Over the past two years we've booked ourselves into roughly 10 hotels/apartments - whether it be for festivals, holidays or city breaks; we'd like to think we've got this down to a T. Soooo decided to do a blog post breaking down the considerations we take into account before pressing that oh so beautiful 'BOOK' button.
Hotel vs Apartment
Firstly you have to determine which which type of accommodation will
work best for you. We find the easiest way of doing this is to weigh up the
pros and cons.
Examples of pros could include:
- An apartment offers a fridge (aka cool beverages) plus facilities to cook
- Whereas a massive plus of a hotel is that there will be room cleaning every day.
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| Still crushing over the MCR apartment *sighs* |
Location
Yes pretty décor is a mahoosive plus in deciding on accommodation BUT
location is one of the most important factors to consider; both practically and
financially.
Will the airport transfer cost an arm and a leg? Is there a
supermarket nearby? These are both pretty high on our list.
The supermarket
point more so because need a few litre bottles of water in our room wherever we
stay (don’t do tap) so if we’re not physically going to be able to carry them
to the room, that hotel gets a solid no.
Transport
links
We always ensure we book a hotel that is within walking distance
to a tube/metro stop or main train station. If buses or taxis are your
preferred mode of transport we recommend researching the estimate cost from
your hotel to locations in the city you plan on visiting.
WiFi
Unless you’re going on some kind of yoga retreat or social media detox… a
strong, consistent Wi-Fi connection will most likely be essential. Hotels
differ quite a bit in relation to internet access; some will offer:
- Free Wi-Fi in your room (may be weak so check reviews)
- Free Wi-Fi in lobby
- Wi-Fi in your room on a pay per day basis.
So make sure to review the options provided before
booking!
Reviews
We always read the reviews and decide if the negative and low marked feedback
would actually bother us if in that situation. Majority of the time it wouldn’t
and we think people are over-reacting eg. Not enough towels or receptionist
didn’t smile. But it doesn’t hurt to check!
We primarily check using
booking.com and TripAdvisor.
Amenities
Whether it’s a decent gym, pool or parking; you need to decide which
amenities in a hotel are absolute necessities for you and ensure you chose
accommodation that offers this.
Our personal must haves are: breakfast
included, parking (if UK), air-con and room with balcony (if available).
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| Purely so we can re-enact photos like this haha |
Double
check price elsewhere
Once you’ve chosen your hotel check if it’s cheaper
elsewhere – 80% of the time we use booking.com because Lorraine is a premium
member and gets discounts BUT sometimes it the same hotel can be cheaper on
competitor sites eg. Lasminute.com or even the official hotel website itself!
xxx
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