Help - we are leaving for Italy soon and plans not completed

Lisa:
Have you tried venere.com, vrbo.com, Trip Advisor, homeaway.com, airbnbcom? All are excellent sources.

That's a tough time of year to just show up in either city. You may get a deal, you may not at a TI. I'm a "fly by the seat of my pants" traveller, but even I would get something in advance so I don't waste my time playing pot luck when I arrive. I would check out www.venere.com . I'm sure somebody here still has their discount code. If not, post the question on TripAdvisor.com and you will get a code to save you some $. Also check into apartments on www.vrbo.com . My sister and I were recently in Venice just for two nights and it was cheaper to rent an apartment near San Marco for 3 nights (minimum requirement) than it was to stay in a hotel for 2 nights. Check into the Days Inn near San Marco in Venice too. Our apartment was next to it and everytime we walked by it one of us remarked how awesome the Days Inn was, a rare statement stateside..:) Edit Correction!: I just looked up my photos and it's the Best Western. Comments still apply.

http://www.ilbargellino.com/ Try this place. We stayed here last June. It was a short walk from train station and even closer to the Duomo and Accademia. The rooms are fine, not great but reasonable and there is a nice rooftop terrace.

FYI Venice is having an arts exhibition starting June 4th. When we were there two weeks ago, our B & B owner remarked how he and most of the hotels were going to be fully booked up because of it. Hopefully you can find something.

I believe something's going on in Florence the week you'll be there, too. When I tried to make reservations -- in February! -- I had no luck getting my top choices and I noticed that one had a higher event rate on their web site.

If you can possibly get in, Alloro B&B in Florence is a wonderful place to stay. It was modestly priced for our long-pre-booked March/April stay, but I know you're dealing with a more challenging situation. Good luck. This place is a 5-minute walk from the train station, and was our favorite of seven accomodations on our trip to Italian cities last spring.

There are rooms available on eurobookings.com. So it just depends on how much you want to spend. I will always look at the site but also email the hotel directly and see which gives you the better rates

lisa, Unfortunately, one of the "pitfalls" of the spontaneous approach (albeit unplanned in your case), is that you may have to accept accommodations that are a bit dodgy or pay far more than planned. In Florence you might try This Hotel. It's somewhat "basic" but it's an easy walk from the station, and the owner is wonderfully helpful. Check recent reviews on Trip Advisor. In Venice you might try This Hotel. Again, somewhat "basic" but it's in a nice location close to Piazza San Marco, with restaurants and a Vaporetto stop near by. I can't recall which Vaporetto is best to reach that area, but it's easily walkable from just about anywhere. There was a strike last time I arrived, and I had to walk from the Rialto Bridge, which wasn't a problem (I always pack a copy of the Map from the Guidebook). Good luck and happy travels!

We had a similar problem, and could not find a recommended hotel that was available. I went to booking.com and you can type in your dates and it will bring up the available hotels, and then you can click on the map view and see where each hotel is located.. i checked each one out, then typed in the name of the hotel into trip advisor to check out the reviews and to see other travellers pictures of the hotel.. i am not certain if this was a good choice of hotels or not yet, since we are leaving this sun, but all the reviews are good.. also, with booking.com, you dont have to pay upfront, only once you arrive.

Try the Bellettini. Good neighborhood, good breakfast, walking distance to everything from the train station to the river. Would be staying there on our upcoming trip but the picture of the terrace with Ponte Vecchio view (and the hotels.com special running at the time) made for a spontaneous decision to try the Hotel Pitti Palace.

To everyone who was kind enough sharing your information and suggestions - Thank You. I checked out every recommendation and all were booked. There are events going on in both cities that week which are causing booking challenges for last minute people like me. However, using Venere.com, I was able to find what we wanted, where we wanted and not too much more than we originally wanted to pay. I don't feel bad about paying a little more as it is so last minute. With your suggestions, which I am saving, I now have places to look into the next time. Many, many thanks!