Accommodations eat up the largest percentage of vacation money, so finding a budget hotel in Italy is crucial for travelers looking to save a few euros. In Part III of our month-long series of Saving €uros in Italy, I present Cheap Sleeps: Five Ways to Save Money on Accommodations in Italy.
1. Bed and Breakfasts
So maybe I am biased, but I think staying in a bed and breakfast-especially if you are in Catanzaro (wink, wink)-is the way to go. I’ve explained the differences between B&Bs and hotels in Italy, so if aren’t sure about them, check out this post.
However, it is safe to say that in most places in Italy, you will find a bed and breakfast for €10, €20, even €30 per person less, per night, than a nearby hotel.
2. Hostels
The word “hostel” brings to mind dorm-style rooms, shared bathrooms and all-night parties, but all hostels are not created equally. It is a good idea to read reviews and not automatically exclude a place that calls itself a hostel. If you aren’t a particularly discerning traveler, you might prefer to save €30 a night and go ahead a share a bathroom.
I especially recommend hostels for independent travelers, as they are a great place to meet other like-minded travelers bouncing around the bel paese.
photo credit: Toprural
3. Agriturismi
Sometimes called a farm house, an Italian argriturismo is often set in the country and offers breakfast, lunch and dinner options. As with hotels, there is a large range of prices and amenities with agriturismi, so read reviews, ask specifically what is included, what is available for an additional fee and do the math.
I’ve seen some agriturismi include lunch or dinner for an additional €10, which is a steal. I’ve also seen them charge upwards of €30, which might not be the best way to travel if you are on a budget.
4. Apartment Rentals
Hotels, B&Bs, hostels and other types of accommodations in Italy set their fees on a per person basis, not per room like we do in the US. If you are traveling with a large family, this could quickly add up. If you plan to stay in one area for one week or more, consider renting an apartment.
You will have the added option of cooking some meals, allowing you to save even more on your Italian vacation.
5. Convents
Yep. You read that right-convents. According to Jessica at Why Go Italy, convents and monasteries are a great option for budget-conscience travelers. Even though they may set curfews or impose rules you wouldn’t see at traditional hotels, if you are looking to save some euros, it is worth checking out.
And just for fun, here are three more tips for lining up cheap sleeps.
- Hotels that are away from major attractions are usually less expensive. Consider staying outside of the city and commuting or organizing day trips.
- If you plan to do a lot of train travel, considering taking a night train and sleeping there. Most train stations have showers and restrooms where you can freshen up before heading out for a day of sight-seeing.
- As travel costs continue to soar, couch surfing is becoming a more appealing option for many travelers. As always, be careful and cautious and use good judgment. For more information, visit CouchSurfing.org.
What about you, budget-traveler? Do you have any good tips you can share with us for finding budget accommodations in Italy?
Speaking of great tips, head over to Robin at My Melange and see what tips she is sharing today. And while you are at it, vote for her. My Melange was nominated for Best Travel Blog for the Blogger’s Choice Awards. Congratulations on your nomination, Robin and in bocca al lupo!
Until next time … Buon Viaggio!
How Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can facilitate eCommerce and Online Transactions in India. bankofindianow.com bank of india
Pluggdin (Bangalore, India) March 6, 2011 INDIA, MARCH 6 — Internet Businesses will be sustainable in India only when the volumes of online transactions in India go up, which in turn happens only when Internet Banking, Debit Card usage and proliferation of Credit Cards happen.
..
Why it is must?
Not just direct eCommerce websites, but Internet Industry will grow along with that. Why I say this because the cycle goes like:
* Take two of the biggest spenders amongst Internet Industry – Online Travel & Matrimony Services * To be in business – they need Transactions (Online Bookings & Paid Accounts) * If consumers don’t transact online, they will not have any revenues * No revenues – No or lower advertising spends * They don’t spend – Online Advertising Networks suffer, hence publishers, and hence it affects the complete ecosystem.
In happy happy scenario – when volumes of Online Transactions are higher – you see more Online Travel Bookings, Movie Tickets, eCommerce websites sell products, Consumers opt for Paid accounts on Matrimony Services, Paid Classifieds… and everyone is smiling.
The volume of online transactions will determine how mature the Internet user base in country is. And the fate of Internet Industry lies in hands of Reserve Bank of India by ensuring facilitation of usage credit /debit cards & internet banking facilities by all scheduled banks in India.
..
Some Unrelated Linkage:
Major banking websites in India (HDFC, ICICI, Citibank, SBI, Axis Bank) attract over 16.25 Million Unique visitors each month (Source: Vizisense) . That probably will be a small percentage of total bank’s user base, but going by that number means:
* If India has 35 Million Internet users in country- a whopping 46% of internet users frequent bank websites * It would be still 27% if Internet user base is considered to be 60 Million and yet it is a significant number.
* Every 4th user of Internet is a someway related to bank. This is just considering the top banks in India.
..
The Scenario Today Unfortunately the credit card subscriber base in India is not so promising at less than 25 Million Cards issued in market and of which estimated 50% are active users.
Positives – Debit Cards growth seem to be promising for as many banks couple the same as Debit-cum-ATM card and have started distributing it to all new accounts. NetBanking user base quoted above could indicate user logins to netbanking (mostly to check balance) and not necessarily online transactions.
..
RBI’s Plan of Action should be So what is required to be done to create an environment to boost Online Transactions in India:
Curb the loss of opportunity – * Many banks in India issue Maestro Debit Cards – unfortunately they are not accepted on many payment gateways * All debit cards are ATM Cards; but all ATM Cards are not Debit Cards.
* There are many Scheduled and Cooperative Banks in India offering Internet Banking facilities, however most of them only for purpose of checking account balance. They need to be enabled for Online Transactions as well.
Mandates to improve Credit / Debit Card Penetration – * Many Scheduled and Co-operative banks operate in India., not all of them issue Credit Cards or Debit Cards or ATM Cards.
* There are at least 300+ Scheduled Banks in India, the government should enforce up all the banks to issue Credit Cards & Debit Cards cum ATM Cards within an stipulated time frame.
* All Non-Scheduled banks in India with 300,000+ savings accounts operating at any level – City, Taluka, District or State need to compulsorily tie-up with a National Bank of its choice to offer Credit / Debit Cards to its customer base. (Similarly to Bancassurance Models) ATM Network Connectivity – * Ever wondered how you can use any Bank’s ATM card on any other? It is due to their inter-connectivity on the BANCS ATM Network. Unfortunately not all Banks/ ATMs are hooked up on this network – So no question here to guess on the recommendation.
* How is it linked to Online Transactions? – These consumers are most likely to use ATM cum Debit Cards and are more likely to mature and move to Online Transactions Internet Banking – * Scheduled Banks in India need to compulsorily offer Internet Banking facilities to its users and also ensure training terminals for same in its branches. If implemented and executed well, this might be a first hand experience for many Indians to Internet, for that matter even to Computers.
* There are many Scheduled and Cooperative Banks in India offering Internet Banking facilities, however most of them only for purpose of checking account balance. They need to be enabled for Online Transactions as well.
Payment Gateway Infrastructure – * The payment gateway infrastructure in country needs to be improved – by which it means even the payment gateways need to have mandates on accepting all credit cards, debit cards and internet banking facility of all banks currently offering them * There has to be also a mandate to integrate such services of any new bank within 180 days of it going live.
Connectivity – No comments on the state of Internet & Broadband connectivity in India. But that is not the point here. Imagine you doing a transaction in a small town like Mahabaleshwar on a Dial-Up Internet Service provided by a local ISP.
Now enjoy the view:
* From the merchant site you are directed to your Payment Gateway.
* You enter your details on Payment Gateway and click Submit.
* Through Visa or Mastercard switches that are located internationally of course – the same is routed to issuing bank for authorization and back to the Payment Gateway.
* Phew., that’s not enough – Credit Cards are now 3D secured, you need also authenticate yourself again by the issuing bank and later again routed through Visa / Mastercard to record the authentication. go to website bank of india
* Post this you are routed back to the payment gateway and again back to the Merchant website.
Wow! And this is a world tour of some sort in 30 seconds, since by this time your transactions was routed through multiple ISPs, multiple Datacenters and multiple countries as well and all this multiple times. So now imagine with state of (poor) internet connectivity in India, how many chances you have for connection dropouts.
One last point to be added here – even after going through all this, note that authorization of a transaction is completely left to the issuing bank and not Payment Gateway, Visa or Mastercard.
..
Indian Electronic Payment Network (India Card) – Needs to be reality!
The last suggestion – RBI should possibly ensure facilitation and make roadmap for creation of an Indian Electronic Payment Network (owned and managed by Indian Government).
It is not confirmed if it will be named India Card, but RBI has plans to set up own payment processing system , as reported many times in news like this one last in Indian Express. This is in line with China introducing its own payment network – Union Pay through its central bank – People’s Bank of China (PBC or PBOC).
There are benefits of having an Indian Electronic Payment and Processing Network only if one understands how costly it is for the banks to be a part of existing ones:
* When a bank issues you a Credit Card or Debit Card that is endorsed by either VISA or Mastercard, the issuing bank pays some amount to either of them.
* This issuing fees is irrespective of the fact if that card is ever used for any transaction or not. Issuing fees are higher for premium cards like Gold, Platinum, Titanium (or any undiscovered metal).
* The issuing banks probably also pay an annual fee to VISA or Mastercard to use its payment processing network.
* And of course, VISA and Mastercard do charge a small percentage ( Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company
Thanks for the kind words and link to the voting!
I especially agree with you on B&B’s. I just prefer them.
1 -for getting to know the people who own it, who are a great local resource. and
2 – because breakfast is generally included in the price- saving you money on one meal a day!
Maybe I am biased … but I agree.
.-= My Melange´s last blog ..Travel Tip Tuesday | Nighty Nite-Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite! =-.
[Reply]
When my wife and I were in Italy a couple of years ago, we did many of the things you suggest. we stayed in an apartment in Florence with our daughter for a few days. She then departed and took off on our own. We rented a small villa in Asciano which we used as a base for day trips (and yes, we could cook, do laundry, etc., which was great). We stayed at a wonderful B&B in Cinque Terre (La Casa de Limone), and finished with a neat old hotel back in Florence before flying home. Our choices weren’t always selected for being the cheapest, but we thought they were great value and, above all, really made for a fabulous experience.
I think you made a great point about cost/value there, Peter. Staying in the cheapest place isn’t always your best option. You might have saved money by being able to cook, etc …
[Reply]
We had our recent trip arranged through a travel agent in Italy. We really did well with his hotel selections. Each of the small hotels were in great locations. We visited Rome, Assisi, Florence, Milan, and we walked everywhere within those cities. My husband and I used the trains to travel between the cities and had a great time doing it. On our final night in Rome, we saw Bruce Springsteen in concert at the Olympic Stadium. The concert started at 10:30pm and it was over at 1:30pm. It took us over two hours to get a taxi back to our hotel. If not for an American woman who lives in Italy and helped us get a taxi, we’d still be waiting outside the stadium. This was our second trip to Italy and we are looking forward to visiting again. Thanks for all your hints about traveling, customs, etc.
Prego, Marie. I am so happy to hear that you had a good experience. That Springsteen concert sounds awesome!
[Reply]
[...] Travel Tip Tuesday: Saving €uros in Italy Series, Cheap Sleeps [...]
I’ve lurked on the blog for a number of months now and always enjoy the tips, stories, etc.
Two things I’ve had good success with for cheap lodging are 1) travel in the off-season when prices are lower and 2) negotiate a discount for paying with cash, rather than a credit card.
Good tips on traveling in off season. Also, trying to negotiate the cash payment could definitely pay off in some places. Thanks.
[Reply]