Hotel selection. How to book the cheapest hotel

Updated: 03.03.2019 Oleg Lazhechnikov

The most important thing to start planning independent travel is buying tickets and booking accommodation. About tickets - a separate conversation. And now let's figure out where to start and how to book online accommodation for your trip, whether it's a hotel (inn), guesthouse (guest house) or hostel. Now there are many booking systems (such as Booking, Agoda, etc.) and services (for example,) where you can search for hotels and compare prices for it in different booking systems.

First, about everything in detail. At the very end of the post I will tell you how I book hotels myself, in what order.

What do you need

Booking a hotel on your own takes a little time and three simple things that most people already have:

- Access to the Internet. Now it is almost everywhere: at home, mobile, in a cafe, shopping malls, hotels, etc.
— Bank card (debit or credit) Mastercard, Visa or similar. You need to do it in advance, before the trip, in your hometown
- Email. Her address must be specified when booking, where you will receive a confirmation letter and a booking code.

By the way, some systems now allow you to book a hotel without a card.

What is a booking system

A booking system is a website that allows you to book a hotel, in fact it is a database of hotels around the world. Hotels themselves are added to it in order to be able to rent out their rooms via the Internet. Booking systems do not charge users a commission for using its database, but receive money directly from the hotel. That is, as a rule, the cost of living in a room via the Internet or on the spot (at the reception) does not change for you. But it all depends on the particular hotel, because it is he who sets these prices, for example, he can hold a promotion that when you book in advance you get a discount (but there will be no discount on the spot).

In any booking system, you can select hotels according to different criteria - country, city, dates, number of people, availability of certain services. Payment is made by credit card (). After payment, you will receive an email with your booking details (booking confirmation).

Which booking system to choose? There are no clear rules here, it's a matter of habit, one interface is clear to one, another to other people. However, the number of hotels in different countries in booking systems is different. So there is this unspoken rule: more choice specifically Asian hotels, but more suitable for Europe and Russia.

List of hotel booking systems

The most popular booking systems are: , Ostrovok , Hotels.com , Expedia.com . There are also booking systems specializing in hostels, but now Booking and Agoda have become very large services, and they have hostels, apartments, and even houses with villas.

And here are my instructions for each service:

You can search for hotels in different booking engines and compare results. Somewhere the interface is more convenient, and somewhere there is a larger database of hotels. Therefore, it is best to use Hotel search engines who are looking for all booking systems at once. In fact, these services do most work for you. About them in detail below.

Apartment booking system

I want to make a separate point Airbnb. This is a service that offers private accommodation. Mostly there are apartments, rooms in apartments or even houses local residents. This service helps homeowners earn money by being an intermediary between them and you. By the way, you can also rent your apartment in this way, if you wish (any person can participate).

Register using the link and receive apartments all over the world. Valid for the first booking, the booking must be from $70. If you are not yet familiar with the service, then be sure to read about it, where it is told about what it is, how to register correctly, how to book accommodation, etc.

So, Airbnb has some really cool options that are primarily of interest to families with children and companies of several people. Because often the apartment can accommodate not two people, but 4-6 or more. And with this approach (you usually pay for all accommodation at once) it comes out several times cheaper than in a hotel. After all, the hotel would have to take several rooms for such a number of people. Moreover, living conditions in an apartment can be much better than in a hotel. For example, most apartments have kitchens, and many also have a washing machine. These are very relevant points when traveling with children.

What is Hotel Finder

The hotel search engine is a service where you can search for hotels in all popular booking systems at the same time. That is, such a service searches for the hotels you need right away, both in Booking, and in Agoda, and on Ostrovka, and in other systems. They would have been tortured to sort them out manually. Hotel search engines are also called aggregators, metasearch engines. In fact, this is such a hotel Google.

How does this happen? You just set the search criteria you need (country, city, dates, room services) and the search engine gives you the results - a list of hotels. And then, by choosing a specific hotel, you will see the cost of living in this hotel in various booking systems (Booking, Agoda, Ostrovok, etc.), that is, you have the opportunity to compare and choose. When you make your choice, the search engine will redirect you to the site of the selected booking system, where you will make a hotel reservation. That is, the search engine itself does not sell anything, it only searches. No additional or hidden fees No. The principle of operation resembles the already familiar to everyone. You can read more about services in my instructions:

One of the best hotel search engines in my opinion -. It has very good integration with Booking and other systems, it has all the necessary filters, the hotel rating is immediately displayed. I also personally like the display of hotels on the map, as I often look for accommodation in a particular place. And when you move the map, the hotels are shown throughout the territory, even if I originally specified a different city in the search. Thus, it is easy to find hotels between cities or on specific beaches without even knowing their names. You can also try to search yourself using the form below.

Book a hotel in advance or search on the spot

Local search is more relevant for inexpensive Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and where there are many small hotels at every turn. But in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Europe, it is cheaper and easier to book everything in advance. However, I still prefer, if possible (when I know the exact dates), to book everything in advance so as not to waste my time searching, there are all the tools for this, it’s foolish to ignore modern technologies.

When booking in advance, you will definitely be sure that you have an overnight stay upon arrival. You can adjust and plan the entire trip at once, and thus the chance of getting off schedule is minimal. This is especially true if you are traveling during the season popular place, you can just stay on the street and not find empty seats.
Again, during preparation, you can read real reviews from guests in booking systems and take into account all your wishes: distance to the beach, air conditioning, pool, WiFi, etc. On the spot, you will have to meddle in all the hotels in a row and ask what is available, and it will also not be entirely clear what service is in fact, do not ask people on the street.
The most important thing in booking in advance is saving time and effort. The fact is that searching on the spot is far from a romantic activity, and even spending 1-2 hours walking around various hotels in the heat and after long flight not everyone will like it. No, of course, if you are here for several months and you need to carefully choose accommodation for this period, then this may be justified.
It often happens that prices when booking online are less than directly on the spot. I remember that I made a reservation right at the hotel reception (it was almost 2 times cheaper), no matter how strange it may sound.
When applying for a visa, printouts from the booking system may be required to confirm that you have a place to live. For example, the French consulate (and many other European countries) accepts printouts from

Despite the fact that the databases of booking systems are huge and include hundreds of thousands of hotels, the smallest and cheapest hotels may not be available (sometimes such hotels do not even have their own website). Therefore, if you have time, and you are running out of money, then it makes sense to go and look for housing directly on the spot.

Some nuances when booking

Specify the check-in time (usually around 14:00) and check-out time (about 12:00). Some hotels are very strict with this and may charge you for another night if you are late. You also need to understand that if you arrive earlier, the hotel will only be able to accommodate you if it has such an opportunity, otherwise you will be waiting.
Check the opening hours of the reception, otherwise, if you arrive late in the evening or at night, you can come to the closed doors.
Deducting money for a hotel or the possibility of booking a hotel without payment (with payment at check-in) depends purely on the specific hotel and its policy.
Please read the cancellation policy carefully, especially if there is a possibility that you will need to cancel your booking. Usually the reservation can be canceled without any penalty some time before arrival. In some cases (for example, there was a special offer), the reservation is not canceled and the money is not returned. All this is indicated on the page of a particular hotel. Also, in case of a no-show, they may begin to write off money for accommodation.
Sometimes it is possible to book a hotel not only without prepayment, but even without specifying data bank card. Of course, you can score and not cancel the reservation later, but I would not recommend doing this, there is a risk of getting a fine (the cost of one night). Alternatively, you can register a new account each time, but IMHO it's easier not to bring it to this.
If the type of bed is very important (large double or two singles), it makes sense to contact the hotel or at least read the reviews, since it is not always clear what is meant in the room description. Although personally I have never encountered problems.
It is best to always have a printout of the hotel reservation (voucher) with you or a file with it on your phone to show on the screen. But usually it is enough just to give the surname or the booking number.

How do I book hotels and life hack

Life hack for those who are used to . Look for a hotel on your usual Booking, copy its name and paste it into the search box for the dates you need. Thus, you will find out if the hotel is offered at a cheaper price, for example, on Agoda, Ostrovka and others.

After a little use of various sites, both booking systems and search engines, you yourself will figure it out. There is nothing difficult in finding and paying for any hotel or guesthouse. I am looking for accommodation in the following order:

In Thailand, if I don’t know exactly when and where I’m going to stay (for example, I’m driving 800 km by car), then I’m looking for housing right in the direction of the service. But again, not without the help of services. I'm worth mobile app by Hotellook (Android, iOS, Windows Phone), which has the convenience of being able to show hotels right next to your location. Sometimes it is enough to walk 100-200 meters and there will be the right hotel. Actually, these are not all the possibilities, there you can search and book hotels in advance, which I also do.

But in general it is better to book in advance, during the peak season in Thailand it happens that everything suitable hotels on the day of the appeal, they are already completely occupied and they have to settle where, in other scenarios, they would not.

P.S. Please add if you forgot :)

Life hack 1 - how to buy good insurance

It is unrealistically difficult to choose insurance now, therefore, to help all travelers, I am compiling a rating. To do this, I constantly monitor forums, study insurance contracts I use insurance myself.

Life hack 2 - how to find a hotel for 20% cheaper

Thank you for reading

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Behind my shoulders are a couple of decades of traveling around different corners world, a good hundred hotels, hotels, hostels and other accommodation facilities that I had a chance to try out for myself. An interesting experience of choosing, booking and staying in hotels different levels, successful finds and inevitable disappointments.

I want to emphasize the word comfort once again. I won't tell you how to choose the cheapest hole, it's easier to buy a tent. In this article we will talk how to find the maximum low price good inexpensive hotel.

Laziness is a bad helper

I have a traveling nature of work and an irresistible craving for travel. It's not that hard to get a cheap hotel room. To do this, you need to constantly search, choose, compare and separate the “wheat from the chaff”. So I came up with the first iron rule: never be lazy in finding the right hotel in the right place.

I have known by heart everything, well, almost all popular booking systems for a long time, and almost daily I monitor e-mail for profitable offers from hotels and these systems. I never forget to register on a potential resource and subscribe to newsletters about promotions and discounts. Time puts everything in its place, I quickly cut off “extra” letters that clearly do not contain the necessary information. This is how my personal list of useful systems appeared:

Roomguru (always impeccable service and the best prices, offers from Ostrovok, Booking, Agoda, etc. systems are collected here);
Booking (always genuine reviews, many promotions and discounts, but, unfortunately, not always correct information about the accommodation facility);
Hotellook (a convenient service from a metasearch engine Aviasales tickets, customer loyalty program, cumulative bonuses);
Agoda ( detailed information about the hotel, but in order to wait for discounts, you need to use the service constantly and for a long time);
Airbnb (renting accommodation from local residents, a choice for every taste and budget, but before booking, you should carefully study all the conditions offered, for example, cleaning the premises so as not to end your vacation with a vacuum cleaner and a mop in an embrace). Read more about Airbnb;
OneTwoTrip (here you can buy cheap flights and hotels - with a 30% discount).

How to find the most cheap hotel? - Carefully review the offers in all online booking services.

In some cases, I used other resources, but the level of their service could not be compared with the chosen favorites. This is the time to remember about laziness, and to tell you that having chosen a hotel that is suitable in all respects, I do not stop there and compare prices for the dates of my stay in all my favorite systems in order to choose the best cheap booking hotels.

Bonuses and promotions are not a myth, they are real

Constantly searching for cheap hotels and tracking profitable ones special offers not a waste of time. Demand always gives rise to offers very quickly, which is clearly confirmed by the properly functioning Roomguru filter system.

I was convinced of this on my last tour of Georgia and Armenia. Having put a mark in the “best deals” column on the Roomguru service, at first I simply could not believe my eyes. In the center of Yerevan, in a new fashionable hotel, on the dates my husband and I needed, they offered a magical 50% discount on an executive suite.

Later, already during my stay at the hotel, I did not have the pleasure of looking at the price list lying at the front desk and once again making sure that I was not dreaming of what was happening. Even me, who has seen a lot different numbers V different countries the size of the room was staggering. In the room it was just right to shout “ay” to each other, so as not to get lost in its open spaces. But on that day we left the hotel room in Tbilisi, for which we paid 1.5 times more than for representative mansions in Armenia.

"Bad" dates and periods of stay

We all love a change of scenery in a joyful time. New Year holidays, May holidays and other holidays. In our company, we call this time "disastrous" for travel. For some time now, my friends and I have sworn off such experiments, and have found other options to travel more often and pay less.

You can and should pamper yourself with interesting voyages. But don't pay exorbitant money for it. All hotels in the world are happy to inflate prices during the Christmas holidays, high bathing seasons, legendary festivals and other outstanding events, holy holidays, weeks of fashion shows and weeks of mass sales of branded clothing gather pilgrims. If it is absolutely necessary for you to be at this place at this time, go back to the option hotel selection without laziness if the trip is an empty whim, change its cost for 2 more economical tours.

Therefore, the answer to the question "How to find a cheap hotel?" simple - do not rest during peak seasons.

After the noisy holidays, prices in places of residence are falling sharply, and here we go on another trip. Low rates and on the eve of festive events, after the end beach season and creative events around the world.

We gained an unexpected experience after the spring river cruise in the Czech Republic, trying to book a cheap mini hotel. From the captain of the ship we learned that in winter period the ship acts as a hotel, where the cost of living is very low, and the level of service remains at the cruise height and took advantage of this opportunity for the New Year holidays in Prague.

Online booking is better than hazy uncertainty

Some tourists on their trips rely on the famous "maybe" and do not bother to search in advance suitable option to accommodate. How unjustified such a careless attitude towards oneself can be seen immediately upon arrival at the destination. Booking hotels for cheap requires a certain investment of time and effort.

It is unlikely that you will be able to rent a cheap hotel without preliminary preparation. At best, a quickly found hotel will cost more than on booking services, but it will not be the worst. In the worst case, we were driven and driven around the village, in order to make sure once again that the oral stories of the “merchants” from the local tourist service are extremely different from the real look of the hotel or hostel.

After conducting similar experiments a couple of times on ourselves and friends, we have once and for all taught ourselves not to rely on such options and are steadily using hotel and guest house booking systems to rent a hotel cheaply via the Internet. Even in places where there are no hotels at all, we try to find a reliable place to stay at the nearest motel or locality, we spend time on an additional road, but we have never spent the night in a field under a bush.

Get your sleigh ready in summer, choose your hotel well in advance

Whatever advice I try to give tourists, they all revolve around the same factor. If you want to find a cheap hotel that would meet all your needs, don't be lazy and take care of it in advance.

planning summer rest in hot countries, I start looking at all offers from November or December current year. Firstly, at this time, a wide range of discounts and promotions are offered in almost all areas, and secondly, there is nothing to be done about the fact that accommodation places in the cult resorts of Turkey and Tunisia, Cyprus and Greece, Sochi and Yalta sometimes differ very much in level service, convenient location popular beaches and the quality of the rooms.

For lazy applicants for a future vacation paradise, there are “crumbs from the master's table” of those tourists who know what they want from the hotel and want to be sure that they will get it in full. Several times in our practice there were situations associated with "hot" tours that offered "an incomparable vacation at a cheap price."

Alas, such experiments brought us some disappointments, experienced vacationers do not always refuse to book due to force majeure, some of them learn some truth about the hotel and find other options for themselves. In a hotel in Sicily during a period of abnormal heat, we got a hotel with poorly working air conditioners, which, as it turned out, was written in reviews, and on a cruise along mediterranean sea our cabin was located above the engine room and we could only dream of a normal night's sleep.

Choosing a hotel location is one way to save money

We expect certain things from every trip. It is reasonable to combine plans to swim in the gentle warm sea and surprise everyone with a bronze tan with the search for a hotel for 1 coastline. But a coin always has 2 sides, more budget hotel, located even at level 3 from the beach, costs much less, and daily promenades along park area among the subtropical aromas of southern plants, they can give an extra charge of vivacity and pleasant impressions.

How to book a cheap hotel? - Take the one that is away from the coast or from the center.

How to save money on hotels? - Relax with friends, wholesale is always cheaper.

A separate story was accommodation in apartments on ski resort in Austria, evening gatherings in the fireplace hall over a mug of mulled wine, noisy dinners in the common dining room and 2 bathrooms for 4 families did not in the least reduce the level of comfort for all those participating in the winter voyage. In cold and harsh Finland, a sauna and a font with cool water became common for our company, which undoubtedly added spice and enthusiasm to our trip.

"Thank you" from the tourism business

In the tourism industry, as in the banking sector, there is a whole system of return Money spent on travel, on special credit cards. Tinkoff Bank, Vostochny banks, Rosgosstrakh, Alfa-Bank, Otkritie and other commercial giants have travel cards. Hotel booking and payment hotel services using plastic monetary documents allows cardholders to receive a kind of “thank you” from banks in the form of cashbacks for new trips.

Significant benefits to its owners are provided by the All Airlines card, a partner of the most common booking system for hotels and guest houses Booking.com. It does not matter in the form of a gift of money or in the form of future miles of airliner flights will be available to you after purchasing this card. From such monetary "little things" there is a general picture of savings on a trip to any corner of the planet. accumulated bonus miles and allowed themselves a short weekend trip with the saved funds, especially if they were patient and waited for the purchase of air tickets entirely at the expense of bonus funds.

Simple, but not always tasteful

A separate niche among accommodation facilities in tourist area occupied by hostels. For Russia, this type of temporary housing is still quite new, in other countries of the world it has long been widely used. I had 2 experiences of staying in hostels: at one of the Moscow railway stations before a train trip to Europe and a 3-day overnight stay in France. Both cases left me with a conflicting opinion, about which a little more:

accommodation (in Moscow with conveniences for 2 rooms, in Marseille a separate standard);
cleanliness and comfort (in the capital it is clean, but somewhat miserable, in France it is more convenient, but dirtier);
service (at the Moscow station of an average hand, in the port of Marseille was almost absent).

The most vivid memory from the capital's hostel was the complete hopelessness of getting into common areas, our neighbors on the block were a large friendly family from Central Asia, which surprisingly imperceptibly and with enviable tenacity occupied the bathroom.

The French hostel is remembered for a very small basement, carelessly cleaned and without any signs of services. The last straw in the rejection of hostels was that the difference in cost with a standard room with separate amenities was only 20 euros for a family.

Fifty - fifty or hotel booking on the official website

About direct business relations with hotels and guest houses cannot be expressed unambiguously. Personally, I have the opinion that the principle reigns here: hit or miss. The collection of trips is full of cases of successful contacts with the accommodation directly, but there are also many cases of complete disappointment.

Chain hotels, scattered throughout the key cities of the world, usually work well and smoothly, small mini-hotels on the periphery can bring a lot of funny surprises. In a small Ukrainian town, we had a chance to spend one night in an ennobled barn with all conveniences, behind the wall of which cows mooed and from early morning metal buckets rattled during milking.

In a Russian village in a room with all amenities in winter, in a decent frost, we had to run through the snow to the same amenities located in the building of a neighboring cafe, this pleasure was sold under the sauce a la inexpensive youth hotels.

We can recall many curious incidents, but we have not made a final verdict on this issue, we prefer to solve this problem in each individual case according to the circumstances. If possible, we return to our favorite method of booking a hotel in proven online systems.

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1.2. The cost of living and availability depends on the specific dates of your stay at the hotel.

Therefore, in order to find out the cost of living, it is necessary to indicate the dates of the trip.

Hotel booking process

2.1. Specify in the search form the city or country where you want to go.

2.2. Specify the date of the trip to get information about availability and cost of living.

2.3. Choose the hotel that suits you from the list or on the map and proceed to booking the right option.

2.4. In the next step, enter the information required for booking (name, contact, etc.).

2.5. Confirm your booking - on the next page you will be able to print your order form. A copy of the form will also be sent to the email address provided when ordering.

Cost and payment for accommodation

3.1. For the specified dates of the trip, the hotel page displays the full cost of the stay, and also lists the services included in the price.

3.2. Payment for accommodation is charged by the hotel during or after the stay, unless otherwise stated in the Hotel Policies section.

3.3. When booking most hotels, you will need to provide your bank card details. This is necessary to guarantee the booking.

3.4. Most hotels do not require prepayment or deposit. If the hotel requires an advance payment or a deposit, information about this is contained in the paragraph "Procedure for staying at the hotel" on the hotel page. It is also indicated in electronic confirmation by email.

Documents for crossing the border

5.1. You may need an open visa to enter many countries. the site does not issue visas and other documents for crossing the border.

You will need to deal with obtaining such documents yourself.

How to get to the hotel

6.1. The exact address of the hotel is indicated on the hotel page and in the booking confirmation email. All hotels on the site are mapped and accompanied by GPS coordinates.

6.2. The possibility of transfer to the hotel is indicated in the section "Services in the hotel".

Once your booking has been confirmed, you will need to contact the hotel to clarify the details of this service.

The contact details of the hotel can be found on the booking confirmation email.

Cancellation or modification of a booking

7.1. Cancellation or modification of the booking is made in the "My Bookings" section. Access to this section is provided in a letter to the email address you provided when booking.

Be sure to read the cancellation policy before you make a change. For non-refundable rooms and other special bookings, different cancellation or modification policies may apply.

Specific information about canceling a room reservation is listed next to the room type in the 'Conditions' column.

7.2. You can cancel and change your booking before check-in.

When canceling or modifying a booking, the Cancellation and Modification Terms apply and if violated, the hotel may charge a penalty amount to your credit card.

Details of this can be found on your booking confirmation. Please note that the cancellation/modification deadline is based on the hotel's local time.

For example, a 1-day cancellation condition before your expected arrival date means that you must cancel your booking at least 24 hours before your arrival date to avoid a penalty.

Booking a hotel when traveling with children

8.1 For information regarding the accommodation of children at the hotel and the provision of extra beds/baby cots, please see the "Hotel Policies".

8.2. Please note the following:

Children's surcharge (if charged by the hotel) is not included in the booking price.

When booking, please make a note in the comments box if you need extra beds/baby cots.

If you have already booked a room, you can simply click on the link in your booking confirmation email or go to My Bookings to request extra beds.