itwg.com > Reviews (1)

itwg.com is an online service for bookinghotels in Italy. It is very user friendly site that searches by availability.

The prices are reasonable, although I would not rely upon it as always being the cheapest. However, it is a good starting point. You can book at the last minute (on the day if necessary).

Most hotels will require credit card confirmation - however this service will not charge your card. Some hotels will accept bookings without credit cards, and these are highlighted in the search results. If you don't have a credit card I believe you have to pay by cheque in advance. The hotel will otherwise only charge you on arrival/departure depending upon their policy. You can cancel at any time up to 2 or 3 days before (depending upon the hotel), with no penalty. Cancellations later than this will incur one night's charge.

There are advanced search features such as smoking preference, property types, facilities and bed types. One quibble is that you cannot sort the results by price - you can sort by "Best Value for Money", which appears to be based upon the percentage discount, rather than actual cost.

They also have "Deals of the day" where there are percentage discounts of particular hotels. For example, a search this afternoon found a 3* hotel in suburban Rome for €61 per double room including breakfast for tomorrow night, which is a very good price for Rome.

The level of detail about each hotel varies, presumably on what the hotel owners submit. There are always at least basic directions for driving, and usually for public transport information too. There is also an interactive map which is very handy. Sometimes the descriptions are in less than perfect English, as it is clearly an Italian based company. I never rely on the information provided, as I've found with any hotel website they tend to exaggerate how close to everything they really are.

Once you've booked once, you can set up an account for it to remember your details, although it will not remember your credit card details. The details are all on one page, and it is all very easy to use.

After booking, you receive a confirmation email. You can also check the status of your reservation on the website. You can send a message to your hotel, although I've never done this so can't say how well it works. I imagine it is dependent upon the staff at the hotel in question.

Cancelling is very easy - you simply click the "Cancel reservation" box. You can also include a message if you like. You automatically receive an email confirming your request to cancel, and another when the hotel processes it. When I had to, I got both messages within minutes, but I assume the message from the hotel could sometimes take longer, depending upon the system the hotel uses. My card was not charged as I had cancelled in time. I've only cancelled once, but everything went very smoothly.

The site also has themed vacation packages, flights (although the search engine does not search budget airlines), car rental and a car service to pick you up/drop you off at Italian airports. I've not used any of these and so cannot comment.

The site is translated in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.