reservations in Italy

Some of these places are booked a year in advance. Even though they don't open till April, they check their reservations.

They are not taking bookings for next spring at this time. I too am planning a trip for May 2014 and have gotten this message for too many hotels/B&Bs for it to be that they are really fully booked.

Most likely they are sold out already. I'm currently booking accommodation for Italy in July/August 2014, and some of the most popular places are sold out already. (I've been looking at Lake Como, not Lake Garda)

May is not high season so I doubt the Lakes are fully booked. A few hotels I stay at often have replied that their summer rates aren't set yet, some others are.

We also are planning a trip for May 2014. No wonder places are starting to sell out. :) I just checked my records from when we visited in May 2009. We went to the big four - Rome, Florence, Venice, and Sorrento\Amalfi Coast. For that visit I made all of my hotel reservations in February 2009 and I got my first choice in all cases but one. Have things really changed so much since 2009 that we now have to start making our reservations this far in advance? Or is it, as seems likely to me, that many places just aren't yet taking reservations for May 2014? George

I would be floored if a lot of places are filling up for May of 2014. What kind of message did you receive? Was it an automated one? If so, the more likely scenario is that they just haven't made next year available yet on their calendars. A lot of places wait until November or so before releasing those dates. The smaller the place, the more true this is.

It's probably is too early for some hotels. However, and I do not mean to offend anyone, I think that maybe part of the problem is that some visitors book more than one place in each location and then cancel all but one at the last minute allowed by the Ts&Cs. This does have a knock on effect for those of us who know exactly where we want to stay and don't like to leave booking to the last minute. Over recent years have found that I need to book earlier and earlier to get my choice. I have also noticed that cancellation policies are getting tighter, I suspect this is to try and cut down on multiple bookings.

Actually, I think all of the replies may be true. I know that some, especially smaller places, have not yet set rates for next year; and, so, you get a no availability message on booking.com or no response if you query directly. I'm sure it's also true that double-bookers create a faux no-vacancy situation. However, as Roberto pointed out a couple of days ago, with a late Easter and national holidays on Apr. 25 and May 1, there may be a lot of Italians taking vacations,. Many other countries have week-long school breaks during this time, and families from northern climes like to get some sun. None of which helps the well-organized traveler to get a handle on the situation. I'm also planning, now, for May; and have run into this. Not being able to interpret the "no" message is annoying. How hard would it be to have a message on your website, or on your booking.com listing advising that reservations will be accepted after (date)? I've just sought and found other alternatives.

Thank you for all of your responses! I guess I will wait a month or so and try again. The three places I checked all said "unavailable."

I've been in Italy for a year and tried to get out of town every 2-3 weeks. I use booking.com and check the ratings with tripadvisor comments. I think I have only had reservations more than a week out when extended family has visited and been concerned about getting rooms. I've always had options to choose from and not had a bad experience using this method. I even got one of Rick's recommended in Florence by the Duomo on one days notice.

We are going to Italy in May2014 and I have made all of our reservations. I too encountered some sold out or no availability responses from the online systems. For those I then emailed the place directly with my requests and they emailed back a response about availability and usually gave me a better rate. If I then wanted to book the rooms they took my credit card info via email and sent back a confirmation. I felt better about doing it this way, because then I had an actual confirmation letter with someone's ,usually managers, name on it instead of an automated reservation.