Hotel suggestions in Croatia?

I will be there in early August. I plan on staying in Sobe, a room in a private house. I haven't booked anything, I'll just show up and expect them to come to me at the ferry, or bus station. This worked all over Greece and Turkey when I was there three years ago.

Last Sept. we stayed in a sobe in both towns. There really aren't any particularly good hotel choices. For Dubrovnik try Apartments Amoret and Karmen Apartments. They both have websites. In Split, try Sobe Base which also has a website. These are quite reasonable in price. I understand that Peristil Hotel is nice, but they had no rooms available on our dates. Be aware that, to my knowledge, none of these places have elevators and do have stairs, lots of stairs.

In March 2008 we stayed at a Rick Steves' recommended sobe in Dubrovnik, I believe it was called Villa Ragusa. Unfortunately, I can't recall what we paid for the room and don't have that information at hand right now, but I do remember it being very reasonable for the average going rates.

The owner, Pero, picked us up from the airport (for €20) and took us to the sobe, which is located inside the Old Town of Dubrovnik. He has about 6 rooms he rents out, and ours was very clean and comfortable. Something to note, however, is that to get to the room from the main drag of Old Town (Stradun), involves climbing about 94 steps (sounds worse than it is, really!). But Dubrovnik has a lot of stairs, so it is hard to avoid them altogether.

As for Split, I second the vote of Sobe Base, it was another room we quite enjoyed. Super clean, fantastic location right inside the walls of Diocletians' Palace, and our room had a computer with internet (and heated floors in the bathroom!). Again, my memory escapes me with the price but for some reason €90/night rings a bell.