Just last night I received a request from a close friend who is planning a trip to Italy at short notice, and asked me to assist her in locating suitable accommodation options for the trip.

She is traveling with her two adult daughters, and  is on a tight budget for the travels. Her requirements were:

• locations close to tourist centres such as Florence, Rome, Sorrento, but not too hectic
• they’ll have a hire car, so need parking availability
• places to sit and relax whilst recharging batteries
• pleasant surroundings, with plenty of garden space or views
• dates of travel fixed – starting in 14 days
• four different locations for a trip lasting 17 days
• preferably a comfortable and well appointed ensuite room for all three to share

Time is tight, so I had no opportunity to look for early booking bargains, instead needed to look at available stock. Luckily, the trip comes before the high season, so short-term availability is less of a problem than it may have been, particularly when looking for options a short distance away from city centers.

I began the search using Google to search for “budget accommodation” in the areas of interest. Whilst such a simple search usually throws up a lot of inappropriate sites, a look both the search page and sponsored results can often prove useful. In the case of the search for Sorrento, the following sponsored link showed up:

55 B&B in Sorrento, Italy
Accommodation in Sorrento, prices
descriptions, map, Users Feedback
www.BBPlanet.it/B&B_Sorrento

I clicked on this link, and was able to find 2 or 3 properties from the site which fitted my friend’s requirements. I sent a request to 2 of these, and must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly replies about availability and cost were received.

To sum up, within about three hours of internet searching, I had uncovered a number of options (each with availability on the required dates) that I was able to pass on to my friend, for her consideration and decision about which to book.

It obviously helps to know the region for which you are looking for somewhere to stay, but if you don’t a great option is to look up the area in a travel publication  such as Lonely Planet, Berlitz, Frommers, Fodors, etc. If you can’t access such a publication, then you can try an online search for information on the region’s characteristics using the term “travel guide” with the name of the city, town or region.

Best of luck with your travel plans.

Submitted by Barbara Walsh-Kumm www.onlinetravelconsultant.com