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3 Hotel Booking Tips That You Should Know
Most of us stay at hotels at some point during our travels. Our family is on the road several weeks throughout the year and we spend many nights away from home at various hotels. We have experienced the best and the worst accommodations during our trips. I have learned three valuable tips that change the way I book my hotel stays. Use these hotel booking tips when choosing your home away from home.
Are You Really Getting The Best Price?
Travel sites have made it so easy to book hotels. It’s nice to compare rates and know that you are getting the best deal. But wait–are you getting the best deal? We ran into this problem on a trip we took to Tennessee. We booked our hotel through a popular travel site like we had always done in the past. We were proud of the money we saved–that was until we arrived at the hotel. When checking in, I asked how much a room would be if we had just booked it through the hotel. It ended up being $20 cheaper to book directly through the hotel!
This is not always the case but perhaps it’s worth remembering the next time your booking a room. You might call the hotel to double check their direct rates. If you like travel sites and apps to book hotels you should check out my favorite one. DOSH (referral link) is an easy way to save money while traveling. I book my hotels directly through the app and I get cash back with each purchase!
How Safe Are Your Belonging?
Why is it that the best life lessons are learned the hard way?! We travel with our expensive valuables–our phone, wallet, computer, tablet, camera and more. Keeping these items safe is a top priority for me. We use the safe in our hotel room to protect our valuables but what about the items left in our vehicle? During long road trips, we might bring in an overnight bag but we leave the bulk of items locked in our car. We learned the hard way that you should always ask the hotel ahead of time what type of security they have on their property. Let me explain.
Our family packed up our belongings and loaded them in our truck. We went inside to grab breakfast and to check out of our room. Just 15 minutes later we returned to find that someone had thrown a huge block of concrete through our passenger side window and stole my husband’s phone and wallet. This happened at 8:30 AM in broad daylight! The parking lot did NOT have cameras. The police told us that we were more than likely a target. Someone had watched us load our car and they knew there were no cameras. Avoid becoming a victim of theft by knowing ahead of time how serious the hotel is about security for their guests.
Late Night Reservation Mistakes
Late night road trips? Not sure when you’re going to stop for the night? Be careful when booking last minute reservations online. Double check the dates of your reservation. Hotels will tell you how common it is for people who are booking last minute reservations to accidentally book for the next night instead of the current night.
