Where to stay in ROME!

Barbara's B&B in Rome is an excellent place to stay! Here is the website: http://www.bbrome.it/

We stayed at a lovely b&b called At Your Place. It is located about 10 minutes from the Vatican and very close to public transportation. Luca, the owner is a great host. Great breakfasts, too. It is highly rated on Trip Advisor. I'd stay there again in a nanosecond.

Do you have either the RS Italy or RS Rome book? If not, that's a good starting place. Good luck.

Check our Flamini Domus Charming Suites, great rates and central location.

Lisa, As someone else mentioned, the Guidebooks would be a good place to start (check your local Library or larger book stores). They show a variety of accommodations in various parts of Rome, and in different price ranges. That would be the best way to find the accommodations that best fit your criteria. Happy travels!

While it is true that guidebooks are a good place to start, I have found guidebooks to be badly out of date regarding prices. Even RS Italy 2011-looking at lodging for Venice (all I have gotten to so far), I am finding prices are 60-75% higher than listed in the books. So I think a site like this is very proper for more current prices and recommendations.

Guidebooks are a place to start. Then check Trip Advisor for reviews, cruise the Helpline archives for commentary and ideas, recheck Trip Advisor on any new ideas that interest you. Then contact the hotel, B&B, or apartment owner for availability and price. If the actual prices are higher than a recent R.S. book, I'd ask the proprietor about it. I believe Rick's staff expects the recommended establishments to honor the price through the entire calendar year. Of course there are variances for high and low seasons. Lisa, I really liked http://www.palazzo-olivia.it near Piazza Navona. For the location, the prices are fantastic. They are apartments, BTW. Ciao!

The statement that current guidebooks are off by 60 to 70% is not supported by our experience over many, many years. Even when using guidebooks that are several years the prices have never been that far off the mark. Recognizing that most current guidebook are six months or so out of date, it should be expected that the rates are a little off -- most likely in the range of 5 or even 10% but not 60%.

Regarding Venice hotel prices...I will say that Venice is a different animal. Venice has loosely-named "High Seasons" and "Low Seasons". Some places will add, in addition to High and Low, "Very High", "Mid-High", etc.! I've often seen between 4 and 6 different 'seasons'...! They basically get what they can for a room, and it's a VERY fluid thing...(THEY will admit it; you can't pin some of them down! It's Italy on steroids...) They may post prices on their own websites, but the actual price quoted for a reservation will probably bear no resemblance to them. So, more that usual, you can't use any guidebook - or a hotel's own website - for guidance in hotel prices in Venice. Venice is quite unique...

Don't forget that it IS possible to haggle a bit over prices. I've done it on a couple of different occasions and it worked...both in Rome and Venice.

Look into the Residenza Canali ai Coronari. I'm going to book it for my honeymoon. It's right next to the Piazza Navonna. Considering the location, it has the best prices and accommodations that I've seen. Here's the link to their website: http://www.residenzacanali.com/?page_id=193 here's their trip advisor page http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187791-d488889-Reviews-Residenza_Canali_ai_Coronari-Rome_Lazio.html

We stayed at The Beehive last month and will be going back in March to stay at one of their self-catering apartments. www.the-beehive.com as mention in Rick Steves' book. The staff is great and they are an eco-friendly hotel that is clean, safe, with free internet near the train station. They have bunk rooms (€25) or private rooms (€70) but all share bathrooms.