Choosing Your Hotel

Choosing your hotel for your next family vacation or business trip can be a stressful task with so many hotels available, a huge number of promotions and deals, websites and reviews that can give conflicting opinions on the quality of a hotel. How can you choose the right hotel for you and be confident of a comfortable stay?

The first step is to know what you need from your hotel, what kind of trip are you planning? Hotels offer a wide range of services to suit business and family travellers as well as tourists, if you will need a specific service put this on your list. If you are not an experienced traveller it is worth searching to see what services are available in making this choice. Also consider the price range you can afford, from the cheapest B&B to the most avant garde boutique hotel, many travellers spend very little time considering their choice of hotel and buy the cheapest available which can ruin a trip with poor sleep or even more serious issues such as the hotel being in a dangerous location.

Once you know your price range you should use try a number of online booking services which will show you what is available. Then check this on the hotel`s site which will have the most up to date prices and may have special offers to reduce the price. If price is all you are interested in there are late booking and cheap booking websites dedicated to getting the best deals but the dates and duration of stay may be limited.

Location is the next most important issue to consider and combine this with some thought about how you will be reaching your hotel and travelling when you are there. If you have a hire car that is very different to need to use public transport or taxis. Major booking sites will have Googlemaps or other maps showing the location of the hotels which will give you a good idea of their distance from airports and train stations as well as how far they are from any attractions you wish to visit. Many hotels can also help you with booking hire vehicles for your stay. Guide books can help with this and it is also important to check the safety of where you are visiting, if you are travelling to a country that may have political unrest or problems with crime contact your foreign office as well as news sites to find out about the area you are visiting.

Booking engines usually allow you to search by amenity so if you need a pool or a gym or you are travelling with your family and need a certain number of beds this is easy to look for. The sites will give you the star ratings of the hotels and the amenities allowing you to make a price comparison. Bear in mind that star ratings can vary from country to country and often demonstrate the presence of services such as 24 hour reception that you may not need. A family run B&B may be more suitable to your needs than a four star hotel. Using multiple websites and customer review sources can be a good way of gauging this, remember that hotels will always put their best foot forward and even some review sites will have glowing but fake reviews.

Search around, places that have consistent problems and poor service will leave a trail of poor reviews that agree, while on the other hand even the best hotel will have a few disgruntled customers so do not let a single bad review put you off. Chain hotels offer a more consistent quality of service between hotels and are often a good bet for cheap hotels, on the other hand boutique hotels offer a greater variety of services and make up some of the most characterful and luxurious options available.
 

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