Making reservations with the hotel instead of thru a booking site

It is confusing. First sentence - It is just as safe booking through the hotel as through a third party. What is unsafe? I thought this was well discussed in your earlier question about booking sites. Or did I miss something.

Second sentence -- ???? -- Very generally speaking if you book discounted rooms through a third party, it generally means no change, no refuse. Booking directly with the hotel will depend solely on the hotel policy. Read it. Sometimes hotels offer rooms at different pricing level - one level, no change, no refund at another level it is limited change and refund. They should clearly post their policy. At least that is my experience.

Are asking for two beds or two rooms? Ask for twin beds and you will get to single beds in the same room. Is that acceptable. Two bedroom apts will be more expensive than a single room with two twin beds. Do you read two separate bedrooms?

Thank you.

By safe: when I booked my trip myself thru the hotels, my credit card was stolen 3 times and 3 times I had to get a new CC number.. (The numbers, not the card itself)I don't want to go thru that again.

When I ask for 2 bedrooms invariably I get a list of rooms with one bedroom and a sofa bed in the sitting area. I want 2 separate bedrooms but it is difficult to figure out how to ask for that.

Also, when they say pay in the local currency, they mean cash? That is a lot of money to be carrying around.

I don't agree with RS about making reservations directly - sometimes it's better, sometimes not. I usually book through booking.com for a city I haven't been to before.

Most major booking sites post the hotel's policies on cancellation charges. I am seeing many more hotels/apartments/B&Bs go to a 2-tier system, a lower rate with a no-cancellation policy and a higher rate for a free-cancellation policy within a specific number of days before arriving. Just as people used to triple-book airline reservations, holding multiple hotel reservations until they make up their minds has put hotels (especially small ones) in the position of having to charge a fee for cancelling. Usually the fee is for one night, but in resort areas it can be for the entire stay. A no-show usually will be charged the entire stay.

Booking.com, venere.com allow you to filter by type of accommodation you want. Look at photos to see what the configuration for beds/sofabeds is and hope for the best; booking sites usually have a "special requests" box where you can enter that information.

If you contact the apartment owner directly you can ask specifically for two bedrooms.

Nanc1930, maybe you didn't use your credit card for anything else and felt confident to speculate that the hotel bookings were the point of misuse of that information on the last trip, but this is not a common report that we hear from travelers. With sophisticated thieves working hard through various channels, the easy method of number theft is not the only way.

I agree wholeheartedly with Zoe! I use Booking.com a lot because it is convenient for me as a traveler and offers some protection, first from my CC and second in case I have to cancel. I appreciate that the hotels and B&Bs may not make as much money when I use Booking.com, but my time i precious too, and if I make a return trip, I do try to go direct. I like VRBO, too, but I am more cautious there because cancellation policies are tougher. With a site like Booking or VRBO you can filter for your needs and if you read carefully, you will see the "true" 2-bedroom apartments.

Firenze try Serafina Apartment

Roma try Prati Apartment or Palazzo Olivia