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Ever ended up in a hotel, after hours of travelling and lots of $$$ spent, just to be disappointed with it? Here’s my list on the Top 5 mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation.

Top 5 mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation or hotels — Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

So you got the flights booked (if you haven’t, check out my other post on How to Book the cheapest flights Online) and next thing on the list is to book accommodation.

So where to stay? What accommodation to go for? What’s in the area? Is there Wi-Fi? SO MANY QUESTIONS! Surely it’s not just me, I’m an over-planner in travelling. No matter what trip it is, there are some things that you should always check before booking so that you don’t end up disappointed.

Not checking amenities inclusions like wifi is one of the common mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation — Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Top 5 Mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation

Mistake # 1: Not researching Hotel Location

This has to be my number 1 on the list of Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid when booking accommodation. Because even if the hotel or accommodation turns out to be a total dud – you can leave your stuff and go out. Go and see some fabulous places. Eat something amazing at the best food places in town at your doorstep.. and it won’t take you hours to get there.

Especially if you are staying somewhere for a limited amount of time, you won’t waste precious holiday time (and money) trying to get to and from wherever you are going.

In smaller cities or towns if you want to be close to the main attractions its quite straight forward. Just stay in the city centre or historical town centre. But in bigger cities it can get more complicated.

the vast metropolis of Tokyo. Not checking location is one of the mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation — Tokyo Skyline – How do you choose the best location to stay in a city so vast?

In bigger cities like Tokyo for example, which has over 20 districts, where do you even start with choosing somewhere? So get researching on the popular areas to stay and speak to someone you know that has been there already.

Think of what you want to be doing while there. Are there main attractions that you absolutely want to see? Is it shopping or is it checking out the best local dining spots that you are after?

Once you have a rough idea of the location you want to stay in, go on Google Maps, on street view, and check out the area, the streets. Does it look dodgy? Does it look nice? Has it got your vibe? This will give you a good starting point and narrow down accommodation options from hundreds, to perhaps a handful.

Mistake # 2: Not checking accommodation options

checking alternative accommodation other than hotels in worth it depending on the where you are travelling to — Image by Erick Palacio from Pixabay

This will of course depend where you are travelling to – but generally, be open for compromise from your usual place to stay when travelling. Don’t make the mistake in just assuming there is just one accommodation type to stay in.

Some destinations might not be equipped for large hotels. The larger hotel might be on the outskirts of town, away from all the action. An example of this is the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. If you want to stay right in the Old Town, smaller accommodation providers and Guesthouses are generally where you can stay if you want to be in right the beating heart of the walled city.

old town Dubrovnik is a place where you generally won't stay in hotels to be right in the centre of the old town — Old Town Dubrovnik

When travelling to a major, modern city and you want to have amenities (but read #Mistake 3 first too) and just need a place to sleep while you are out exploring, hotels will probably be your best bet.

But if you are looking for a place to stay that has a bit more space for kids and facilities like a kitchen? Then serviced apartments are a great alternative. In regional areas, family friendly cabins in accommodation parks are also a good option too.

If you are on the hunt for a one of a kind place place that has a local ‘home away from home’ feel, holiday and short stay rentals from VRBO or AirBNB might a more suitable option for you.

Mistake # 3: Not checking room inclusions

not checking amenities and room inclusions is another mistake when booking accommodation — Image by Soner Köse from Pixabay

This has to have happened to everyone at least once when travelling. You get to your hotel or accommodation, unpack and then think. OPPS. I should have checked that before booking!

Think of this example. While the room you booked might not have a coffee machine for you to have your morning cup of espresso, that can be a minor inconvenience. But not having air-conditioning during a scorching hot European summer or spending exorbitant amounts on roaming because there is no Wi-Fi (yes, some places still don’t include it so don’t assume they all do), these sorts of things can put a damper on your holiday.

breakfast buffet is worth adding on if at the right price — Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

So, think of what are the non-negotiable amenities that you want or need when staying somewhere and check, check, and check again before you book! If you can’t find the information online, call the hotel or email them for peace of mind. A surprisingly high number of accommodation providers DO NOT list all their amenities on their websites. Yes, it’s crazy!

A word on Breakfast Inclusions:

Rooms in serviced hotels in particular may have the option to include breakfast at an additional cost. Do consider if it is worth it to add to the cost of the room. Knowing what type of breakfast it is might also help in seeing if it’s worth adding it on or not. A generous cooked buffet breakfast might cost a bit more but it might also mean that you won’t need to buy as much for lunch.

But a continental breakfast in a 3 star hotel in Rome for example might cost you around 7 to 10 Euro per person, when you can go a local bar and have a cappuccino and a fresh pastry for less than 4 Euros per person. Brushing elbows and standing at the bar with the locals, completely free :).

Mistake # 4: Not comparing prices

Booking a hotel online can be pretty straight forward if you know exactly where you want to stay and if you want to book directly with the hotel/accommodation provider.

comparing prices is important when booking accommodation — Image by Cristian Quezada from Pixabay

These days there are also many comparison sites like Kayak, Trivago, booking.com, Expedia.com that you can use to compare and book accommodation online. Memberships for many online companies are free to sign up to and will give you access to discounts and/or special deals when you book and travel often.

Often the prices listed for all of these sites also differ, regardless if you looking at the same accommodation. Check at least a few of the sites and compare the pricing and booking conditions, but ensure the source you book from is a reputable, well-known company.

Make sure you are happy with the booking conditions so that you don’t end up having to pay for additional things when you arrive. Or even worse – that your booking is nowhere to be found!

A word on cancellation policies:

Travel Plans can change for a variety of reasons and most times it’s outside of our control. Booking a room with a flexible cancellation policy is the smartest idea so that you do have that maximum flexibility to cancel in case you cannot travel anymore. Do know though, that flexibility comes at a price. If you want a flexible cancellation policy it will cost you more so factor than in when comparing rates.

saving money when comparing prices online is totally worth it — Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

Mistake # 5: Not checking reviews

Another mistake to avoid when booking accommodation is not checking reviews. A place might look fantastic in the pictures, look new and clean, but you might turn up and the accommodation is dirty, the staff rude, and really be below your expectations. Always check the reviews! Read More on my post on reviews This is the ONE thing you want to see in a bad hotel review.

Book

I hope you enjoyed my post and found the tips useful in my 5 mistakes to avoid when booking accommodation. You can check out more of my articles with more handy travel tips right here:

How to Book the Cheapest Flights Online & This is the ONE thing you want to see in a bad hotel review

Looking for some great hotel deals? Check out Expedia or Booking.com.

To compare and book flights to Europe, head over to Skyscanner.

Compare car hire prices at Expedia Cars.

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How many times have you started looking for flights online and you just get confused and overwhelmed? There are so many flight options, prices, add-ons and the list continues. How do you get the best price? I’ve got you covered! These are my Top 5 Tips on How to Book the Cheapest Flights Online.

Use a search engine

search engine to find the cheapest flight online — Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Use a website like Skyscanner to get an overall idea of cost and airlines that fly to your destination. Skyscanner will bring up all the search results from cheapest to most expensive. Look at stopover options and see if it’s worth getting a flight with additional layover time. Consider budget airlines but make sure you add up all the extras when booking!

Read more super useful tips on how to find out if you are Really Getting a Good Deal on Skyscanner HERE in my other post!

Compare different airports

comparing different airports can save you money when looking at booking flights — Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

It’s worth checking all the flights that depart from ALL your closest airports in the country you are flying from – and do the same thing in your destination. If you don’t mind adding some additional travel time, adding a train, bus or a budget connecting flight could save lots.

Adding on a low cost flight

Think of Europe for example where the countries are all fairly close. If you book early you can snap up fares on budget airlines for less than $100 AUD / $60 USD one way. If you can’t get an affordable fare to the exact city you are after, fly to another city and tag on a budget flight to where you need to go! Just make sure that you have accounted for luggage fees and the correct airports for the connections. This is so that you don’t end up having to pay costly transfers between airports.

Buses and other land travel are a way to save money when travelling — Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Add on some land travel

The other option is also taking land travel like trains or buses to get to your destination. If you are travelling in Europe to the south of Spain to Seville for example – you might find that flights to nearby Malaga are more affordable at the time of travel. You can then reach Seville with a bus for less than 10 EUR / 10 USD in a few hours! You can read more of my Tips HERE on How to Save Money when Travelling around Europe.

Get in early

booking early is another tip on how to book the cheapest flights online — Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay

Book early! Especially for international flights, as a general rule at least 3+ months before flying. Leaving a flight booking very last minute hoping to get a cheap deal – is very unlikely to work out for you. You will generally pay more the closer to the departure date. Compared to booking hotels where during off season you can probably snap up a bargain last minute, it doesn’t really work like that with prices for airfares.

You also have to think that for certain destinations eg. Europe, there is still a massive backlog of people wanting to travel due to the borders being closed for so long for the COVID pandemic. That means that especially for peak season, demand is high, availability is limited and prices reflect that, by being $$$.

europe in peak season — Image by Jose’ Soto from Pixabay

A good practice is to look well in advance and to set up airfare price alerts like this one on Skyscanner. The alerts will give you an indication on when the prices fluctuate.

If you are looking at flying specifically for a large international events eg. World Cup / Grand Prix – look and book much more in advance, potentially once the dates for the events you want to attend are released.

Be flexible with dates

being flexible with dates, a top tip on how to book the cheapest flights online — Image by Károly Váltó from Pixabay

A bit of a no-brainer on How to Book the Cheapest Flights Online is to be flexible! Airlines price their seats based on supply and demand. Flights prices change multiple times a day, every single day. Across one week you can find more often than not, the exact same flight has different prices every day. So how do you find the cheapest day to fly?

How airlines price their seats

A lot of factors affect the pricing of airfares and it’s mainly driven by searches and seats sold. Economy class seats for example are classed in many more different ‘subclasses’, even though they are all economy seats. A certain amount of seats are allocated from cheapest to most expensive subclass. Once the cheapest subclass allocation is exhausted – it goes to the next subclass that cost more and so on, you get the point.

pricing seats understanding is important when looking at booking a flight — Image by Stuart Bailey from Pixabay

Check shoulder dates

If you are searching for particular day to fly – definitely check a day before or after too if you can. You might see that there is a difference with the cost!

Cheapest days of the week to fly

Flights on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday are usually the cheapest to fly domestic and international.

On the search engine sites eg. like Skyscanner, when selecting your dates you can also see a heatmap showing the cheapest days to fly within your chosen month. That is extremely helpful to pick the cheapest dates if you are flexible.

Book only from reputable sources

When you are looking at fares and are ready to book, have a good look at the booking sites and make sure it’s a reputable source.

If you are packaging the flights with accommodation sites like Expedia and getting a great deal with your points for example, you are dealing with a well known global company. But, if you are looking at a site that may be a few hundred dollars cheaper and you have never heard of them, I would hold off handing over the credit card. There could be hidden fees that only appear once you are at the checkout page that might take you by surprise and, who do you contact if you need support or if something goes wrong?

parked plane — Image by Tobias Rehbein from Pixabay

Benefits of booking directly with the airline

There might be a number of specific reasons that you are choosing to book with other companies rather than the airline directly and that is very much down to the individual. If you are choosing to book directly with the airline, these are some of the benefits:

If you have an issue with your ticket or need to amend something, you can contact the airline directly and they can solve the issue for you immediately.
If you have booked through a third party (that includes online travel sites), generally any amendments will need to be done via the third party. If you call the airline, they will not be able to help you as the reservation is held by someone else. They could be hard to get a hold of and you might be stuck waiting for a while for a change to be made. They also may need to go back to the airline to get approval for changes.
The fare rules should be displayed clearly by the airline for the airfare you are booking. If you have to cancel and get a refund for example – the airline would generally have a set fee. The third party may have additional fees that they take. Again it might take a while for any refunds to be processed when there is a third party involved.

calculator and pen — Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

To sum it up

Hope you found the above Tips useful on How to Book the Cheapest Flights Online! To sum it up:

Do your research and use a search engine to compare airlines and travel times
Check different airports to see if the prices are better
Book early
Be flexible with your travel dates
Book from reputable sources – you will be thankful if something goes wrong!

Ready to book? Jump on SkyScanner HERE and start researching your next holiday!

Found this post useful? Read more on my other post Are you Really Getting a Good Deal on Skyscanner HERE.

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