Hotel in Rome Pre Cruise

[love2cruisegal]

We are doing a 14 night Med cruise in May of 2016 (5/14) and were planning to stay at the Albergo Cesari for 4 nights before the cruise. Have had our hearts set on this hotel with all the good reviews and it has a very nice roof top terrace. I checked their website and it doesn't say they are full, but the online booking systems I checked say there are no rooms available. So yesterday I decided to send an email to them and had a reply this a.m. stating they are sorry but they are full. I was so surprised and disappointed. Could there be a large group staying there? Last year they had rooms available a year in advance when I was first checking for Rome hotels.

 

I'm coming to all you experienced Med cruisers and pre/post hotel stays to find a good hotel similar to the Albergo Cesari and still close to all the sites as that hotel, but not too expensive. Any recommendation would be wonderful. I will also be searching.

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[euro cruiser]

I would look around and make other reservations that can be canceled without penalty, while continuing to check the Cesari occasionally. It could be that a group has a hold on rooms but they may not fill them all.

 

I run fund raising trips for not-for-profits; my agency negotiates a rate with a hotel for a certain number of rooms (usually about 25 rooms) and puts a hold on them for a certain period of time. I then sell the trip and approximately four months before the travel travel date we have to commit to the exact number of rooms. Any rooms we haven't sold go back into their inventory at that point. The same is true for airlines, which is why you can sometimes see a drop in airfare for a particular flight - group holds expire about four months before flights as well.

[love2cruisegal]

I found Hotel Smeraldo has available rooms for my dates and have read recommendations on cruise critic plus it's also recommended by Rick Steves. We may just go ahead and reserve a room at Hotel Smeraldo...it looks very nice and has good reviews. Also has a roof top terrace!

 

Thanks euro cruiser!