Hotel rates online vs. email quotes

That doesn't make any sense. The on line web site with rates should have a button or a way to make reservations. I have never heard of a Rick Steves rate. Often you can get a discount if you have the Rick Steves guide book when checking in. That discount is listed in the RS book. If you do not get a response from booking on line, it often means that the hotel is full. My experience is that some, not all, hotels ignore requests for rooms if they are full. If you don't get a response back in 24 hours, move on to something else.

Frank is right, you rarely hear back from hotels that are full if they are small ones. It may sound rude, but otherwise they'd spend all their time responding to emails. RS doesn't provide actual hotel rates and no hotel is obligated to meet the ranges listed in his guidebooks. Rates change all the time and by season or for special events. Contacting a hotel direct is typically the way to get their best rate.

What do you mean by "online rates"? Are these places with a website, but no way to actually book online? Usually the quoted rates will say something like "Double rooms FROM 85 euros" meaning that is the lowest, off-season rate and summer will be higher. Or somethimes the rates are listed as "per person, double occupancy," so the room price is double. And the rates in Rick's guidebooks are only estimates. No hotel is bound to those, or to a "RS discount."

The hotel I am currently looking at is the Nardizzi Americana in Rome. If you go to the website, www.hotelnardizzi.it, there is a link to "Rick Steves" rates. I am looking for a room on March 19th, 2012. When I put those dates in the Rick Steves rate starts at 59 euros for a double, regular rate is 89 euros. I contacted them by email using the Rick Steves form and the rates came back at 135 euro for Rick Steves promotion, significant difference I thought. I realize the websites are just estimates but I felt like that was quite a difference. I have also been booking hotels for Germany and other areas in Italy and finding the same situations, websites give estimates much much lower than quotes I am recieving when I email. Just thought I might be missing something. But thanks for the input, I thought the rates were a little too good to be true.

I think what you are finding is that the posted rates, "starting at ..." are for off season, mid-week kind of times. If you are looking at high season, weekends or at times when they expect more business, then the rates will be higher. The discounts for mentioning RS are usually about 10 euro or so. Hope this helps.

I looked at the Nardizzi Americana Hotel of Rome site. Apparently this group owns seven other accommodations. Marge is correct that there are MULTIPLE pricing options. How Interesting! Try this - I put in today's date and the price came back at €52 for a double - INCREDIBLE. Then, mistakenly I hit search again, without updating the date, and I got €125 for the same room? What the heck? Maybe it was a glitch? Yet a Triple, a Quadruple, and a Superior Double for the same day were €79, €110, and €120 respectively - all LESS than a "standard" double quoted now at €125? Intrigued, I tried a few different dates and got different rates - usually listed at €55, €100, or €125? Oops - just got one at €99 - these are all in the SAME week. Do they have a random-rate-generator working? The bottom line is probably NONE of these rates may be correct! I went to booking.com for those dates and was quoted €110 for each day I looked. Yet at Hotel.com - which also lists this hotel - for the SAME days I was told there were no rooms available? When you book on their site, you have to give your info and then they will email you back the rate - PLEASE, come on now. So it "appears" (well, at least to me) that there is some price-adjustments going on behind the scenes (depending on their occupancy rate?). They do have a 7.8 rating on Booking.com - not stellar but not terrible either. But I'm still feeling... well, uncomfortable. I would think Rick and his team would look in this hotel "using" their trademarked name as a carrot. Frankly, there are too many OTHER hotels in Rome to have to put up with these "possible" bait-and-switch pricing practices. (if not that, then certainly confusing). This booking process seems somewhat antiquated; hopefully not by design. I know I would appreciate a far more "transparent rate" when dealing with a hotel.

I sent inquiries to several hotels, and only got emails back from 2. I ended up booking most of the rooms for my upcoming trip using booking.com.

Angela makes a great point - There are some great deals out there (perhaps), if you can get a reply email! And in Marge's case, an "advertised" deal wasn't quite as good WHEN she did get a reply. Fortunately, the age of the internet is forcing hoteliers, travel agents, and booking agencies to be more "consistent" when dealing with the educated consumer. More good news is that there are so many more hotels accessible through the internet. Both Booking & Venere each list 1,500+ accommodations just in Rome. The problem now is overload! Certainly taking advantage of discounts, such as ones offered for readers of Rick's books, is a huge plus. Do your research and you'll find deals on the net. If you want a quick snapshot of the "best-ranked" options in different parts of Rome, here are links to articles ranking the top-20/30 accommodations all over the city... as rated by Booking & Venere guests. Only those guests who actually stay there get to write a review, so none of the ballot-stuffing you may see on some sites/boards. Click on these links to see ranked lists for: the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, Colosseo and Monti Area, Prati-Vatican Area, Roma Termini, Trastevere, and the FCO Airport. Plenty of photos, maps, and descriptions from the websites. There's also a link in the bottom of each article that lets you rank the area by price (although I'd read the comments if booking by price). Good Luck!

And of course, one of the best resources are some of the folks on this site! When I see a property suggested by certain folks, I'll go look at it - as I've stayed in places they have and we have similar preferences. Again, the web gives you almost TOO many answers. Of course, recommendations can work against you... On our last trip to Venice I wanted to stay at Pensione Guerrato. But MICHAEL, because you recommend it so often, it was full (again). Had a great conversation with owners... but no, we're full. MICHAEL, I blame that totally on you - LOL! In fact, when we walked by there on our last trip and I pointed at it and said to my visiting son, "Yep, we'd be staying there if it wasn't for MICHAEL!" He looked at me blankly and said, "Who's Michael?" Fortunately, we had a great stay at alternative housing options and so he does not use your name in vain! Using resources here and "comment bins" from only registered guests like booking and venere, you can get a pretty good idea of what you'll be staying in. We're fortunate to go somewhere in Europe about every other weekend, so we do a lot of bookings. In the past five years we've only had one instance where we pulled out of a spot - and that's one of the few I did not research, simply walked in off the street to a 1-star pensione in Verona. It was late in the day and we were headed to the opera that night. Yep, I'm still paying for that one with my wife. Now if we go "'un-booked," I at least have a list of probable "wife-approved" options! For those of you less familiar with Italy, it's probably a good idea to have some in-hand options, or perhaps pre-book.

Thank you Ron for validating what I was experiencing. I have traveled many times but am headed to Italy on very short notice, one week, and thought Rick Steves could easily narrow down my hotel research. I have never used Rick Steves before and have inquired with approximately 6 hotels in Italy and Germany combined and have experienced high rate fluctuations, just thought I was doing something wrong. I can understand a 10% to 20% difference, but quotes haven't been anywhere near what they refer to on their websites. I will take your suggestions and continue with my search, thank you for your input.

Ron, that is hilarious! I hope you told Roberto and Piero at Pensione Guerrato that I'm responsible for their success. Maybe I can finagle that into a discount the next time we go to Venice. :-)

At least ...... you being "that" MICHAEL ....... will get........ a room! That's it! I'll starting booking my rooms there in your name! Now if you could please forward me your credit card info... Actually Roberto WAS quite helpful. But perhaps if I'd name-dropped "Michael" I would have been able to book a room?

Tip - ask about cash discount - I will receive a 6% cash discount in Venice and 12% cash discount in Rome.