Hotel Reservation Online? Any experience with Venere?

I've had success with Venere more than once. The hotels I found were better than expected. I didn't contact the hotels directly, I just booked on line with Venere.

I'm sure they have blocked rooms just for Venere and that is why when you ask for a room, it's not there. Hotels do that just to make sure they get rooms used.

I found when I go to the hotels website that the rates are higher too.....

Good to know, thanks I may try Venere.

Hello! I just got back from 2 weeks in Italy (march 17-30)

It was amazing!! From Pisa to Lucca to Florence, Chianti, Rome, Naples, Amalfi, Orvieto etc!!!

I used venere for 100% of my hotels. This was the first time I had reserved hotels in advance. And let me tell you - I will always do it from on now!! Venere was AMAZING!!! We had a 2 bed/ 2 bathroom apartment in Rome near the Pantheon for 130 dollars/night for 5 people! It was large, had a kitchen, had an in-apt laundry, had a balcony! In Amalfi we stayed at a 2 bed/2 bath place for 80Euro/night with a personal balcony overlooking Capri!

Every place we stayed at was affordable and amazing! And our reservations were always correct. I will say that I did make a reservation at one place and they cancelled it within 48 hours of making it. I rebooked somewhere else for that night. If you look on the site it says that you receive confirmation instantly or within 48 hours. I have a feeling that the place you were looking at would have rejected the venere reservation within the time limit.

VENERE IS AMAZING!!!!!!! haha I could be their spokesperson!

Sounds like you had an incredible trip! I think I'll try Venere too. Where did you stay in Orvieto? Do you have a recomendation for a place to stay in Venice?

A site greatly used by European holiday makers. Venere were taken over by Expedia in mid 2008 and whether that gives more security I don't know, certainly had no qualms about using them before. I did not notice any difference in the service when I used them last November.

What I like about the site is that you usually do not pay in advance (you have to give your CC number as surety) but rather pay the hotel when you leave. As someone else has said their rates can be very competitive and also it's useful for places that do not have websites of their own.

Absolutely recommend www.venere.com

I happened upon them by accident (I live in Italy at the moment) and it was the best find ever. I have since used them on many occasions to book my hotels when I travel through Italy. Best prices, completely reliable, and a lot of information (including customer comments and complaints, maps on how to get there from the train stations etc.) with which you can make your decision on where to stay.

I believe Venere and their ilk have access to rooms that often the hotel cannot offer to clients, as others have stated. I always like to deal directly with the hotels myself. I had the same experience, used Venere, and it was completely fine.