Booking A Hotel Room
How do I book a hotel room?
There are several ways to book a hotel room. You can go through a travel agent, and that's someone who often has first hand knowledge of the room and has actually seen the property, so that person can give you a good close-up view of that hotel and whether it's a good fit for you. A travel agent can also help you to get a good rate on a hotel room. You can go through the hotel directly. You can call its toll free number or its local number and book directly with its reservations people. You can go online and book a hotel room through either one of the third-party agencies like Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity. Alternatively, you can book a hotel room through an aggregator site like Mobissimo, Kayak or Sidestep. Or go to a site like Hotels.com or Quickbook. Those are all avenues for booking a hotel room.
What are the pitfalls of booking a hotel room online?
There's some fairly standard pitfalls when you're booking a hotel room online. For example, the hotel room that you're seeing in the pictures may be the one that's been recently redecorated, whereas you might be staying in an older part of the hotel, in a room that hasn't been redecorated. So your expectation is you're going to get this great room, and you end up not getting a great room. Another pitfall when booking a hotel room online may be that you'll be charged. There's often a fee for online agencies like Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, that's included in the price. So that's something to watch out for as well when booking a hotel room online.
What if a website states the hotel I want is sold out?
If a third-party website says a hotel is sold out, it may or may not be sold out. What it might mean is that that agency's allocation of rooms is gone, but that the hotel actually has rooms. So the best thing to do if you get a "No, there are no hotel rooms available" is to call the hotel directly and ask, or go to the hotel's website directly and check and see whether rooms are available.
How do I know my online hotel reservation has been confirmed?
You don't always know if your hotel reservation that you've made online has been confirmed, so the best thing to do is to call the hotel directly. Make sure that the hotel has received your reservation, it has the same confirmation number that you received on the other end and that the dates of arrival and departure match up, because it's possible the hotel has made a mistake, or it's possible you've made a mistake. It always pays to double check your hotel reservation and make sure that everything is as you hope it's going to be.
What are the benefits of using a travel agent to book a hotel room?
I think one of the benefits of having a travel agent booking a hotel room is that often that agent has seen the room or property and knows whether you're good fit with that property. For example, if you are traveling with an elderly person and it's a party hotel, that's not a good fit. Very often travel agents can help you avoid making those kinds of mistakes with hotel rooms.
What can happen if I travel without hotel reservations?
What can happen if you travel without hotel reservations is that you'll probably end up sleeping in your car at some point. You can also end up getting some really good hotel rates because if you walk in at the end of the day and there's inventory available, sometimes hotel managers will discount that inventory. It can go either way. My recommendation is that you definitely book the first night's hotel stay because when you arrive, you're tired and you really want to know where you're staying. You can always move hotels the next day.
