Finding and Booking
Hotels on the Internet

Hotel Research | Reserve or Wing It? | Making Your Reservations
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otels, and other accommodations, have never been easier to locate and book. The emergence of a genuinely useful Internet for the common man makes everything easy ... or so it seems.

The 'net clearly makes hotel research easier than ever before. Whether you should use the Internet to make your booking is another question.

We find the Internet great for two things when looking for a place to sleep:

1. Identifying hotel possibilities in the price range and geographic area we want;
2. Finding personal recommendations from experienced travelers.

Finding Hotels

ow many inquiries begin, "The rooms look wonderful in the website; what can you tell me about the hotel?"

Who would expect the pictures of the rooms to look like pigsties that haven't been redecorated in fifty years? Hotel websites are no different than brochures: their purpose is to sell, not enlighten.

Choose your hotel based on recommendations from knowledgeable friends, reputable personal websites, Internet travel forums and guidebook publishers, whether online or in print. Don't, ever, base your selection on the hotel's brochure or website!

ou'll find personal recommendations for many hotels on non-commercial websites like TWEnJ. 'Message boards' such as Independent Traveler, Virtual Tourist, Lonely Planet Thorntree, Frommer's, Fodor's Forums and the rec.travel.europe newsgroup (usenet) offer other sources of personal recommendations. Before you post an inquiry on these, though, check their archives and 'lurk' for a while to learn accepted 'etiquette'.

In considering personal recommendations try to discern the person's experience in travel to Europe. Many first-timers are eager to let folks know what they did, but really have have little basis for comparison as to what are relatively good and poor values.

ommercial sites provide another good source. The most reliable we've found is Fodor's Hotel Index, but all major publishers have sites. For hotels and destinations we know, Fodor's recommendations are usually on the money. Some claim Fodor's understates rather than overstates. Three limitations to Fodor's, and most other publishers, though:

1. Coverage is mainly limited to the major tourist destinations; you'll find few if any off-the-beaten path spots;
2. Fodor's emphasis is somewhat skewed to the higher middle of the price scale, though they do cover from top to bottom; other publishers will have a target price point in mind and skimp in other ranges:
3. Relatively few properties are reviewed; in times of heavy traffic many may not be available unless you're selecting far in advance.

nd then there are the hotel booking sites. Unlike other sources of hotel information they generally make their money from referral fees from the hotels. You're not paying the bill so your satisfaction is not a particular consideration. Sites may be encyclopedic in coverage, but you'll find little in the way of reliable, qualitative information on which to make a judgement.

There's another problem with commercial hotel booking sites: the better hotels, hotels that have no problem attracting enough business themselves, don't use them as a rule. The result? What you often find on these sites are an occasional good property, but mainly the dogs and cats of the city's hospitality industry.

You'll find lots of hotels which don't have a good enough property, or reputation, or location to attract profitable business on their own. You'll also find little if any "last room availability". Most hotels will let no one else sell their last few rooms. Consequently, these booking sites are rarely useful at all when space is tight, unless you're willing to stay at a hotel no one else wants.

One encyclopedic site stands out for many of our visitors: the Swiss Hotel Association. Almost all hotels in Switzerland belong, and the site is usually quite up-to-date and accurate with respect to prices, open and close dates, phone numbers, URLs, etc. The SHA does not show room availability and does not take bookings; it's an information service only, with no bias except to serve its members equitably. The star ratings in Switzerland tend to be more reliable than in most countries. While quantitative like all others, there is more often a relative difference in quality between one star category and another.

n summary,  you may well be able to find a good set of hotels to consider through the Internet. However, we don't find the 'net as useful for exact pricing or learning if a hotel has rooms available when we want them.

Booking the Hotel

f the hotel has a website you'll want to visit it. Even then, contact the hotel directly. Whether their own website, a chain's or a hotel booking service, the site is often unlikely to show exact pricing, especially 'deals', and it'll rarely show exact availability. It's not uncommon to find the 'last update' over a year old.

Conversely, some hotels or chains, to their credit, occasionallly offer advantageous pricing available only over the Internet. But you'll never know if an "Internet Special" is really a good deal unless you have information to compare it against.

E-mail, fax or call, in all cases. E-mail or fax usually works well enough when there's plenty of time. (Although we find fax more often elicits a response, and a more rapid response.) However, many of the smaller European hotels may not spend time or money replying when there's no space. An extended delay in reply is reason for a follow-up phone call.

Most popular hotels in western Europe, at least medium-priced and up, will normally have someone on duty during the business day who speaks English well enough for your purposes. Don't forget the European business day is generally 5-6 hours ahead of US east coast time. (e.g. 3pm in NYC is 9pm in Rome.)

If the person answering the phone isn't speaking English, one of the following will be helpful to you:

f booking during busy periods, a call is usually best. The hotel you desperately wish to book may be filled on the exact dates you want. However, you may find that if you can slide your trip a day or two or a week one way or the other there will be space. This is difficult, if not impossible, certainly time-consuming, to arrange in writing. A conversation works much better, and more quickly.

owever you make your inquiry or booking, make sure to arrange a written confirmation. Here are some key suggestions when putting your request in writing, or confirming what you think you've arranged over the phone:

• Spell the month out; 2/10/01 would be interpreted by a European reader as the second of October, contrasted with the 10th of February an American would expect; 2 February is strongly preferable, and mildly preferable to February 2.
• Clearly state number of nights, arrival or 'in' date, departure or 'out' date; (e.g. "two nights for arrival 3 May, departure 5 May")
• Specify type of room as clearly as you can; 'double' is generic and says nothing about beds, neither number nor size; 'twin' may imply a room for two with twin-sized beds ... or may not. Be clear about number of persons; be as clear about number of beds and type if this is important to you.
• Confirm the rate, whether it is 'inclusive', and what it is inclusive of (e.g. tax, service, breakfast). Assure it is clear whether the rate is per person or per room.
• Confirm your expectation about how you'll pay; there are a greater proportion of hotels in Europe that do not accept credit cards than in the US. It's no sin if you omit this in the confirmation, but do make sure you check out their acceptance policy at least a day or two before you check out.
• Assuming your first language is English, write in English. Write in simple English.

To the extent possible, you should obtain a written confirmation from the hotel, and make sure it provides at least the information noted above. If not, ask them to fill in the blanks.

inally, be sure to take your written confirmation with you.

Travel Agents

nlike custom in the US, there are more European hotels that pay no commission than do pay. As a consequence using a travel agent for hotel selection and booking is a bit dicey, in our opinion. If you're considering using your agent to select hotels or book them, read our notes on the subject first.

 Should You Book Hotels (and B&Bs, etc.) ...
or Just Wing It?

any travelers prefer not to make reservations, preferring to "play it by ear". We applaud the free-spirit motive behind this, but find it doesn't work well in practice for most, certainly for us.

In virtually any place you want to stop for the night, you'll find a bed ... somewhere. If that's as far as your criteria for lodgings go, you'll likely have few regrets about not making reservations.

We did say "virtually", though. There are places and times where any bed may not be available, or at least very scarce. You could waste valuable sightseeing time trying to find a place.

For example, Geneva often fills up due to large trade shows, conventions and international meetings. We mean fills up! We've known attendees at these affairs to have to find rooms as far away as Brig and Neuchatel. In other cities, small as well as large, the annual wine festival, the village fair, the opening of the opera season, any other major event, can fill all the rooms there, and nearby.

That's not most often the case, so you run fairly decent odds of finding a room, most places, most times. The odds are in your favor, statistically. Let us know if that's any comfort to you when it's 7pm and you've just found out there's not a room anywhere within a 50 mile radius.

he best hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, cottages and chalets in Europe tend to be small. By 'best' we mean the best value-for-money performers, and often the most charming ones as well. They typically book up far in advance. If you're going to wing it, you're unlikely to walk into a preferred property and find the most desirable room in the house, if any at all.

Yes, you'll sleep somewhere, and it will probably be fairly comfortable, but, whatever your budget, you likely won't be staying in one of the better rooms at one of the better values used by experienced travelers.

We've made trips without reservations, albeit somewhat off-peak. We always found a more-or-less satisfactory bed for the night. But on several occasions we used up far more of our valuable sightseeing time than we'd have liked examining candidates. In the end, we've decided to spend time at home looking for hotels, and booking them, rather than stealing from valuable touring time seeking a bed.

As well, if you want a reasonably desirable place to stay, you'll want to stop touring by mid-afternoon at least to get a jump on your competition. You'll get a better room that way, but you'll lose even more of that valuable sightseeing time that's so precious, at least to us.

t's rare, now, after more than 80 trips to Europe, that we travel without reservations. If, despite our urgings, you can't resist the temptation to travel 'footloose and fancy free', at least call ahead in the morning before you leave for the day. That way you may succeed in confirming a reasonably desirable room ... and if there is a problem with space in the next town, at least you'll know about it sufficiently in advance to alter your plans.

o hotel terms like EP, MAP and American Plan have you mystified? How about "en suite"? Garni? What's the difference between a double and a twin? Do you need a spare tire for a quad? Would you like to know what mean? See our Hotels Demystified page.

TWEnJ's Hotel Pages

Rome
Choosing a Hotel in Rome
Switzerland
Switzerland Hotel Notes
Bavaria
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Published March 6, 2000
Last Revision August 27, 2001

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