night maximum, but ideally I would like around 80 euros. It's not as much a matter of what we can afford to pay; it's more about what we want to pay. We will be staying in the following places, so any hotel recs are welcome:

Rome
Florence
Venice
Cinque Terre
Nice
Provence (maybe in Arles?)
Paris

Ok, I meant for that to come out as a list, not a string of names, but apparently the formatter wasn't having that.

You can also check on www.venere.com

I believe Pat is talking about the Tripadvisor forums (discussion boards), not the listings. The people in the forums are very helpful---often locals, or people who travel there a lot. It's a good resource.

However, it's also kind of random. You might start, as Steve suggests, with the listings in Rick's book---go through Florence, Rome, etc. and try e-mailing the ones that are in your price range. E-mailing is free and very quick---just copy and send the same inquiry to 4 or 5 places and see what happens.

If that doesn't produce anything, try putting your dates into a site like venere.com or bookings.com and see what comes up---the prices should be listed next to each selection. See what looks promising and then contact the hotel directly.

Just a warning---it will be hard to find anything in Venice at that price, unless it's in Mestre or right near the train station---not the best location in either case.

Judey, I have just booked myself into two places for May/June in Paris. I have personally been inside the first one( last trip I went to front desk and asked if I could see some rooms, they gave me keys to three rooms to look at,, which I thought was very nice!)

Hotel Eugenie - 99 euros a night. Excellant central location. Rooms were small, but clean, had safes, t.v. a/c and mini fridge( my fave for stocking with my own drinks etc) . I have asked for a room not facing street as the area is so central I bet it can get noisey. Cafes and little shops surround it,, and you are steps from the Seine. No views though.

Hotel Saint Pierre- Have not been here, nor have I seen rooms, but I know and like the area, and the price is too good to be true.

80 euros per night, very cheap,, I have read the reviews on several sites,, apparently most people are happy ,, IF , they understand room is TEENY TINY,, I can live with that for the tiny price and great location.

Good luck , hope you find some good places.. I was having a lot of trouble finding any rooms in the recommended places in the Cinque Terra for June,, but hopefully you are early enough in season that you will not have any problems .

It is not only not too late, but I think that you will find many options available. I have travelled many times, booking as I go, either waiting until I hit a town, or calling ahead a day or so ahead. Added to that, you are still well within the shoulder or low season, meaning availability will be better.

Have a good list of picks for each town, consider Ricks picks as well as Lonely Planet, Lets Go and Frommers. Maybe call ahead, or just hit a few places in a central area, chances are the first or second place will have rooms, plus you get to see the room before you commit.

Many will say that you waste time this way, but I usually have a room and am out on the town while others are still searching for the room they reserved six months ago.

For the major cities, go to betterbidding.com for tips on using Priceline's name your own price, and hotwire hotel identification. You can get some very good deals that way, and they will give a good advanced guess as to the hotels, so you can look them up at TripAdvisor before bidding.