Choosing a Hotel

Choosing a hotel can be an uphill task for many people because they have to deal with the large number of promotions, programs, and deals out there, and this can make things feel overwhelming. To make matters worse, website and hotels post amazing photos and slick promotion copies that end up making you believe that you will be staying in luxury when you get to the hotel. How will you be able to tell whether a hotel lives up to its hype and if it is the right hotel for you?

Different travellers have different needs when they are looking for a hotel, and you need to ask yourself what is important to you. Whether you are looking for a great location such as Ikos Andalusia in Spain, a great deal, or even a great B&B, we have broken down the process of choosing a hotel to make it easier for you to find the best hotel.

What Matters to You the Most?

Before you can start the process, you need to first ask yourself what type of accommodation you are interested in and how much you are willing to spend. Do you see location being more important than price, or is your budget limited to a given amount? Are you interested in staying in a hotel with a spa and fitness centre, or would you like to stay in a smaller hotel that has a lot of local charm?

Once you have made a decision on what is the most important thing, then you can start making a more targeted search. Below are some of the most important factors you need to consider when choosing a hotel, and tips to use to find a property that meets each particular need.

Price: Many of the booking engines out there have an option of sorting the results using price. Use the booking engines to see options available and their rates, then go to the web site of the hotel and book from there – hotels tend to give customers the best rates when booking from their sites, and some match the lowest price you find elsewhere.

Location: Booking engines will give you the option of viewing the results on a map so you can find the hotels located close to the beach or neighbourhoods you prefer. Another great source of hotels is guidebooks because they list hotels by plotting them on a city map.

Amenities: Booking engines will give you the option to specify certain amenities when searching. Some include swimming pool, fitness centre, and restaurant.

Frequent flier miles and loyalty programmes: if you a person who travels a lot or if you are a member of the frequent flier programme, then you should consider joining a hotel loyalty programme. This will enable you to earn points that can cover a future hotel stay, and you can also accumulate airline miles if the hotel partners with frequent flier programmes.

Eco-friendliness: people have become more aware of the environment, and some look for ways of minimising their impact. This is why they look for green hotels through organisations such as the Green Hotel Association and Green Globe.

Family-friendliness: If you plan to bring your family along, then you should look at family-friendliness and special deals.

Real-Life Experience

There are very few people who do not check out reviews when booking a hotel. Reviews are written by fellow travellers on sites such as Booking.com. TripAdvisor, and many more. Reviews let you know how friendly the staff is, the quality of Wi-Fi, and cleanliness of the rooms.

These sites will let users post photos of the hotel – which gives a better picture of the condition of the rooms instead of the professional snapshots taken by the hotel.

You should take the reviews with a little bit of scepticism. If you see overly fawning reviews, they could have been written by the employees of the hotel disguised as guests, while some negative reviews come from travellers who have their hidden agendas. But despite that, most of the reviews you see on these sites are honest and an invaluable resource that will help you find the best hotel for you.