Hotels before and after a Rick Steves tour

...but the hotel website said that either no rooms were available or there was a minimum nights stay requirement.

Send the hotel an email directly telling your needs and that you will be part of the RS tour. Or just telephone them -- it's not that costly.

Might not work, but worth a try.

Contact the hotel directly. Either call or send them an email telling them you are on the Rick Steves tour--give the dates of the tour--and tell them what days you want to stay.

No, RS office doesn't get involved in that. We've done 3 tours and each time we've reached out to the hotel directly. Sometimes it's smooth; sometimes not. We reach out by email; let the hotel know we would like to book a couple of nights prior and also let them know we would prefer not to have to move rooms. That means don't book the King Superior Ultra Deluxe for two nights prior, then expect to stay in the same accommodations for the tour. I've gotten many different responses. Sometimes they say they don't yet know which rooms are blocked so they can't tell you what type of room to book for the pretour dates; sometimes they don't take a reservation this far out. It's always a bit of back and forth. And then every time we arrive, we retell our arrangement to the front desk. But, it always works out.

I send an email to the tour hotel(s) once I’ve received the list from RST and have always been able to reserve extra nights prior to tour start and additional nights at tour end. I let them know I’d like to remain in the same room I’ll be in while on the tour. I always indicate I would like their best rate and the type of room, e.g. twin double, I want/will be in for duration of the tour. I ask about transportation from the airport and sometimes opt for what the hotel offers for the ease and convenience. I prefer staying at the tour hotels for any additional nights as I value not having to pack up and change to a different hotel regardless if less expensive.

It certainly is convenient to stay in the same hotel, but all is not lost if it doesn’t work out. Just select a nearby hotel and transfer on the day the tour starts.

If you are only staying one night I'd try to book the tour hotel for ease. If more than one night I suggest exploring nearby options as you very likely can find less expensive and equally appealing options. FWIW I've been on 5 RS tours and have only booked the pre/post tour hotel one time (and still had to move rooms as I was solo and opted to share a room).

We have done this for Rick Steves tours and others. It also helps to check different booking sites - we've been able to book a hotel via, say Expedia, when the hotel site says there are no rooms...

Email or call the hotel direct and tell them you are with the Rick Steves tour. On most of our 12 tours the hotel has tried to book us into the same room we would be staying in with the tour. They just have asked that we settle up our bill the morning the tour starts. We normally book as soon as we learn the hotel because there have been times tour members have waited too long and rooms were not available. Then you book something close by and transfer your bags that morning. Being on the tour does not guarantee there will be rooms available for extended days, before or after. The Rick Steves office will not make hotel reservations for you.

For the RS tours we have taken, we did various options:

• We emailed them and booked a room for the night before the tour began. They let us stay in the same room during our stay.

• We stayed in a different city pre-trip. For our Italy tour, we stayed a few nights in Verona ahead of the tour. We were very happy with that option, and it was easy to travel by train.

• I purposely stayed in a different hotel pre-tour. It was a less expensive option, and I also wanted the chance to stay in a different neighborhood of the city.

Thank you everyone for the very helpful advice!