Booking a hotel via the Internet is a reliable and most adequate way of finding temporary accommodation all over the world in terms of both material and time costs.
Where to book a hotel
You can, of course, contact a travel agency with the question of finding accommodation abroad, but, most likely, there you will be offered a full-fledged tour instead of a hotel room - with tickets, transfers and other additional options. Even if the company deals with separate hotel reservations, it will probably be, in the main, not the cheapest options.
Having tickets on hand and having a good idea of what format of rest you like, you can contact the hotel directly. Hotel websites, as a rule, contain a detailed description of rooms, services, infrastructure and allow you to immediately book the room you like. Among the disadvantages of this method - there is no way to visually compare prices and the lack of information in Russian (however, most of the sites of Turkish hotels have long learned to "speak" in Russian).
Please note that some hotels, when booking rooms directly on their websites, offer small discounts or provide some usually paid services for free (parking, wi-fi).
If there are no places in your favorite hotel or in a hotel recommended by friends, or you are looking for the most budgetary option, or you simply have no idea where and how you would like to stay on your upcoming voyage, it is better to turn to special sites for booking accommodation.
Online booking
Online hotel booking agencies have an extensive database of various offers. You can choose where to stay based on criteria such as price, star rating, location, availability of certain services and facilities. Companies offer a choice of hotels, apartments, guesthouses, hostels and other accommodation options. Such services also allow you to register and store all information about completed orders. But even without registration, these sites "know how" to save the browsing history and the options you like so that you can study the issue and make a decision not immediately, but at a convenient time for you.
Most of the sites offer convenient interfaces that allow you to quickly compare and analyze similar offers, view photos, read reviews of guests who have visited there, estimate the location of the hotel on a map, etc. In some cases, prices for accommodation will be lower than on the official Internet pages of hotels, and there may also be vacant rooms, despite the fact that the hotel's website will indicate that everything has been booked.
Nowadays, renting of housing abroad directly from apartment owners is gaining popularity. Of course, it is cheaper than a hotel, and living in a spacious apartment with all the amenities is more pleasant than in a small hotel room. But we must also take into account a number of disadvantages: it is necessary to correspond with the owner of the property and organize the transfer of keys (which is especially inconvenient if you arrive on night flights), in addition, such a “reservation” is not always sufficient to obtain a visa, and the risk of running into fraudsters is disproportionate. above.
How to choose a hotel
You have decided on the city, dates and what composition you are going to travel with. Now sort the housing requirements in descending order of priority. Also indicate for yourself the desired, but not mandatory conditions. Set the lower and upper bounds for the cost of housing per night. When choosing a hotel or apartment, pay attention to the availability of parking, fast and / or free internet, the ability to stay with a pet, smoking conditions in the room. Please note that smoking is generally prohibited in both hotels and apartments in Europe and the United States. But in Latin America and Southeast Asia, smokers may not deny themselves anything.
Do not expect a high level of service and beautiful large rooms in European capitals if you take a hotel below 4 stars.
You can set all these conditions when looking for accommodation on any online hotel booking service. After you have found a suitable option, read the description of the hotel, reviews about it (you can search for information on other resources), guest ratings, see photos of rooms and infrastructure. True, divide all photographic beauties by at least two: photographers who shoot hotels are well aware of the correct angles, in which the rooms seem three times larger than they really are, and the unpresentable lattice on the window overlooking the neighboring hotel seems to be a cozy balcony on quiet street.
How to pay
Most online services charge a prepayment of 20 to 100% of the total cost of living. Payment is made from a card, the details of which must be entered when booking a room. There may be options where no prepayment is required and you can pay the full amount directly on the spot. In this case, the card data is still entered as a guarantor of your reservation and hotel insurance against no-show. Almost everywhere there is a penalty equal to the cost of one day's stay for cancellation at the last moment.
If at the time of booking it is indicated that the prepayment will not be charged, and a certain amount was nevertheless removed from your card, do not be alarmed. This is nothing more than checking the validity of your card, and the money is not withdrawn, but only blocked in your account. In 3-10 days they will be at your disposal again.
After completing the booking procedure, a confirmation email will be sent to the email address you provided. Please print this letter as it contains the name, map, exact address, telephone number and website of the accommodation you have booked. Upon arrival, as a rule, this letter is not required - a passport is enough, but it is better to have it with you in case of possible misunderstandings. It is also worth considering that some hotels ask to show exactly the card with which the payment for the room was made.
