How To Find A Cheap Hotel For Your Vacation
Where you stay on your vacation can make or break your trip, so it makes sense to take the time to find the right hotel for your next trip. This article looks at how to determine what is the right sort of hotel for you, how to find it and how to get a great rate.
What sort of role does a hotel play in your next trip? It may depend upon the type of trip that you plan to take. If you are the sort of person that looks forward to convenience and being pampered on your vacation, you probably want to find an all-inclusive hotel or resort. You can check in, kick your feet back, hang out by the pool, maybe get a massage and later, order room service. Or perhaps, you are on business or travelling with small children.
In such cases, what might appeal to you most is a place that offers familiarity. Many of the large chain hotels provide consistency, down to the very layout and floor plan of the hotel. Other folks tend to use their hotel simply as a place to sleep at night and grab a shower. They want a hotel that is convenient to all of their planned activities. Whatever your style, the best place to start is online.
Check out tripadvisor.com which allows you to type in a city name or a hotel name and instantly pull up reviews written by other travelers. You can enter in the sort of criteria that appeals to you. Once you've narrowed down your choices, you might want to use maps.google.com to find where the hotel is located. Click on the "satellite" image to see what sort of area your hotel is in. You can use this feature to tell whether your hotel is located on a busy city street, near a railway station, on a beach, etc. In many cases, Google will also allow you to get a street view which not only helps you see what's nearby, but will help familiarize you with the area before you get there.
It's worth doing a Google search on the hotel that you are considering. (Enter both the name and location.) Such searches will usually provide a link to the hotel's own website. They may also provide you with other information and photos about the hotel, such as travel blogs from tourists. Tripadvisor.com will provide you with links to most of the major sites that book hotels. You can use these to help you find the right price.
Among the best pricechecking sites is kayak.com, which lists prices from many other competing sites. It is worth checking the hotel site as well, since their prices may be as competitive as those offered by the bargain sites and often, they offer additional flexibility.
Hotels.com is another good place to check hotel prices and reviews. They offer a bonus: every reservation that you make with them gives you bonus points that can be redeemed for a free night at any of the hotels in their network.
If you plan on going to Asia, agoda.com is a similar site that offers many hotels not listed in Hotels.com or Tripadvisor.
What sort of role does a hotel play in your next trip? It may depend upon the type of trip that you plan to take. If you are the sort of person that looks forward to convenience and being pampered on your vacation, you probably want to find an all-inclusive hotel or resort. You can check in, kick your feet back, hang out by the pool, maybe get a massage and later, order room service. Or perhaps, you are on business or travelling with small children.
In such cases, what might appeal to you most is a place that offers familiarity. Many of the large chain hotels provide consistency, down to the very layout and floor plan of the hotel. Other folks tend to use their hotel simply as a place to sleep at night and grab a shower. They want a hotel that is convenient to all of their planned activities. Whatever your style, the best place to start is online.
Check out tripadvisor.com which allows you to type in a city name or a hotel name and instantly pull up reviews written by other travelers. You can enter in the sort of criteria that appeals to you. Once you've narrowed down your choices, you might want to use maps.google.com to find where the hotel is located. Click on the "satellite" image to see what sort of area your hotel is in. You can use this feature to tell whether your hotel is located on a busy city street, near a railway station, on a beach, etc. In many cases, Google will also allow you to get a street view which not only helps you see what's nearby, but will help familiarize you with the area before you get there.
It's worth doing a Google search on the hotel that you are considering. (Enter both the name and location.) Such searches will usually provide a link to the hotel's own website. They may also provide you with other information and photos about the hotel, such as travel blogs from tourists. Tripadvisor.com will provide you with links to most of the major sites that book hotels. You can use these to help you find the right price.
Among the best pricechecking sites is kayak.com, which lists prices from many other competing sites. It is worth checking the hotel site as well, since their prices may be as competitive as those offered by the bargain sites and often, they offer additional flexibility.
Hotels.com is another good place to check hotel prices and reviews. They offer a bonus: every reservation that you make with them gives you bonus points that can be redeemed for a free night at any of the hotels in their network.
If you plan on going to Asia, agoda.com is a similar site that offers many hotels not listed in Hotels.com or Tripadvisor.
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