I feel like there’s two types of people – those who love the travel planning process, and those who don’t, right? Which one are you? If you find that you get overwhelmed when planning a trip, today I’m sharing my guide on what to look for when booking a hotel to help you streamline the process. Let’s take some of the stress out of it so you can plan things on your own instead of paying way too much through a travel agent. Even though the variables like budget or accommodation type change with each trip, the process is the same. Here’s how I approach finding accommodation and I hope it’ll help you too.
What To Look For When Booking A Hotel – Here’s My Research Process
Disclaimer
There are affiliate links included in this post. This means at no extra cost to you, I earn a commission if you book through the link.
Where I start my search
I use Booking.com to find accommodation for the majority of my trips.
It’s reliable, I can always find a good deal there, and the layout makes it easy to find information and compare hotels.
Another reason I use it is to get access to further discounts with the Genius loyalty program. With that, when you search you can see the hotels that offer extra benefits for Genius accounts – either discounts, free upgrades, or added extras on arrival.
Some other options for finding accommodation are to:
- visit the accommodation website directly
- use another hotel search website
- use something like Airbnb/VRBO
There are a lot of options, so just choose which one you prefer.
How to pick from all the options
Once I search and get a long list of options in the search results, I just scroll until I see one that speaks to me. It’s usually pretty intuitive, then I start the research steps that I’ll discuss below.
The first one I click might be a good fit, and I’ll move forward with the booking, but most times it takes going through a few before I find ‘the one’.
In the search results, I also glance at the price because obviously if it’s way out of my budget then I wouldn’t stay there. This is where I check if there’s a Genius discount or offer too.
If you get overwhelmed by the search results, you can also search using specific criteria like narrowing down the price range or only including accommodation with specific facilities, so that will help fine-tune the list and make things easier to navigate. There’s a sidebar on the left with the options for refining your search.
A handy feature of Booking.com is that when you select a property, it will open in a new tab. So if you don’t want to book that one you can easily close the tab and be straight back at your search results.
Here’s my flowchart on what to look for when booking a hotel.
Check the reviews
Once I start my search, I click a hotel and the first thing I check is the reviews.
I like the Booking.com reviews because they have a section for positive and negative remarks for each review which makes it easy to skim through.
When I am looking at the reviews, I’m usually looking for the commonalities. What’s the general consensus? What are most people saying? This gives me an idea of what to expect to figure out if it is a good choice for me.
There’s always the outliers who complain about the littlest thing, you know those ones that complain for sport, and I just ignore those so I can focus on what the majority of the feedback is.
Reviews are so subjective, so I’m not taking them as gospel. I’m just looking for if the majority is positive or negative.
It’s also a good place to get tips for getting around from the hotel and places to eat nearby.
Grand Hotel National in Lucerne, Switzerland. There’s a full review on my site.
Check the location
The next thing I do is look at the location of the hotel.
I use Google Maps to search where the accommodation is and then I do a quick search for how far it is from:
- Airport/train station (however I am getting there)
- The main sights I want to see
- If the sights are not in walking distance then public transport stops
- What is nearby (shady parts of town usually have a theme of adult stores/kebab shops etc)
This is just a bit of research – there’s no right or wrong answer as far as how far things are. It’s a matter of preference and researching this gives me a chance to get prepared for how to get around.
Most of the time I like to choose a hotel that’s fairly close to the main sights so that I can walk around easily on my own. For solo travelers, I recommend investing in a good location to save you being reliant on taxis or public transportation all the time.
Talalla Retreat in Sri Lanka. Full review on my site.
Check the facilities
The next thing I check is the facilities.
What I am looking for here depends on the type of trip I am taking.
If I’m planning a solo trip, then it’s usually simple and I’m mostly looking for wi-fi, my own bathroom, and staffed front desk. If I know I’ll be busy on the trip, I might prefer a place that offers breakfast.
For a family trip, however, sometimes we are driving or bring my dog so I might be looking for on-site parking and if pets are allowed.
It’s all going to depend on what you need and prefer for your trip, but this is the next thing I check out.
The coziest cabin in the Scottish Highlands. There’s an itinerary post on my site.
What is the final price
Lastly, I double-check the final price and if there are any added fees (like a cost for wi-fi) to make sure it’s in my budget.
Also, with Booking.com, you get the option to pay when you book or at the hotel. I usually pay when I book online to lock in the stay and that price.
If your schedule is uncertain though, you might want to check the cancellation options and pay at the hotel. It really depends on your situation.
Booking.com has a lot of options for free cancellation which is handy if your schedule is unpredictable.
Bush Lodge at Amakhala Game Reserve in South Africa. Full review on my site.
I hope this helps you when you’re trying to choose which hotel to stay at when you’re planning your next trip. Of course, if you have any questions, just let me know.
Other posts to help you plan your trips:
- Travel Diary Ideas – 21 Thoughtful Prompts For Your Travel Journal
- Finally… A Real Talk Guide On How To Save Money For Travel
- Pre Travel Checklist – The Ultimate List Of What To Do Before Your Trip
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Some great tips Katie! Thank you. Lets hope we get to use them again soon!
Yes, fingers crossed! I’m looking forward to some weekends away for sure.
It really stood out to me when you mentioned that you should always double-check the price when you are booking a hotel room. I would think that it would be a good idea to make sure that you get a receipt once you have made the reservation. The receipt will be able to help you prove that you made the reservation when you get to the hotel.
Finding the right type of hotel may take time and research. This article highlights what you should be looking for in your research process for finding a hotel. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for reading!
Great tips! I’ll definitely keep these in mind while booking my next hotel stay. Thanks for the helpful advice!
I need to find a hotel to book in Napa soon since I’ll be staying there for three days this March because of a business trip. It’s good that you advised us to set specific criteria to narrow down the price range or the specific facilities we need to make our hotel search results a little less overwhelming. I’ll take note of this while I look for a hotel in Napa to call for a room booking soon.