After-tour hotel stay

If it is Hotel Smeraldo it’s worth it. We walked everywhere, small rooms but wonderful location with rooftop bar when you need a break.

They quoted us a price that is about $100 more per night than what I see listed on third party sites

Is it the same class of room?

Care to share the name of the hotel and the dates?

Yep, name of hotel and your dates would be helpful! Just thinking the third party websites usually show the cheapest room, please click on the specific room details, maybe you're comparing a 'no cancellation or refund' room, which may not be what you've been quoted via email? I would also suggest looking directly at the hotel website, it may give you more options.

I know Hotel Smeraldo booked directly is cheaper than on a 3rd party website. And personally, though there are many styles of travel, I try to book directly. https://www.smeraldoroma.com/

PS, If you book your question under "Italy" rather than RS tours, you may get more replies!

We've done 3 RS tours, and we've always arrived early or stayed later at the designated RS tour hotel. I always email the hotel that we are part of the tour, saying that we will be extending our stay; and our priority to be able to stay in the same room the entire time. Sometimes, they'll say they haven't gotten the names of the group members, as it's too early, and suggest which type of room we should reserve in order to make that most likely to happen; or they'll give us a rate as a part of the RS tour. Again, our priority is to not have to change rooms, and it has worked out each time.

Big cities can be somewhat intimidating when it comes to obtaining accommodations. But this is my technique.

I go to Google Maps and decide the neighborhood I like and want to stay in. I'll go to the top of the page and click on "Hotels" and up pops little bed icons all over the place. Then I'll click on the icons and pull up the hotel's website. Often the room price is cheaper when you go direct vs. going through 3rd party middlemen. I also read customer recommendations on the hotels. I've yet to be disappointed.

For Rome, we prefer to stay in the San Pietro/Ottaviano area which is on the underground line 5 stops from Termini. I don't have to deal with taxi's or buses to get there. It's about 5/16 mile east of the Vatican and on the side where you enter the Vatican Museum. I also like the Pantheon area very much.

When I book thru a middleman, I usually go thru Booking.com. But I do compare prices with Hotels.com and Expedia.

I've never found a third-party booking to be cheaper than the hotel itself, everything being equal (room type, refundability, etc.). If you let the hotel know you're staying after the tour you might get a better rate. Or you could ask them for a less expensive room and plan to switch rooms when the tour ends (not that inconvenient). Once I stayed an extra night in Seville and had to pay for a more expensive room because of availability. You might be encountering something like that. But if you can't get an acceptable rate from the tour hotel, then you can switch hotels (pretty inconvenient but maybe worth it). If you have to look beyond the tour hotel, I think David's method is a good one -- start with a map because location is key.

We have used booking.com in Rome. We also stayed in a very nice BnB mentioned in Rick’s books if you wanted to try a different part of town.
It was in Trastevere a very cool part of Rome.