There will come a time in life when you need to stay at a hotel. Regardless of your reason for staying at a hotel, you should know exactly what to be on the lookout for. The following tips should be useful.
Prior to choosing and reserving a hotel room, check review sites online like TripAdvisor or Expedia. These will give you some information from people that have stayed at that certain hotel. You can make a wise choice when you know what others think about a hotel.
Before making reservations at a hotel, check the online review sites. These websites have reviews and comments from people who have recent experience with their stay. Consider what they say to help you make your decision.
There are things to think about when choosing a hotel. Of course you want to consider price, but you should also consider the hotel’s location. Amenities like free WiFi, fitness facilities, a pool and free meals may also be important considerations. Try to find a hotel that offers as many of your desired amenities as possible.
Compare prices at websites like Orbitz and Expedia to ensure that you receive the best available rate. Always remember to give your loyalty program information to the clerk when you book your room or search for prices. You might also have other discounts from a membership in the AARP or AAA.
There are tons of online search tools that help customers find satisfactory rates they can’t find elsewhere. These websites can help you quickly find the best value. They can tell you what the average rate at a hotel is, ensuring you know the general pricing. You can also find out about local amenities and things offered by the hotels.
If you have a safe in your closet, then you should use it to keep your valuables safe while you are outside of the room. You can stash your expensive electronics and jewelry in the safe and go about your day without worry.
Before you book a hotel, look for deals online. In a lot of cases, the person booking your room isn’t going to tell you about online discounts. It is your duty to perform due diligence. Websites like TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Jetsetter always have promising bargains for certain hotels that you won’t find anywhere else for a better price.
Check with any membership programs for deals. Many organizations provide hotel discounts for members. People don’t always remember to check out these discounts, which can often be 10% and higher. That can save a lot of money, especially if you are staying for multiple nights. Over the course of a week it’s nearly a free night!
When can you check in? If you don’t know when you can check in, you may find your room is not ready when you arrive at your hotel. If you anticipate arriving early, check with the hotel to find out if your room will be ready.
There are three things to do ahead of time if you want to bring your pet to a hotel with you. First, find out if the hotel allows pets. For easy cleanup, make sure that you have brought along an adequate number of plastic bags. Finally, ask the hotel staff if you can have a room on the far end away from guests so that you don’t interfere with their visit.
To get a good price when you want a hotel room, get your trips planned quite a few weeks or so in advance. It’s not uncommon for a hotel to offer a discount if a room is booked a couple of months ahead of time. Doing this could save you up to 50 percent off your room, and this holds true with the more elite brands as well.
If you are an avid jogger, a GPS watch is a great investment so you can always find your way back to your hotel. Also, don’t forget your exercise clothes! Try enjoying an early jog at your new destination. This can be a great way to stay in shape while seeing some of the local scenery. Even if you are running down roads or down city streets, you’ll get a new perspective on the city you’re visiting before you’re done.
If you run regularly, continue your routine when traveling by bringing running clothes and your GPS. Head out early in the morning after donning your running gear. Even if you stick to city streets, you will gain a better perspective on your destination city before you leave.
If you travel often, consider signing up for a loyalty program with your favorite hotel chain. There are many benefits you may be able to get. You might earn a free upgrade, late checkout time, or other great perks.
If you are someone who travels a lot, signing up for any hotel loyalty programs is probably a good idea. A loyalty program offers many benefits. There are many rewards given when you accumulate loyalty points such as free stays, free upgrades and later than usual check out times.
If you are worried about the environment, consider taking a “green” vacation. Luckily, you can choose from quite a few green hotels these days. Newer hotels are often certified green and designed and built using green standards. Older hotels may choose to take “green” standards seriously, which is a great thing. Speak with a travel agent to see if they can help you pick out hotels that care about the environment.
If you stay at the same hotels all the time, check to see if they have a frequent-stay program. These programs usually work by letting you rack up points. Use them for discounts, entertainment tickets and other things.
The cost of your hotel room largely depends on the dates on which you plan to stay there. Hotel rooms are priced based on how many are available. Book your room more the day before you need it if you can. This will get you a great price on your room. Empty rooms don’t earn the hotel money, so they’re happy to cut the price and reserve a room.
If you are worried about the environment, consider taking a “green” vacation. Many hotels offer environmentally friendly standards today. Many new hotels are constructed to meet green standards, earning green certification. Old hotels will change their practices to be more green. Check online or ask a travel agent for help.
If you wish to get a lot out of a hotel stay, especially if you’re traveling for your business, get a membership program and join it like what the Marriott or Choice Hotels offers. You will build up points with that hotel for added benefits. It works a lot like frequent flier miles do for airlines.
In order to avoid any surprise charges, inquire about hotel transfers prior to booking. If the rooms are cheap, the transfer could ruin the deal. Asking these things before anything happens will allow you to save more.
Sign up for AAA to ensure easier hotel arrangements when traveling. A membership with AAA not only provides you with hotel discounts but a guaranteed piece of mind when trying to rent a vehicle. People that have young kids will get a car seat for free in a lot of different places.
Get an AAA membership for hotel perks when you travel. AAA members get good hotel discounts and can also find good car rental rates much more easily. Also, if you require a car seat, the rental company may provide you with one if you are a member of AAA.
In hotel rooms, avoid calling long distance if possible. Use your cell phone or the Internet. You can access Skype with the Internet connection at your hotel. You can stay connected with people back home by using this instead of making expensive long distance calls from your hotel phone.
Check with the hotel to make sure the pools are ready to go if you are traveling with children. Nothing is worse than having excited kids who find out they cannot go to the pool.
Moking Hotel
When you feel the need to check the room in your hotel for signs of bed bugs, begin in the bathroom. This is the place least likely to have bedbugs. You can leave your bags there while you investigate the remainder of the room for bedbugs. If you have pets or children with you, ask them to wait in the bathroom too.
Inquire if the hotel is a non-smoking hotel. If you are a non-smoker, you may not want to stay in a smoking room. Even if you reserve a non-smoking room, the smell of smoke can circulate through the hotel’s air vents and cause your clothes to pick up the odor. Smokers also sometimes smoke in rooms that you are not supposed to smoke in. Instead of choosing a non-smoking room, you can actually find an entire non-smoking hotel if you really want to avoid nasty, secondhand smoke.
If you are a smoker, know the smoking policy for the hotel in which you are staying. A lot of places will have smoker’s rooms. Therefore, if you are a smoker, always ask for a room that allows smoking. Some hotels will levy a large fine if they can determine that you smoked in a room where smoking was not allowed, so make sure you understand and follow the hotel’s smoking policy.
Booking the right hotel room is a skill almost everyone needs at some point in their life. The most important thing is that you learn all you can first. With the tips from this article, you will be sure to find a great hotel at a good price.
If you can, avoid checking out before the day you are scheduled to. The hotel might charge you a fee for early departure. Upon reserving a hotel room, you tie up that room in the hotel. This means that your early departure results in the hotel losing money. This means that they must compensate for that loss with a fee for early departure.