Clicking around and looking at accommodations, and came upon Venere.com. Site looks good, and there are many more interesting and affordable options here than I've seen on TripAdvisor.
Has anyone used them for booking a hotel or B&B? Good or bad?
Thanks.
I've booked through venere.com and had no issues. I find their search utility particularly useful for cities as you can select a specific area on the map and see hotels in that area. They have a fair number of smaller hotels.
That being said, I would suggest that if you find a place on venere that you like, you first try to book with the hotel directly. I've found that if I email the hotel, I often get a lower rate than what is on venere.
I booked a hotel in Venice through Venere.com and had a wonderful time. The reviews are by people who have completed a stay at the hotel so they can be trusted. I usually advise people on TA to use venere.com for hotels, B&B's and apartments.
Donna
I have used Venere 4 or 5 times in France. As I recall they required a small credit card deposit which was then deducted from the cost of the room upon arrival. Laura is correct about the pricing. Some of the same hotels are found in the "Fortis" webiste, discussed in another thread.
I've used Venere twice and had good luck. The reviews are just about as accurate as those on TripAdvisor, but I'd check both before booking. Prior poster's advice on emailing hotel directly is a good one, although in my experience it was a wash in terms of price for the hotels I selected.
Venere is reliable and it features many small accommodations. Venere only allows reviews from people that have booked via the site, so I think the reviews are more reliable than Tripadvisor. I always check prices directly with the hotel before booking through a third party, the price is almost always lower booking direct.
If Venere is owned by Expedia, then Expedia must be keeping its grubby paws off of Venere management and just raking the profits.
Venere is absolutely great. Its user-based rating system is reliable. It lists smaller properties than you generally find in the big three or four.
A book lists a relatively few spots in a city, contains the opinions of only a couple of people, gets revised maybe once a year, and may list a property that's been long-gone.
Spot-checking Venere for Paris just now shows 790 hotels fo Jan 20, with some having over 400 raters.
I've used Venere for years and thorougly agree with the others who favor it.
Awesome--thanks for all the great and useful input.
I usually do a lot of research online and by guidebook (yes I have RS Italy 2010 in my grubby hands!), then book directly with the hotel. I think that way you get a better sense of the property and its proprietors, and you can usually get a better deal.
Grazie.
I would recommend that you contact your hotel directly to make your reservations. I have heard too many stories of people getting to their destination only to find that they didn't have a reservation after all. This is in regard to all online reservation companies, not just Venere.com. Many times they will show no rooms available at an accommodation, but when you check directly with the hotel in question, they do have rooms available. Some accommodations do not use such services and so therefore you miss out on some really great places to stay if you don't do more in-depth research yourself. What I do is to search TripAdvisor.com for the best rated accommodation within my budget, and then I contact the hotel directly to check on rates and availability. When you do your search, make certain to check the box "Availability not confirmed" so that all accommodations are displayed. Then browse them and contact the ones you are interested in, directly, to check on availability.
I have never heard of anyone making a reservation through venere and not having a room when they arrived. I have heard this story with some of the apartment rental agencies but not about venere. The reviews I've read, and the my own experience with them has been wonderful.
Donna
I have three windows open on my iMac so I can easily look at Venere, TripAdvisor, and RickSteves. Also have my Italy 2010 book in hand.
Venere's most useful feature is that on their listing of places, whether it's hotels or B&Bs, there is a tiny map showing what district the lodging is in. So if looking to stay somewhere specific (e.g., San Marco district), it is easy to spot which places are nearest. You can also specify a neighborhood on the left nav.
But yes, I still like booking direct with the hotel.
