6 Tips To Help You Choose The Best Hotel For Your Next Vacation

You may have researched the cheapest airline tickets for your next vacation, but the planning doesn’t stop there. You’ll need somewhere to stay once you arrive!

We’ve put together a helpful list of tips and tricks when making the right decision on choosing the best hotel for your upcoming trip.

1. Know What You Want From Your Vacation

First, it’s important to set your expectations before booking anything online. The type of vacation you want will determine where you plan to stay.

If you’re looking for a more luxurious vacation, you’ll probably want a hotel that offers all the bells and whistles with a private room. However, if you’ve booked flights to the Philippines and are looking for a more communal experience, you may want to look at hostels in the nearby areas.

2. Check The Amenities Offered

Most of the time, people look to see if a hotel offers a pool or an on-site gym. While these are great for your time away, there are other amenities you might want to see if the hotel offers. Things like free parking, complimentary breakfast, or free Wifi access can all make or break the experience.

Also, choosing a hotel with a pond or lake nearby might be a beautiful setting to enjoy a morning cup of coffee. But make sure the hotel’s water source has a garden pond aerator system; otherwise, you’ll likely deal with pesky mosquitos that can make the trip much less enjoyable.

3. Find Out The Exact Location

A lot of hotels will state they’re in a specific city. When in fact, these hotels might actually be several miles from the city center.

For instance, if you’re booking a family trip to Orlando to visit Disneyworld, staying in a hotel on the premises would be a much better experience than a hotel in a town nearby.

You’ll have to take into consideration a rental car, paying for parking, gas, and waiting in traffic. Knowing where your hotel is located is important to make the most of your vacation experience.

Or perhaps you want to stay in a hotel that is within walking distance of the shops and restaurants. Finding one that’s fifteen minutes away from the city center will mean having to pay for taxis or rideshares.

4. Read The Reviews

Reading the reviews of a hotel you intend to book can save you a lot of headaches during your vacation. People will take time to share about their stay – if it was everything they hoped for or if they had serious issues.

These are real experiences from real people rather than the salespeople who work for the company. Plus, you can also see if management has taken the time to respond to reviews.

This will show you the attentiveness they have to their guests and whether or not they resolved any issues that may have arisen.

Most importantly, make sure the reviews you’re reading are from the last six months or year, at most. Anything prior might be irrelevant at this point.

5. Know The Type Of Guests

It’s important to know what types of clientele a hotel will target. If you’re a young business professional on a work trip or a couple on a honeymoon, you probably wouldn’t want to stay at a hotel that mostly accommodates families as it might not be as quiet or relaxing as you desire.

On the flip side, a family with children wouldn’t want to stay at a couple’s resort that doesn’t accommodate their specific needs as well.

6. Don’t Book Through The Hotel

If you want to save money on your trip, then you may want to avoid booking any hotels directly through their websites. Many third-party websites offer discounted rates for hotel stays, whereas the hotel website itself will charge substantially more.

Sites like Agoda, Priceline.com or Trivago can offer discounts up to 50% or even 60% off the original price. If you’re able and willing to book on the fly, there are same-day offers at an even larger discount. This is because hotels can mark down their available rooms to have as few vacancies per night as possible.

Summary

As you start to look at picking a good hotel online, you’ll need to be clear about what your expectations are upfront. Talk to the person you’re traveling with to make sure that you’re on the same page about what you want and how much you want to pay.

This will impact things such as available amenities and proximity to your final destination. At the end of the day, it’s a vacation, so don’t be afraid to treat yourself a little!

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