Hotels can be very costly, but choosing a hotel is not like booking a flight, where you can get the same service for less. Hotel prices are directly affected by the quality of hotel service. A hotel that gives people a phenomenal experience is often shockingly expensive. To ensure a wonderful vacation experience and also stick to your budget, it is crucial to find the right hotel to stay in and get the best deals. 

What is a good hotel? 

The top 3 criteria when I am looking for a hotel are safety, cleanliness, and convenience. I will never yield on the safety and cleanliness of a hotel, and neither should you. A safe and clean hotel is essential for a memorable vacation. No one wants to end up in a hospital when they are supposed to enjoy their vacation. 

Say no to all the hotels that don’t feel safe and clean. They are not the RIGHT hotels.

How to Choose a Right Hotel?

First off, we need to narrow down the hotels that are safe, clean, and convenient, and then we can choose the best deal from those hotels.

The safety and convenience of a hotel are correlated.  Normally, hotels located in a convenient place, such as the city center, are safer than hotels located in a remote area. However, the more convenient the location, the higher the price of the hotel, especially in some popular tourist cities. But with a few tips, you can find the best deals within your selections, enjoy your trip and stick to your budget. 

Find a safe, clean, and convenient hotel with the best possible price 

How do I know a hotel is safe? 

The safety of an area includes the crime rate and public health. Here, we are going to focus on avoiding staying in a high crime rate area. For public health concerns, you can check your country’s CDC website for vaccination and medication suggestions for the place you are going to visit.

Make sure the area you are going to stay in is a safe neighborhood. For a country or a city that you have never been to, the best place to start researching safety is your own country’s government public website, such as the U.S. Department of State’s Travel Advisories; Foreign Travel Advice section of the U.K. Government website, etc. Government websites provide detailed guidance and useful tips about the safetyof traveling to different places. 

Usually, somewhere close to the city center is safer than a remote area. When you are in a strange city for the first time and you know nothing about it, I’d say it is safer to stay in the city center or a center that is close to tourism sites.  

Reviews of a hotel also can tell you valuable information. Choose the hotel that has many recent reviews and pay attention to reviews that mention “safe,” “quiet,” “clean,” etc. Also pay close attention to the negative reviews. A few negative reviews don’t mean it is a bad choice. I would be alert if someone mentioned that some of their things disappeared or had strangers knock at the door or received strange phone calls, something like that, but I would ignore negative reviews complaining that the breakfast didn’t have plenty of choices, because that is a very personal preference. 

How do I know a hotel location is convenient?

Through many hotel booking sites, you should find the summary information about the hotel from its customers’ feedback. The information you need to look at includes overall customer satisfaction rating and location.

I will use an example I got from my favorite booking site, Booking.com, to show you where you need to look to get the information about the location.  

• Overall customer satisfaction rating: 9.0 out of 10; Awesome
• Location: 0.9 miles from center; Subway Access

On the booking site, it tells you roughly how far away the hotel is from the center, but be careful, “center” can be the center of anything, which means it may not be close to the main area you wanted to visit. To make sure the hotel is located in a convenient place, you can put the hotel address into Google Maps to get directions from the hotel to the places you planned to visit. You can check walking distance and in most cities Google Maps will show you whether there is public transportation nearby. 

Again, read the top recent reviews to see whether anyone said that the location is convenient. 

How do I know a hotel is clean?

In addition to a hotel’s customer satisfaction rating and reviews, another important feature that can show you the cleanliness of a hotel are pictures of the hotel rooms. Look at the pictures that the hotel owner posted online to see if the rooms are bright, the bedding is white, the bathrooms are clean and neat, and the walls and carpet look clean and fairly new. A 1980s’ carpet just doesn’t look so clean to me. If everything looks all right to you, you can go ahead and make your reservation.

In general, you can evaluate the quality of a hotel by using its customer satisfaction rating, recent reviews, and pictures. Choosing a hotel that has a high customer satisfaction rating, easy access to public transportation, and decent reviews won’t go too wrong.

How to get a hotel as cheap as possible?

Take advantage of free membership on hotel booking sites to unlock member-only prices 

Many booking sites provide membership and a loyalty program for free. If the membership and loyalty programs are separate, sign up for both. It doesn’t cost you anything, and you can discover member-only prices for the hotel rooms, which can save you money compared to checking out as guests. 

Once you sign up for your membership from booking sites, you can compare the prices of the same hotel on multiple sites. Choose one site to book the hotel room. When you are booking other hotels, try to use the same site you chose to maximize your loyalty program credit and get the best deals.

Book as early as you can 

Most of the time, you can get a better deal by making the reservation earlier, rather than later. You may worry that something might change at the time you planned to travel, or that a last-minute deal would suddenly show up in your inbox. No worries, a hotel policy called “free cancelation” can take care of this. A free cancelation policy allows you to cancel your booking for free up to some time, usually between a day and a week, before the date of your reservation. 

Nowadays, many hotels offer a free cancelation policy. You can easily find whether a hotel has a free cancelation policy on booking sites and choose a hotel that has one and make your reservation upfront. 

Every hotel has different policies, so be sure to check the free cancelation expiration date. Make a reminder on your cellphone or notepad close to the date and feel free to change your reservation before then. 

With a free cancelation policy, you can make your reservation up to 6 months beforehand without any concerns about potential changes that may occur. 

Saving money by giving up the amenities you don’t need 

I love beaches, so for me spending a vacation on a beautiful beach is relaxing and fun. However, beach resorts can be very pricy. Well, if you don’t plan to stay in the room for long periods of time during the day, consider booking a room with a partial ocean view or even a garden view. Giving up the full ocean view amenity can save you a tremendous amount of money. Similarly, a hotel located within walking distance to a public beach is also a good deal. The downside to staying a little farther from the beach is that you need to carry your beach stuff a longer distance. While a hotel that isn’t on the beach is a little bit more inconvenient, if the room is $100 per night cheaper than the resort on the shore, you can treat the carrying as a workout under the sunshine. It’s a good trade-off!

Popular Hotel Booking Sites 

Booking.com 

I’ve used booking.com for many years through my travels. You can sign up for your membership at no cost and get member-only prices. You don’t need to sign up for a loyalty program separately, Booking will automatically enroll every member into the loyalty program, called “Genius.” You can quickly unlock the “Genius Level 1” discount, which gives you a 10% discount on any room-rate, by booking and staying at two “stays” in two years. A stay means one room for one night, at any hotel. You can get Genius Level 1 with a weekend getaway and unlock better hotel rates. 

Here is an example that shows you the price difference for the same hotel room between “Non-member” and “Genius Level 1”. Without signing up, the price for the hotel room is $175 per night on April 11, 2020. After signing in and getting the Genius Level 1 discount, the price for the same hotel room is $158 per night on the same date. 

When you have completed five stays within two years, you can unlock “Genius Level 2.” The benefits of Genius Level 2 include a 10-15% room-rate discount, free breakfast on select options, and free room upgrade on select options. 

Hotels.com

Similar to Booking.com, Hotels.com also has its own combined membership and loyalty program, “Hotels.com Reward.” Hotels.com Reward is a high reward program. After booking and staying for 10 stays at select hotels on Hotels.com, over any length of time, you will get a free stay – equal to the average price of the 10 stays – at eligible hotels. When you are trying to make your reservation on Hotels.com, use the reward filter to help you find hotels eligible for the Hotels.com Reward program. 

Expedia

If you book your flight through Expedia, you should also check the hotel selections that Expedia offers. Expedia has some flight and hotel bundles that are good ways to save money. 

Expedia also has a rewards program, called “Expedia Rewards,” that allows you to earn anywhere from 1 to 4 points per dollar spent. You earn one point per dollar when you book a flight, hotel stay, or car rental, but you can earn two points per dollar on the flight & hotel combination. The points you earn can be accumulated and you may transfer them to a coupon for other bookings. 

Groupon 

Groupon is another great source to look for deals but be sure to read the voucher policy carefully before you pay. Most of them do not offer a flexible cancelation policy, and many have special restrictions such as excluding weekend stays. The best way to use Groupon is to check out Groupon deals right before you take off on your trip or look for a last-minute deal just before your booking free cancelation expires.

Where to find the last-minute deal?

There is an amazing site, called Hoteltonight.com, that offers many last-minute hotel deals in most tourist cities. While checking for last minute deals is a better option for road trips where your itinerary is flexible, it isn’t going to hurt to check out the last-minute hotel deals, especially when you have a backup plan. These deals can be great for spontaneous getaways. It isn’t always a bad choice to get away for a weekend without planning in advance. You can also check your usual hotel reservation site for special rate reductions on short notice. 

I hope you find a wonderful hotel to stay in and enjoy your trip! I will see you in my next post.