Travel companions, are you slowly putting together that new journey like a puzzle? Next year is approaching and many of us are making travel plans. Regardless of the chosen destination, one of the things to do is to get a good hotel reservation, good, nice and cheap would be what we are looking for, although sometimes it is not so easy.
I often receive messages asking me to recommend a hotel or area to stay in. Prices vary so much that it is impossible to recommend a hotel with the certainty that it is a good value for money option, and as for the areas, I may have my favorite, but it may not be the right one or the one to your liking.
In truth, each of you is the one who can choose based on your tastes, budget, and what you expect from the stay.
For that we are going to make a quick guide to search and make a hotel reservation effectively in any city.
We don’t delay any longer, let’s get to work.
Indice:
Step 1: Tip to make a good hotel reservation
Step one is more of a piece of advice. Focus on the cities of your future trip one by one. It is common for us to get anxious and want to book everything on the same day. This is a mistake, give yourself time.
Step 2: The Zones
Choose the area. I’ll tell you my preference, but it doesn’t have to be yours, centrally located, close to tourist attractions, close to the metro in case I have to make several transfers, and that there are plenty of places to have dinner late at night.
Take into account at least two or three different areas depending on how big the city is, don’t stay with just one, because then we will check prices.
Also keep in mind that they are safe areas to be calmer during your stay.
We have posts about areas to stay in cities, that helps to get information about each area. Areas to stay in Paris. Best areas to stay in London. What to see and where to stay in New York
Step 3 Hotel Finders
►Open one of the accommodation search engines you use, there are several known ones but we always use Booking.com
Booking.com►I enter city, dates and now I go to the filters.
►Filters: Free cancellation is the first one I place. The importance of this we all learned from 2020 and everything we had to cancel.
Then areas that I have previously chosen. Price range between which I think or want to spend per night. Ratings can also be taken into account in the filters.
In my case breakfast included I am not interested, if it is great, but breakfast anywhere near the hotel. Parking the same.
Type of accommodation I leave it without a ticket but if you are looking only for apartments for example, mark it.
►I already have the selection, there I go into the ones that seem good to me, and I read comments carefully.
Booking.comI look at the square meters of the room to see if it is not too small, if it has a safe, a minibar, accessibility, in short, whatever is important to you. It is very important that it includes Wi-Fi, unless you are already using mobile data and do not need it.
To travel with mobile data and not worry about everything, we use the Holafly eSIM, we leave you a link with a discount for followers: EUROPAACOMPAÑADA5
Step 4: Compare with real photos
I open Tripadvisor and search for the 3 or 4 hotels I am about to decide between. And inside I look for the real photos uploaded by the guests, not the ones offered by the accommodation. Oops!, sometimes they don’t look so alike, or sometimes they do.
Step 5: Check taxes and how to pay
Now I have made up my mind, the last step is to set a cancellation deadline for any eventuality. Sometimes it happens with apartments that the date is quite a bit earlier than the one I am going to stay in and that is no good for me. Generally, cancellations are made up to 24 or 48 hours before.
I also look at the taxes, because they are usually listed separately. And the payment method. In many cases, you will book by simply placing your credit card as a guarantee for the reservation, but you will pay when you arrive at the accommodation. In other cases, the amount will be debited from your card. Check carefully which method is used and consider whether it is the one you want.
As I was saying, there are cases where I have to pay at the time and if I cancel the amount will be refunded, and in other cases it will be paid at the accommodation.
Ready, I confirm the reservation, a confirmation email will arrive in my mailbox.
Is it work?, yes, that’s why I told them calmly and one by one. But they have probably found a good quality/price option.
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NOTE: The information in this article is based on our own experience, being totally objective. This article contains affiliate links
