I have been doing a search on RomeBy.com and there seems to be some positive posts. I contacted Hotel Smeraldo for a room and they offered the same price as RomeBy. I like to deal directly with the hotel, but Hotel Smeraldo does not refund your deposit, where as RomeBy.com does.
I already emailed and received an answer from the hotel and was wondering if it would be a problem to book through RomeBY.com now?
I would think the hotel would rather have you book directly through them, but I don't want to take a chance with the deposit.

What do you mean when you say that RomeBy refunds the deposit?
The conditions in Romeby are set by the hotel (or should be)... so it sounds strange that the hotel has a different (and more convenient for you) policy through Romeby (or any other page).
You may try and contact the Hotel and tell them that you would prefer to deal with them directly but are concerned about the deposit issue...

quote:

Originally posted by Giulia da Urbino:
What do you mean when you say that RomeBy refunds the deposit?
The conditions in Romeby are set by the hotel (or should be)... so it sounds strange that the hotel has a different (and more convenient for you) policy through Romeby (or any other page).
You may try and contact the Hotel and tell them that you would prefer to deal with them directly but are concerned about the deposit issue...

This is on the email from Romeby:

(We apply the following cancellation fees scheme:
Reservation, 24 hours before Check In, 0%
Less than 24 hours before Check In, 0 hours before Check In, 1 night
No Show, 1 night)

The hotel said no refunds. I noticed other posters were concerned about that, when I did a search. Some were very old posts, so I'm sure it has been their policy for a while.

From the hotel:

(In order to hold the room, please send us an E-MAIL with your credit card number, exp. date and the authorization to charge the cost of the first night as a security deposit .
The deposit is non refundable, even in case of cancellation.)

Strange strange....
Again, I would write to the hotel and explain the whole thing.

I stayed in the Smeraldo this past September for four nights. It was a positive experience. It was a nice budget hotel with a fantastic location, located near Campo Fiori and five mintues to Piazza Navona. I booked directly with the hotel and they required a one night advance deposit. If you found a better deal via RomeBy.com, then good for you. You have no agreement with the Semeralod, you just made an inquiry, if I understand correctly.

quote:

Originally posted by CaWino:
I stayed in the Smeraldo this past September for four nights. It was a positive experience. It was a nice budget hotel with a fantastic location, located near Campo Fiori and five mintues to Piazza Navona. I booked directly with the hotel and they required a one night advance deposit. If you found a better deal via RomeBy.com, then good for you. You have no agreement with the Semeralod, you just made an inquiry, if I understand correctly.

The price was the same. The only problem is that the hotel will not refund the deposit if you did have to cancel, no matter how far in advance. They will charge your credit card as soon as you make the reservation.
Romeby will refund up to a day before the reservation.
I would like to stay here, but would like the option to cancel, in a fair amount of time before the date of arrival, in case of an emergency.As someone mentioned, I don't want to upset the owner by booking through the agency either.

Smeraldo knew what they committed to when they contracted wit RomeBy.com. Don't worry about it.