We are going on the September 26 RS Southern Italy Tour which starts at the Hotel Smeraldo. At this point the hotel doesn’t have any rooms available for September 25, the day before the tour begins. Can anyone recommend a hotel in that general vicinity where we can spend the night before the tour? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Posted by
Lynnwood, Washington
8952 posts
Other hotels listed in the RS guidebook as being in the same area are
Relais Teatro Argentina
Arch Rome Suites
Casa di Santa Brigida
Still close were
Hotel Nationale
Albergo Santa Chiara
Hotel portoghesi
Hotel Due Torri
I don’t know more than that these are the ones in the guidebook.
Posted by
San Diego, CA
170 posts
Hello Martha - my wife, Kathy, and I will be on that tour. We are newbies to Rome and Italy so do not have any suggestions for hotels unfortunately.
Posted by
OP
Upstate NY
31 posts
Thank you to both Carol and Jim. I do appreciate hearing from you. I will definitely be checking out my RS Italy guide and should be getting a new one soon. I am hoping to hearing from someone who may have stayed in one of these hotels to hear about their experience .
Kathy and Jim—we look forward to meeting you and touring together. This will be our 5th RS tour. We have taken VFR, Village Italy, and Sicily as well as Scotland. We love Italy and are sure that you will too. In the meanwhile, enjoy planning for the trip!
Posted by
The Heartland USA
9051 posts
Martha, when you inquired about hotel availability, did you contact the hotel directly by email, or just checked on their website or booking site? I'm just asking because from experience, I know that the start/end hotels on RS tours commonly set aside a block of rooms for tour members wanting extra nights, and those get blocked on their booking sites.
Posted by
OP
Upstate NY
31 posts
Stan, thanks for your question. Yes, I did go directly through the hotel and communicated with two very helpful staff members who were able to give us reservations for three nights after the tour, but not the night before. They did add me to the waitlist and recommended another hotel nearby, but it was significantly more expensive so right now our plan is to wait for the upcoming final payment date when some people may drop out and see if the waitlist comes through. If not, we’ll opt for a higher priced hotel. We did check out the Hotel Sonya where we stayed on our VFR Tour, but they had no vacancies. It’s probably okay, because it’s not really located near the Hotel Smeraldo.