Guide and tips for a best value hotel accommodation

The stage of planning a trip is, many times, almost as beautiful as the trip itself. Read about different destinations, get excited about them, choose between different possibilities and, finally, start to put together all the logistics of the trip.

If you are one of those who like to organize everything, you will look for flights, internal transport in the country, things to do, places to visit and where you will spend the night. And it is that the subject of accommodation is something basic when we go on vacation. Finding quality hotels is an art.

Today, we have a large number of tools that will make life easier when choosing a hotel. Or not. Sometimes when we have too many alternatives, we waste our lives trying to discern which will be the right choice. To help you that the process of choosing a hotel is not something traumatic and heavy, I am going to give you a few tips that I hope you will find useful:

Be clear how much you want to spend

This is a filter that will narrow our options considerably. For example, you are looking at accommodation in Double Bay and you see that the map of the search engine shows hundreds of hotels. You begin to feel a throbbing in your head and an irrepressible urge to throw your computer out the window. Well, no. If you are clear that you do not want to spend more than a certain amount, it is best to use that data to skew the options.

In search engines of a certain quality, they will offer you the possibility of choosing different price ranges. Whether you want to stay somewhere cheap, or if it is a special occasion and you want to sleep with your partner in a romantic hotel, it is a very useful tool.

Decide in which area you want to book the hotel

Both in cities and in other more rural locations, there will always be an area where you prefer to be. Perhaps you are one of those who shuns the city center because you do not want to be bothered by the bustle. Or maybe you like being in the nightlife zone because you plan to close all the bars in the city. For tastes, the colors.

Being clear about this parameter will also greatly limit your search for the perfect accommodation.

Choose which extras are important

A large flat screen TV in the room, an endless breakfast buffet, swimming pool, children’s room, disco, etc… Each person is different and will be looking for a hotel that can satisfy their desires. Decide which of them are yours and consider them in your choice.

Keep safety in mind

When choosing the simplest accommodation, we must take into consideration the safety it offers us. Normally, we must look at its location and find out a little about which may be the conflictive areas of the city that we are going to visit. If we are in nature, it is also convenient to know if an isolated accommodation offers all the necessary security conditions.

The importance of hotel staff

This is a maxim applicable to the entire service sector: business personnel make a difference.

Undoubtedly, it is not the same to go down to have breakfast and meet waiters with serious and sleepy faces, who if they receive you with a wide smile and wondering, with great sweetness, if you have slept well. That’s how it is. Friendly and helpful receptionists, jolly cleaners, chefs and waiters who want you to get to know the best part of their city or town… That’s ideal, but not always.

To get an idea of this type of attitude, it is best to consult the following point …

Read other people’s opinions

For a few years now, no one has booked a hotel – or other accommodation – without reading the opinions of previous guests. Pages like TripAdvisor, in fact, have created a business model based on them.

Most hotels have dozens or hundreds of reviews on Google or their social pages. You don’t have to read them all, obviously, but at least a few.

Personally, this is something I usually spend a lot of time on when looking for accommodation. For me it is basic.

Payment and cancellation policy

This is another basic point that many people make the mistake of overlooking.

When making a hotel reservation, you must read the fine print in the payments and cancellations section. Nowadays, in many of the big search engines, they give us the option of canceling our reservation at no cost, as long as it is done in advance. However, there are still establishments that do not share this policy. To avoid falling into late and vain later protests, my recommendation is that you cover your back and look for a hotel or accommodation that allows cancellations.

Another issue is the type of payment. A few years ago, they charged you the total amount of the reservation at the time of making it. However, currently the trend is to use the credit card as a kind of guarantee in the reservation. Payment will not be made until the time of overnight stay at the chosen establishment.

After the trip, it never hurts to check our credit card statement, since sometimes we can find errors, such as doubling the charge for a night or charging for extras that we have not consumed (bar cabinet, spa, restaurant, etc…).

Compare the same hotel accommodation on different pages

Finally, after much looking and thinking, we have decided which hotel we are going to book. Very well.

Now is the time to get the best price. You can put the name of the hotel on Google and compare prices on different pages. Do not stop looking (if you have) the official website of the hotel. If you are somewhat flexible on dates, play with them to get a better offer.

And now you have it! Now, to travel and enjoy!

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