Novice to international travel. how to book with Italian hotels?

I book online exclusively, either directly with the property on their website or via www.booking.com. In more travel nights than I can count I have never had a reservation cancelled or confused. When researching online, veer away from properties where reviewers say there was a problem.

I've always booked directly through the hotel's website and never had a problem.

I have had great success with online booking with through Booking.com and direct with the hotels as recommended by RS. Then you have a "paper" trail. Booking,com actually contacted a hotel for me when my travel had to be changed and they delayed a non-cancellable reservation for a week. I would not do phones because of potential misunderstandings. Separate emails with different parts of the credit card information can allay some concerns too.

I have used both Expedia and Booking.com, and found them to be reliable. The pictures and descriptions are accurate and I have had no problems. Since I always book travel a long way ahead, I always book cancellable rooms in case I find something else I like better.

To me, booking an international hotel is the same process as a domestic hotel. So if you've booked a hotel in the States, booking one in Italy (or anywhere in Europe) will be no different, except if you are trying to book a small mom and pop by phone or e-mail and there is a substantial language barrier or cultural misunderstanding. I do use booking.com most of the time; sometimes I use the hotel's website if the price is better. Always compare prices across different channels (hotel website vs. third party) before booking and get a reservation # and confirmation. I don't have the patience to call hotels or deal with e-mail, but if you do, then get all the necessary info in writing via e-mail from the hotel (dates, room type, price, check-in info, cancellation policy, and some kind of reservation code). I've never e-mailed my credit card info, but I have inputted it into secure websites that start with "https". I typically e-mail the hotel if I book with a third party just to confirm; in each case, I've gotten a positive response and there were no issues.

The horror stories you're reading about is emblematic of all the junk that fills up the internet just to get clicks and to get people worried, excited, animated, and outraged. Most people with a reservation don't show up at a hotel and are turned away.

First comment - difference in language. I would never rely on a phone booking.
Second comment - the week before travel, I ALWAYS reconfirm my booking by email. I confirm the date and generally give an estimated check in time. If arrival is after 6pm. I always request 'guaranteed late arrival'. Generally they have my credit card details, so ensuring my room is held means they can charge me as a 'no show' rather than feel the need to cancel my booking in order to rent out the room to someone else.
Sometimes you will book through a hotel website and credit card details go via email. I just break up the numbers into 2 separate emails for a sense of security.
Going with lodgings with reviews helps to develop your security, but I think the best way to have no surprises on arrival is to do the reconfirmation and estimated time of arrival thing. It puts you back on their radar, particularly if original booking was done months and months prior.
(one time I booked a B&B in Newfoundland in January for July. I had to phone and give a 50% deposit. It is one of the few that I ran out of time to confirm prior to departing for Newfoundland and I waited until 2 days before to reconfirm. When searching Google for her email address, I learned the place had burned to the ground in April. I had no clue so had to scramble to find alternate lodging in the area - plus having lost my deposit. Better to find out any glitches before you leave home, than on the road.

I would phone them directly or use their online applications as long as they are secure. I had a suspicious incident occur last year after using the "2 email" technique with a hotel that had no website. Someone in the US starting ordering food via grubhub shortly after the credit card info was sent in split emails. I caught the activity before Chase Manhattan and of course a new credit card number had to be established. Then I had to change the CC information in every application in which it was used frequently. This year I am reserving via phone when secure transmission is unavailable. Of course it also helps to learn and practice the proper languages. FYI, I've been in IT my entire life and should know better than to rely on separate emails that can be easily retrieved from insecure storage and pieced together. I cringed when I hit "send" on the second email.

Great advice upthread! As reported by many, I always book online, either directly per accommodation or Booking.com. I also divide my credit card number between two emails.
I always keep a copy either on my phone or hard copy to take with me. About a month before departure I send an email to reconfirm. We've never had any misunderstanding booking this way.

Another fan of booking.com here. Have used that site for both domestic and international travel without any issues.

I prefer to book directly with hotels that offer a secure booking website, avoiding websites like booking.com when possible as they take a fairly steep commission. That cuts deeply into profits, especially for small hotels already suffering from the popularity of apartment stays. I look at it as my small contribution to keeping alive the small hotels I enjoy.

We deal directly with the hotel by sending an email with our needs and request a reservation. In the email we indicate we would like to secure the reservation by telephoning them with the credit card information. Never had a hotel not be agreeable to using that method. Many people do it differently, but this has always worked for us. In the unlikely event there is a "mix up" one is much better off having booked directly rather than through a third part site.

Thank you all for your wonderful advise. I'll definitely follow it. I'm finding cheaper rates on the hotel site, AND cheaper yet again, on some, when I email them. And some hotel web sites won't book as far out as I need. Thank you everyone for your expert help!
Elaine

I agree with booking directly when possible. I notice more and more hotels - at all price points - offering some sort of discount or freebie if you book through them instead of a third party agent. I also feel that my booking is a little more secure.

However you book, you want to ensure you have a confirmation. Even if you decide to book by phone, I would ask for an email address, then back up any phone reservation in writing. Also, if you email or book online, and you don't receive a return email with 'confirmation' details in a week, then either phone or move onto another lodging.

Stop worrying. The one horror story was from someone who didn't get a confirmation of his reservation and was surprised when he showed up to find there was no reservation. Get a confirmation, then send a follow up email a couple of weeks before you are to arrive.

Thru an online travel agent - we use Gate1 or Booking.com but there are plenty of good ones out there. Or if you find a hotel you like, book directly with them

Just another note about reserving hotel directly or through Booking.com. Last year we price compared and found it was €200 less to book our Venice hotel directly. That said, we had no choice when we booked a lovely apartment in Ljubljana. Our only option was Booking.com. It turned out to be a bargain. Great accommodation!

I will typically send an email to the hotel/BnB/etc with the dates of my travel asking for the best rate for what I need. When I travel with my adult daughter, for example, I'll say I want a room for two with separate beds, if possible.
I've never had a problem with this way of doing it, often getting a better rate. Once, I got a room in Venice for about 1/3 the price online if I paid before arrival and then got an upgrade once we checked in upon arrival.

Also, there was one place in Siena on my first Italy trip that had no reservation number, took no credit card information to confirm the reservation, nothing.

The email exchange we had discussing the lodging I needed was sufficient and I didn't even need to show the email when I arrived to check-in. They said they'd have a room for me and they did. That was their agreement and being a small (5 room apartment building) that's the way they do business.

Good luck and have a great time planning. It's almost as fun as the time you'll have on the ground in Italy.

When booking by email or phone, be very clear about the day you are checking in and the day you are checking out, AND in addition specify "three nights" or whatever. And it's better to spell out the month because we tend to write a date month/day/year and in Europe they usually write it day/month/year.

I booked directly with the hotels in Rome and Venice with no problems. I made sure the rooms were changeable/cancelable and not prepaid. Good thing since when my sister-in-law joined me on the tour I had to change from single to two twins and change dates on one. I used Booking.com for B&B in Calabria and hotel in Naples with no problems.
All gave me email confirmations which I also printed. Two weeks before leaving home, I confirmed all the hotels via email.
Just an aside note: my Visa was compromised and replaced after booking all the hotels. I emailed the two hotels with the updated credit card info. You can update CC info on Booking.com for hotels booked there.

Edited: I used both Booking.com and Trip Advisor for research. RS guidebooks gave recommendations too but I found I did not agree with his assessments.

erob,

I always book directly with the hotels using their websites, which are shown for hotels listed in the RS guidebooks. I prefer to "avoid the middleman" and deal direct whenever possible. I've encountered a few hotels that don't provide booking on their website, and use Booking.com. That's about the only time I use any of the booking services.

I will admit I use Booking more as a search engine for finding lodgings, getting a price, then I move over to the hotel website to book. At times Booking has savings that I take advantageous of, or when the hotel site redirects me there.

I love booking with hotels directly and online. I'm over 70 and mostly hate the changes that technology has introduced, but this is one place where the benefits outweigh the potential problems. Hotel websites allow you a peek (although fancied up for the photo) at the rooms, the lobby, the front of the hotel, even the food. I go directly to the hotel's websites and don't use a booking site (or, if I go to a booking site, I use it to find hotels, then go directly to their websites). That way, I develop a relationship with Massimo at the front desk before I even arrive and can ask all the questions I want ahead of time. Also, MANY places will give deep discounts or free breakfast if you book with them directly because it saves them money. I usually stick with places recommended in Rick Steves' books--especially those which name the owners as I can be confident that they value the connection to RS' travelers. I have had zero problems with those hotels--whether because RS is right about them being good or they are aware that if they mess up, it will appear in this forum doesn't matter: they are always attentive and I get what I signed up for.

I do worry about sending my credit card info via email. But so far, I've had no problems. Fingers crossed.