Finding Hotels Using TripAdvisor
I will say that I believe finding lodging is the easiest part of planning a vacation. There are so many resources available to travelers like ourselves that people 10 or 20 years ago didn't have the benefit of having. One of these being the website Trip Advisor. In the words of Full Metal Jacket;
This is Trip Advisor. There are many other [websites] like it, but this one is mine. Trip Advisor is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, Trip Advisor is useless. Without Trip Advisor, I am useless.
I swear to Jah I am not getting paid by Trip Advisor to write this*, that is just how much I love that website. To anyone who might have possibly been living in a hole for the past few years, which, hey, this is a judgement free zone, I will explain a little bit about what Trip Advisor is. It is what I call a 'word-of-mouth' review site. Similar to Yelp. But Trip Advisor's speciality is hotels. Pretty much every hotel you could think of in the world is on Trip Advisor. Under that hotels page, you will see traveler reviews star-ratings, and the overall Trip Advisor rating.
You might say, well that's great but I don't have any idea what hotel I am staying in when I get to my destination. I, like whenever I write hypothetical statements readers might say in their head, have a solution. You can find hotels by typing in the city you are staying in, and then narrowing down by price, neighborhood, and a number of other factors. Here is an example. Say I am going to Paris with my best friend for a week (6 nights). Our budget for lodging is 1k dollars, and we would like to stay in the area near The Opera. Here is an example of how I would find a hotel suiting my needs on Trip Advisor:
There we have the bare minimum. The amount we are willing to pay, the type of property we would like to stay at (which I will cover more in a moment), and the neighborhood we would like to stay in. Below these options are some more options:
If you require certain amenities, these selections are also helpful. Once you have made your selections, a list of hotels will pop up. After clicking each one, it will show the address, star-rating, TripAdvisor rating, and reviews (TripAdvisor website is acting funky right now so I can't post a picture of the hotel list, but I will as soon as I can).
Property Types
Now let's look back at the 'Property Types' I promised I would tell you more about. When you go on longer vacations (especially to Europe) sometimes it is not only more convenient, but less expensive to forego staying in a hotel and instead decide on a rental or a house-swap. The latter I have never done so I am not totally familiar with, but rentals are a surprisingly easy process. There are so many good websites out there for finding an apartment or even a house to rent for your stay overseas. I used FlipKey when I was looking. It is a partner website of Trip Advisor's and thus is very similar and easy to use. The cool thing about rentals is that you get your own kitchen, bedroom, lounging area, and often times laundry facilities for a flat (usually weekly) fee. If you buy a week's worth of food (breakfast, lunch and snacks) at the local grocery store and pack some laundry detergent (liquid as to avoid any misunderstandings, lol) you will be set.
But as I always like to stress, with rentals you will normally be dealing with everyday people and families. The up side to that is that they know a lot about their area and how to get to certain places, and often times will offer to show you around or take you to good restaurants. The downside to that is that you will never really know until you get there. That being said, you always want to make sure the rentals has had previous reviews by people from a few different countries. Check out the neighborhood on Google Maps. See if the person renting has an external website, that usually means they are very legit. Most importantly, trust your gut. Just because a place is crazy cheap and is in a good area, does not mean you should cough up your money or personal details automatically. In fact, most people I have worked with don't require a deposit until you arrive at the home/apartment. Just a thought to keep in mind!
Also on the property list you see B&B's and 'Speciality Lodging'. Bed and Breakfasts are awesome, but can be on the expensive side sometimes. I think staying at an Inn or B&B is incredible if you are taking a trek through the countryside (like me and my mother did through The Cotswolds in England), and worth the price. Now Speciality Lodging seems to be a growing trend. It is halfway between a rental and a hotel stay. You check in and out like you are at a hotel, but you have a suite or sometimes a small apartment that you stay in. Some Speciality Lodging venues have breakfasts available, as well as a cleaning service. Others have either or. I think Speciality Lodging is pretty awesome if you can find a place that you really like. It gives you the comforts of knowing you are staying in a place run in a professional, business-like manner, but also gives you the space and freedom of a rental. But be forewarned, sometimes hostels will go under the guise of 'Speciality Lodging', but that's nothing a little digging and reviewing wont uncover. Which leads me to my next point:
HOSTELS: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
So you might have noticed that you've not heard me mention much about hostels up there. That is honestly because I am not a 'hostel' type person. And no, it has nothing to do with 2005 film Hostel. I didn't even watch that, lol. I personally am just not a fan of sharing bunks with strangers, worrying about bedbugs or someone stealing my USA-Euro converter plug while I am in the bathroom taking a shower. Just not me. Mind you, hostels can be incredibly cheap and cut back on almost half the price of your accommodations but in the end you just have to ask yourself "is this worth ?" If you are the type of person who is ok with strangers and busy rooms and loud drunk people (ie UW - Madison students), then by all means go for it! If you are more like me, as you can see there are many options to travel frugally but still enjoy yourself.
Now, please do not let me put you off from hostels. There are a few really good ones that if you search Trip Advisor, and even Google really, you will come across multiple reviews praising them. Usually the perks are they are clean, there are safes, and there are different options of room sizes (10, 6, 3, 2). Then there are the bad, which the majority of hostels I have researched have fallen into. The Bad; occurrence of bed bugs in the past, dirty, too many people, small safe or not enough safes, aloof staff, but good location. Then just The Ugly, which is pretty much bad, just sort of dipped in worse.
Overall, the choice is yours! Some people find themselves more comfortable and at home in a traditional hotel, others like the freedom of a rental, yet others might like the combination of the two and opt for a speciality lodging situation, and still others might just like the idea of a hostel. If I leave this lesson with anything, it is to do your research! The more you have researched lodging, the happier and less anxiety-ridden you when you make good choice.
Join me soon for Part 3, Finding Airfare!
