The Girl Who Gets Around Is Currently Under Construction - Please Come Back Shortly!
The Girl Who Gets Around Is Currently Under Construction - Please Come Back Shortly!
The Girl Who Gets Around
travel + wine + food + adventure
Hotel Hunting​​
Your accommodations can make or break your trip, so being sure that you explored all options is important. For each trip I take, I run through the following checklist to be sure that I found the best possible accommodation, for the best possible price.
​
1. HOTELS.COM (owned by Expedia)
I have a love hate relationship with Hotels.com. I find it to be incredibly user-friendly and it is very easy to narrow down my ideal hotel with just a few clicks. Hotels.com also offers a loyalty program that with the booking of 10 nights (which is too easy to do over time), you get a free night (based on some average calculation of the nights you previously booked and stayed). If you gain status in their loyalty program, you not only earn free nights but you can also earn welcome gifts like a bottle of wine.
​
​
​
​
​
My recommendations for finding a suitable hotel on the website:
a. Type in your destination name in the search menu along with your dates and number of guests
b. The filter is your best friend!
-I only book hotels that have free cancellation! Life happens and you need flexibility.
-I only book hotels that have a 4 or 5 star rating. This ensures that you will arrive to nice accomodations.
-I only book hotels that have a 8 or 9 Guest Rating. This means that the reviewers spoke highly of the hotel, which is critical in my eyes.
-I typically go into the search having an idea of what neighborhood I would like to stay in or at least what landmark I would like to be near, so make sure to check those boxes as well if you have that information.
c. These are the most critical search criteria, but there are others that can be helpful depending on the kind of trip you're taking. If you're traveling for work, check the "Wifi Included" box. If you are traveling with a car, make sure to check the "Parking" box. If you travel with your pet, click the "Pet Friendly" box. You can really tailor your experience to what you need.
Once you complete the search, you have the opportunity to peruse the images of the hotel. Make sure to read all of the details and look at all of the images before picking the one that you like the best. Once you go through the prompts and arrive at the billing page, stop there! I use that information to compare the price on Hotels.com to the price if you book directly through the hotel (see #3).
*The only disadvantage of Hotels.com is that you have to keep an eye to make sure they reimburse you for cancellations. I have had multiple instances where months later, I looked at my bank statement and noticed that Hotels.com did not reimburse me for my hotel stay that I had clearly cancelled within in the cancellation policy. This is incredibly alarming and was not a one time mistake. If the benefits were not so good, I would never use Hotels.com again, but the bottom line is CHECK YOUR STATEMENTS!
2. BOOKING.COM (owned by Priceline)
Booking.com is quite popular outside of the United States, so if you are looking for accommodations in Europe or Asia, I would be sure to try Booking.com because they will offer accommodations that are not offered by Hotels.com
3. DIRECTLY WITH THE HOTEL
It may seem like overkill to check prices directly through the hotel, but many hotels have incentives to book directly and are less expensive for the same room. For example, I just booked a room in London directly through the hotel who offers a 2 hour extension on the check out for booking directly. Also, my American Express Delta Skymiles Business credit card offers 3x miles when I book directly with the hotel (this offer does not apply to third party booking companies like Hotels.com or Booking.com).
​
4. AIRBNB
Airbnb offers a wide variety of accommodations in private apartments, townhouses, and homes. However, in my experience, with all of the fees associated with a rental, it really only is beneficial to use Airbnb when you are renting a property for a longer period of time (about 5 days). They are always worth exploring because you could find a last minute deal, but I think the days of finding steals is limited.
​
​
5. VRBO
VRBO is quite similar to Airbnb, but it does have it's own private selection of accommodations to choose from.
​
