10 Hotel Booking Mistakes You Dont Know Youre Making! 1. Looking for the Best room-WRONG if you... Travelers who book through online travel agencies (OTAs), like Priceline, often receive run of the house rooms (what she called ice-machine rooms, or basically whatever is left). The agent couldnt tell me just how many hotel chains do this, but she said it was a fairly common practice and that it sweetens the deal for travelers who book at regular rates. The Fix: Contact a professional agent. 2. Expecting Requests to Be Guaranteed King bed or two doubles? High floor or low? Non-smoking? Water views? Three single red M&Ms? When reserving your hotel, most booking engines will allow you to make requests or add comments regarding your stay. However, in the teeny-tiny fine print, most hotels also say that your requests arent guaranteed. The Fix: First, know that hotels will generally try to honor your requests. If, at check-in, you find your double beds have become one or you were placed in a smoking room, speak to the front-desk agent and request a change—politely. Also, its well worth calling the hotel before you arrive to confirm your requests, especially if any were made for medical reasons. 3. Using Incorrect Arrival and Departure Dates On an overseas trip several years ago, I noted that my flight left on May 14th, so I booked my destination hotel starting the night of May 14th. Rookie mistake. I completely neglected to check that my flight was a red-eye that landed early in the morning of the 15th. This means I paid for an expensive (and nonrefundable) room that I didnt need. The Fix: Unlike your hapless writer, make sure you have your flight itinerary on hand when booking, and double-check the dates of your arrival and departure. Also consider time zones. If youre crossing the International Date Line in transit, yes, your check-in dates could be different than you expect. 4. Not Using a Credit Card When booking a hotel, credit cards are king. Not only do credit cards offer rewards like airline miles, free night stays, or cash-back bonuses, but they also offer certain guarantees that debit cards and cash do not (such as fraud protection or immediate refunds for mischarges). Another tip that many travelers dont know? Most hotels will require an incidental deposit if you use a debit card to protect themselves against overdraft fees if your account has insufficient funds. These additional deposits can add up: I once paid a $100 deposit in Las Vegas that wasnt refunded to my account for two weeks. 5. Making Reservations for the Wrong Hotel Travelers, beware: A misleading hotel name or location description could lead you to book an airport hotel when you think youre getting centrally located accommodations. You would be surprised how often travelers see the name of the hotel and reserve it quickly without checking to see if its located in the right place. After all, some hotels may call themselves located near the heart of downtown, but a quick search could reveal that its located at the airport … two hours away. 6. Not Accounting for Taxes and Resort Fees At a hotel in Colorado, the decent $170 room rate was artificially inflated with a $35 cleaning fee, a $40 resort fee, a $10 pool-and-spa fee, and a $5.10 processing fee. Ouch. 7. Not Checking Reviews Do your research. Reading user reviews is a tricky balancing act. You want to read as many reviews as you can without suffering from information overload. You also want reviews to be unbiased and recent. The best way to get an accurate picture of the resort is to choose your review sites wisely. TripAdvisor seems to be most accurate. 8. Booking at the Wrong Time There are no easy answers as to when, exactly, is the best time to book a hotel room. Rates depend on many factors: location, seasonality, convention crowds, even weather. As a general rule of thumb, booking more than 21 days ahead of your arrival date is a no-no for the most popular destinations; youll be putting yourself at risk for jacked-up prices. Your best bet is to start checking prices at least 40 days in advance and monitor the trend. If prices seem to go up, book. 9. Not Comparing Prices When it comes to prices, compare, compare, compare. 10. Booking Nonrefundable Rates If there is any chance at all that youll need to cancel your hotel reservation—bad weather, difficult connection, chance of illness—then forgo the nonrefundable rate. Yes, youll pay more up front, but you wont be out much bigger bucks should you need to put your trip on hold. u.slimg/smartertravel/gallery/820/originals/stm53e4c982ee60820140808.jpg
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 22:13:07 +0000
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