I had made a reservation at a hotel I had previously stayed in using a computer generated booking service on the Web. Because the hotel owners knew us, they wrote me back and told me to cancel the reservation and make it with them directly--it would be cheaper since they would not have to pass on a commission (I don't want to name the hotel because it might get back to the booking service).

Were this a booking service that had led me to the hotel in the first place, I would be concerned about taking away their commission, but since I had stayed in the hotel previously, the service was really doing nothing for me except charging a commission.

I suspect that hotels would not do this to anyone, but the point is that if you are rebooking in a hotel that knows you (and some of the pensiones that we love do remember repeat customers), book directly and not through a Web-based (or other) service. With most of them now have email, so the process is about as easy as making it through the booking service.

P. S. I caught a type in my post about the Hotel Igea in Padua. I had said that they rooms were fancy and left off a not (context would indicate that the not was implied).

Ira H. Bernstein, Ph. D. Professor of Psychology UT-Arlington