The Travel Daily
-
Hotel Booking Basics
Like airfare booking, hotel booking is something that everyone knows how to do, but a few tricks can help you be better at it. You can be “that guy” that paid less for his room than everyone else on the floor.
Whether you’re booking online months in advance or showing up without a reservation, there’s probably some tip that could save a few $$$ (or £££).
Hotel Requirements & Priorities
First, take a minute to decide what kinds of things you will need to look for. Some general requirements that most travellers share are
- Clean
- Good location/convenient
- Security: secure doors/windows/elevators, front desk staff, safe for personal belongings. At cheap hotels in cheap countries, also watch out for theft by staff
- Comfort: quality of bed, quiet at night
Some requirements won’t be common. Business travellers have different requirements than vacationers, for example. If you’re on vacation you might look out for a pool or hot tub, an airport shuttle or to be located near tourist attractions. Business travellers might require internet access, parking, and room service. A good way to narrow your search is to decide which amenities you absolutely can’t live without, and restrict your search to those places, otherwise there can be just too much to choose from. Bedmap’s map-based hotel search has a neat feature to “filter” or restrict your search by amenities such as “free wireless” and at the same time make sure you’re in a good location.
Hotel Star Ratings
Star ratings are something you will come across very frequently during the process of finding and comparing hotels. Star ratings are usually based on amenities: rating agencies have lists of features required for each star level and work like a checklist. The practice of rating hotels with a number of stars is more of a convention than a unified system: stars are assigned by independent national or local bodies and the requirements vary from place to place. Though rating systems vary, the star system defined by the European Hotelstars Union has influenced many and can be used as a rough guide of what you can expect:
- One Star (*): All rooms include a bathroom with shower or bath tub, daily room cleaning, colour TV, table and chair, and soap or body wash. The hotel includes a reception service, a public telephone, and available beverage service.
- Two Stars (**): In addition to the requirements for (*), these hotels must include a buffet breakfast, reading light next to the bed, bath essence or shower gel, bath towels, offer of hygenic products (toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving supplies), and accept credit cards.
- Three Stars (***): In addition to the requirements for (**), these hotels must include the reception open 14 hours/day, available by phone 24 hours/day, bilingual staff, a luggage service, beverage offer in the room, telephone in the room, internet access, heating in the bathroom, a hair dryer, a drassing mirror, a laundry and ironing service, additional pillow and blanket on demand, and a system for managing complaints.
- Four Stars (****): In addition to the requirements for (***), these hotels must include the reception open 18 hours/day, lobby with seats and a beverage service, in-room breakfast service, minibar or 24-hour beverage service, upholstered chair or couch with a side table, bath robe and slippers, cosmetic products (e.g. shower cap, nail file), vanity mirror, and a large tray in the bathroom.
- Five Stars (*****): In addition to the requirements for (****), these hotels must include the reception open 24 hours, multilingual staff, valet parking, concierge, spacious reception hall with several seats and a beverage service, personalized greeting for each guest with fresh flowers or a present in the room, 24 hour room service, internet service in the room, a safe in the room, one hour ironing service, shoe polish service, an evening turndown service, and mystery guesting.
- More Than Five Stars: Some hotels claim a six or seven-star rating, but no rating agency awards more than five stars. Six- or seven-star ratings are thus meaningless and used for marketing purposes only.
Hotel Booking Options
Most guests choose to book before arriving. This guarantees your room and is often necessary during special events and other times when the demand for rooms is high. Hotels tend to raise rates as availability declines, so booking well in advance will usually get you the best rate. That said, last minute deals on hotels do exist.
- Directly from Hotels: One option is booking directly with a hotel itself, either online or by phone. If you’re unfamiliar with the area, you will still need to choose a hotel first. To choose you can ask around for recommendations, consult a guidebook, or just browse a phone book. If you are travelling with a group or on a corporate account, this is probably the method you will use, but otherwise booking directly with the hotel often won’t get you the best rate, contrary to what you might expect.
- Using a Booking Engine: Online agencies are one of the most popular methods for hotel reservations. These partner with many hotels and negotiate with them for the best rates. You might assume that the best rates would always be had by booking directly with hotels, but the best booking engines can often beat them by 5-15%, and you will be exposed to a much wider selection, helping you find the best place possible. As third parties, these services offer reviews and ratings from previous guests to help you in selecting a place. Understand though that user reviews often have a negative bias, as unsatisfied travellers are more likely to write reviews than satisfied ones. Orbitz and Expedia are popular booking engines offering hotels, flights, and rental car booking services. Sometimes you can find very good deals in combo packages: for flights there are cases where it is cheaper to book a flight and hotel stay together than it is to book the flight alone through the airline. For hotel stays, try browsing Bedmap. This service allows you to search and book from a map of the area showing all the hotels: it is often a very fast way to locate a decent hotel in a good location. Road trippers will especially appreciate the ability to browse large areas outside cities.
- Use a travel agent: Travel agents are a popular option for vacations, but less so than they have been in the past. With the rise of online bookings and travel agencies, most guests these days are choosing to avoid the added expense of having a real travel agent make their arrangements. Many people still use them, however, and it appears that they aren’t about to disappear, though their numbers may decease in the future. Look in the yellow pages or ask around for a good agent in your area.
- Opaque booking sites/bidding sites: “Opaque” services like Hotwire let you book at a discounted rate without revealing exactly which hotel you are actually booking until after you have paid? Why? Hotels often release inventory to these sites at the last minute to fill unsold rooms instead of not selling them at all. It’s possible to get a great deal, but it’s also possible to get stuck in a less-than-great place. Priceline’s “name your own price” option is actually an auction, where rooms are sold to the highest bidder. Again, occasionally you can find great deals through this system, but it takes time and knowledge: there are many sites out there devoted to tips on what, when, and how you should bid to get the best rate. Priceline also tacks on additional fees to the auctioned prices, and this author thinks that this service often just isn’t worth the hassle.
- If you appear ready to leave and take your business somewhere else, the hotel will try harder to retain you. Try not to bring your luggage in with you when inquiring about rates. The more likely you appear to walk away, the lower the rate you will get. If you don’t have a car to leave it in, you can look at options like train station storage lockers.
- Ask about the rooms and the rates, then tell them you’ll think about it and go check other places nearby. After, return to the place you liked best and ask what the best price they can offer is. They will go lower if they think you have another option waiting around the corner.
- Paying in cash will sometimes get you a better rate than with a credit card.
- Remember that trying to negotiate after you have made a reservation with a credit card won’t work. You are committed to pay that rate.
Watch Out for Extra Charges
- Avoid consuming anything from the hotel minibar, including the bottled water. Everything inside is grossly overpriced, but at least it’s marked.
- Don’t use the hotel phone for anything other than calling the front desk. Long distance and sometimes even local calls are grossly overpriced and rates are usually not indicated anywhere near the phone.
- There are often extra fees for parking.
- Hotel breakfasts are usually grossly overpriced. The same breakfast at a nearby restaurant or cafe is almost always available at a much better price.
- The hotel laundry service is often extremely expensive. It’s best to avoid it.
- Make sure your quoted price includes all applicable taxes. Taxes are often not included in quoted rates and so it’s best to be clear about it when booking. If using an online booking services, the room charges and taxes will be itemized for you at the time of booking.
- Internet: often included in the price at cheaper hotels, but expensive ones will usually add on another charge for this!
General Tips
- In the US, a pay stub issued by a city, county, state, or federal government can sometimes entitle you to a government rate
- Always be polite to the desk staff, and understand that they are often busy and can’t spend all their time with you. Desk staff often have the power to upgrade your room or give you a better rate, and you will never gain anything from being rude or wasting their time.
- When booking, you should make note of the rate’s cancellation policy. Usually you can be refunded if you cancel far enough in advance, but in some cases there is a cancellation fee or a non-refundable booking fee. Very low rates are often non-refundable, which will be stated in the cancellation policy.
-
