Choosing the right hotel for your vacation can really have a major impact on how enjoyable your vacation is. And, if you’ve been given sole responsibility of choosing the right hotel, like I usually am, you’re liable to get a few not-so-wonderful glares if you make the wrong choice.
What I’d like to do is outline a few key points worth thinking about before you decide on a hotel and then how to go about finding the right hotel.
Purpose
One thing to first take into account is whether or not your hotel is merely going to be a place to sleep or is it actually going to be a part of the vacation. Are you looking for a bed and breakfast before continuing your travels, or is the hotel more like a destination-type thing? If you’re stopping overnight in Albany, GA on your way down to Disneyworld, then you probably don’t need a spa, a workout room, and happy hour at the bar.
Preparation
I use Tripadvisor.com to read hotel reviews – they are written by fellow travelers and can be pretty honest. I also submit reviews. I think it’s only fair. You’ve got to keep the information flowing.
I also sign up for all the hotel free rewards programs – those points you accumulate add up to free rooms! With hotels, I usually look for free breakfast, especially if the purpose of the hotel is just an overnight on our way to our destination.
Additionally, I am a AAA member so I get lots of discounts through them. Most hotels have an AAA discount and oftentimes, it’s the best discount. If you don’t have a membership and you do any kind of road travelling at all, it’s well worth looking into.
How to Actually Choose
I suggest using an online site, such as hotels.com, but always follow up with a phone call. The online sites are very effective in offering you the comparison option. You can type in your parameters and usually within a few seconds you’ll get a list of hotel that meet them. From there, you can compare and contrast to come up with a short list so to speak.
Dial Them Up
To me, a pre-booking phone call is essential. Nothing is worse than seeing some grand, amazing picture of a hotel on the internet, only to find out that half of it is under construction or some other unforeseen circumstance.
What I try to do is create a list of all the questions I wish I had asked before staying at hotels in the past. Off the top of my head, here are a few that come to mind…
- If cooking in the room, what is actually in the kitchen cabinets? Silverware, knife for cutting, spatula? There’s nothing worse than pulling a hot meal out of the oven only to find you have nothing to eat it with.
- Also if cooking in the room, how far is the nearest grocery store? Your savings go out the window if the nearest supermarket is 45 minutes away
- Exactly how far away is the beach and how do you get there? “View of beach” can mean just about anything. So can “within walking distance of beach”.
- If using a discount code or taking advantage of a special rate—confirm the rate over the phone. Get the name of the person you speak to and notate the time and date of the conversation.
- Do they offer on-site parking? We once had a beachfront hotel, but their parking lot was ½ mile away.
And the list goes on. Try to make your questions as open-ended as you can, allowing the person on the other end to speak as much as possible. Try to think of everything you can before calling.
Off The Beaten Path
Also, staying a little bit further away can save you big bucks on hotel rooms. If you have to drive an extra fifteen minutes to get to Disneyworld, what’s the difference if you can save forty percent on your hotel room rate? Of course, if you’ll be visiting Disney every day for a week, then a closer hotel might make sense. And, if you have a beach vacation in mind, you sure wouldn’t want to stay downtown!! However, you can save a lot by staying at a hotel across the street from the beach rather than at a “beachfront” hotel.
A little preparation and forethought can save you a nice chunk of change on your next hotel room reservation. I think it’s worth investing a little time into. Unless you’re flying (and even then there are ways to get free flight vouchers), the cost of the hotel is usually the most expensive part of the vacation.
Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions for our readers before researching their next hotel room? Feel free to share with them below.
Also be sure to read up on additional tips for saving money on you summer vacation. Of course it all depends on your circumstances and priorities as well, whether you want to go green traveling or you’re vacationing in a big city.
