Vacation planning involves some serious work. You must decide where to go, figure out how to get there and find a place to stay. The wrong room can set you up for disaster. Continue reading to learn helpful ideas on selecting the best hotel.
Consider the benefits of any organization memberships you have. Some of these organizations will offer you discounts on hotel prices. These discounts are often neglected; however, they can save you upwards of ten percent. On a multiple night stay, these savings can really add up. A stay of 5 days or more could add up to one free hotel night stay!
Prior to reserving a room at a hotel, look on the Internet for reviews. One great site is TripAdvisor. Here you can get first-hand reports of the experience people had staying at different hotels. Consider what they say to help you make your decision.
Use hotel search tools online. They allow you to quickly locate great discounts. They can also provide you with the average rate for a room at a particular hotel, so you can see if your offer is really a good deal. You can also use them to explore the area around the hotel for recreation.
Room service can make your stay more enjoyable. This will cost you a little extra, but the convenience it provides is worth it.
Verify the check-in time at the hotel. People sometimes forget when they will be let into their rooms, showing up early only to learn that their room isn’t ready yet. Call the hotel if you are early and find out if your room is ready.
When thinking about selecting a hotel, there are quite a few salient points to consider. While price is obviously a factor, you may want to think about room size and amenities as well. Amenities, such as a gym, room service, or free Wi-Fi, might be of importance to you. Try to get yourself a hotel with what you need in it when possible.
Don’t assume a hotel is pet-friendly. So call ahead and make sure you understand if there are extra fees or a limited number of rooms available. Be sure you know what pet-friendly means because there could be specific restrictions on sizes or certain breeds of dogs.
Check your hotel room prior to unpacking. Is it clean? Are all bathroom fixtures in proper working order? Do you have enough towels and linens? If you notice a problem, be sure to inform the front desk right away to have these problems resolved.
There are three different things you should do in advance if you’re going to be traveling with a pet. Make sure the hotel is actually pet-friendly. Make sure you bring along plenty of plastic bags to dispose of any pet waste. Reserving a room near the end of a hallway will keep other guests from being disturbed by your pet.
Be sure and take care of three important things before bringing a pet on your trip to any hotel. Ascertain that your hotel is really pet friendly. Also, bring a lot of plastic sacks like ones from the grocery store so you can get your pet’s messes cleaned up. When you go to make the hotel reservation, see if there is room on the end that would prevent the other guests from hearing a noisy pet.
If you would like to treat your partner to a massage, be sure to make the appointment far in advance. Most of the best masseurs will be reserved by name ahead of time. You’ve got to get in your reservation early to get the best masseur or masseuses.
If you have a AAA membership, it may qualify you for a hotel discount. Are you aware that the auto club you belong to may offer you excellent hotel discounts? You can save upwards of 5% on your hotel stays. When you stay for multiple nights, the savings really add up.
If you are an AAA member, check into your membership hotel discount. You may not know that your membership to the auto club includes discounts on hotels. You can save 5 percent or more on your hotel stay just by showing your membership card. It’s a savings that really adds up over the nights.
If you are a daily runner, make sure you pack exercise clothes and a GPS watch. This makes it easy for you to wake in the morning and get in a run. Running in a city allows you to see things other travelers miss.
If you want to get your daily runs in while on vacation, make sure to bring your running gear with you. In this way, you can simply suit up and enjoy your workout as usual while on the road. Even if you’re running down the city streets of roads, it will give you a new perspective of the city that you’re visiting.
Loyalty Program
If you often stay at a certain type of hotel, ask about the “frequent stay” program. These programs give you points every time you stay there. Use them for discounts, entertainment tickets and other things.
If you go out to travel quite a bit, it’s good to get signed up for a hotel’s loyalty program. Loyalty programs provide frequent guests benefits for booking with them on a regular basis. You can score things like complimentary upgrades, later check-out options and even free nights once you accumulate enough loyalty program points.
Don’t call long distance in your hotel room. Make use of the Internet, instead. A lot of hotels have free Wi-Fi that you can use to connect with people. You can stay connected with friends, family and business colleagues this way, rather than making expensive long distance calls.
People who care about the environment may be more comfortable staying in a hotel that is eco-friendly. Fortunately, many green hotels exist nowadays. Green certification is something some of the newly built hotels are quite proud of promoting. Many older hotels will still be environmentally aware by utilizing some eco-friendly practices. Talk to a travel agent if you want to find hotels that are eco-friendly.
Call ahead of arrival to see if the pool is open to keep the family happy. It can prove rather frustrating when you check in to your room with the kids screaming “pool” only to find out it’s closed.
What you will be charged for a room, depends on when it’s booked. Rooms are priced based on availability. Try to book a specific room at least 24 hours ahead of time, but it’s even better if you book weeks ahead of schedule. This will net you the best price when it comes to hotel rooms. This is because the hotel will want to book rooms that are currently empty.
When you look for bed bugs, start in the bathroom. This is the place least likely to have bedbugs. That means your luggage will be safe there while you check out the other areas of the room. It’s also safe for pets and kids this way.
Make sure you know hotel transfer costs prior to booking a hotel room in order to avoid a large unexpected cost. Hidden transfer costs can really make a room not worth it. Asking about this beforehand will help to maximize your savings.
Is your room non-smoking or not? If you are a nonsmoker, you may want to avoid hotels that offer smoking rooms. Even if you stipulate that your room should be non-smoking, second hand smoke can still enter your room. There are times when smokers end up staying in non-smoking rooms, and smoking in them. 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 want to save money, and you stay at the same place a lot, consider signing up for the hotel’s version of a frequent guest program. This way, when you stay at a hotel, you can get points and then turn those points into free stuff that you can do with your family.
Be aware that you can’t normally check-in early at your hotel. Plan to get there at the right time if you don’t want to wait. Hotels need this time to clean and prepare your room. If you should happen to get there early, ask at the desk about early check-in, but your request may not be granted.
Being a member of AAA makes travel very easy. The discounts at many hotel chains and deals on car rentals can more than pay for the AAA membership fees. You might even get a free car seat if you have kids.
If it all possible, never check out before your scheduled departure date. The hotel may charge a fee for early departure. When you reserve a room, the management of the hotel removes that room from the market, so if you leave early, the hotel loses some money. This is why they have the departure fee, to get their money back that they would have otherwise lost.
If you are traveling with kids, make sure the hotel you book has a working pool. There is nothing worse than getting to a hotel with kids to find the pool is closed.
To be safe, avoid the top bedspread that is provided by the hotel. The bedspread is one item that does not usually get washed between bookings. This bedspread is where you would find the bacteria and germs. Remove it from the bed before you use it.
When you first arrive, inspect your hotel room’s bathroom. This is the least likely place for bedbugs to be. Stow you suitcases and other items here and then take a good look at the rest of your room. It is also a safe spot for your pets and kids.
Leave the bottled water alone in your hotel room! You will likely be thirsty when you check in. This could tempt you to open the water that is in the mini-fridge or on the desk. The hotel is counting on this, and as a result, they mark up the prices on the bottled water. Sometimes you can get a free water bottle in the hotel gym. The best idea, however, is to bring your own.
Determine whether or not the hotel you are considering allows smoking or not. If you’re not a smoker, it may be wise to stay away from rooms that are for smoking. You may be able to get a non smoking rooms still, but you can get smoke in the air which will stick to you. Smokers often don’t care that their room is non-smoking, too. If you don’t want to smell like cigarettes, consider staying at a hotel that’s non-smoking.
Don’t steal the linens from the hotel. As much as you may like the towels, washcloths or pillows, housekeeping is likely to notice any missing items, and the hotel may send you a bill for them. It is sometimes possible to buy linens or pillows from the hotel if you want them so badly.
Don’t ruin your vacation by choosing the wrong hotel. Do plenty of research before booking your room. The more information you have on how to book the best accommodations, the more choices you will be given. Enjoy your hotel as much as the rest of your trip. Keep these tips in mind the next time you are working on your vacation.
Sometimes, you can save some money by bundling your flight and hotel. Travel booking sites often provide significant discounts for combining your room and flight and perhaps even a rental car. In order to make sure you’re getting the best deal, make sure you do a few comparisons.
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