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Travel question - booking ahead

Runcarla

Veteran

When ‘adventure’ travelling do you book all or some of your accommodations ahead? If you don’t fully plan your itinerary, what has been your experience finding accommodations on the fly?

I usually arrange all the accommodations in advance, and thus don’t worry about having a place to stay, but that doesn’t allow for improvisation along the way - like staying at a place longer, or going somewhere else - although I guess some places allow a cancellation if sufficient notice is given?

What is your practice vis-a-vis booking accommodations whilst travelling abroad?

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19 replies

Latest reply was from bella

rachylou

Veteran

This is from Rick Steve’s: https://www.ricksteves.com/tra.....you-travel

Way way back in the day, I’d just show up and there’d be *like* kiosks of brochures. Those days are probably gone tho. And I’ll admit the places could be a little worse for wear. Motel 8 1/2, lol

rebekahphoto

Veteran

we have enjoyed both, making reservations and some adventure--"lets-go and-see-what-we-find" trips over the years. But it has not always worked out, for instance no availability in Palm Springs one year left us in a boring motel way out of town....who knew it would be all booked? ( I should have!)

I have since moved into the territory of making reservations ahead, to ease the stress. Especially museums entries -- now the reservations save hours!

But If we found something better once on the road, I would have no problems changing a lodging or event plan, even if it meant costing an extra night. Sometimes you have the best adventures that way

My first trip to Europe in 1997 I had a mix of reservations and a little "on the fly" Rick Steve's style wait and see for lodging. I was scheduled to travel from Amsterdam to London, and it ended up being on Lady Diana's funeral day and the city was all booked. So I stayed an extra day in Amsterdam, and when I arrived in London the next day there were still very few places to stay.... I was lucky I didn't have to sleep in the station

Gaylene

Veteran

It depends on where I’m going, what I want to do, and the time of year.

If I want to stay in a particular property in an area that I know will be busy with other visitors, it makes sense to book ahead. In off season, or in areas less frequented by other travelers, I’ve never had a problem finding a place for a night or two—and sometimes for a longer period if I’ve hit on a winner!

More and more I find myself delighted when I opt to look just a bit further out than the full-on tourist haunts. Staying in quieter settings like a smaller, less well-known town/village/city can drastically cut the price and offer a much more interesting experience. The bigger, flashier “must see” places are usually easily reached by local transportation or hired cars. It’s the ease of meeting people, and the local advice, which makes me fall in love with off-the-beaten track—plus being offered a villa (huge terrace, swimming pool, gardens, and a gorgeous room) for a week at the same price as one-night stay in a tiny city hotel room (thanks to having coffee with a local who had a grandmother…very easy decision!)

The two times, though, when I ALWAYS book my room is my first and last night when I’m traveling overseas. I usually pick a really good hotel at, or near, the airport with 24-hour room service, and the option to extend my checkout time. The extra cost is worth its weight in gold since I don’t need to fret about delays, traffic jams, changed schedules—-or to arrive exhausted in a strange environment needing to find somewhere to sleep. A good bed, blackout curtains, 24-hour room service, and friendly concierge can turn things around pretty quickly.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Personally, we always, always book our accommodations in advance. It gives us great peace of mind!

Laurie

Veteran

I've never had the luxury of open-ended travel time, and - as the chief travel agent for our family - I have so much stress leading up to arriving at a destination and getting settled before I can relax into a vacation, that I absolutely book accommodation in advance. Rarely book activities, though. I guess post-Covid all is different. You certainly do need to book reservations for museums in DC well in advance now, for example.

I had researched and made so many Airbnb reservations for the trip to Israel we had hoped to make in Feb, but cancelled in early January due to the omicron surge. Working with our guide, we'd laid out 2 weeks of touring and downtime, and I spent countless hours researching and booking awesome-looking places. It was heartbreaking to cancel them all!

Hotel stays are easier to adjust along the way. Usually you can drop nights without a penalty once you've checked in on time.

Cardiff girl

Veteran

I am with Angie these days.l like to know where l am staying at night so l can be more spontaneous about what happens in the day.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

I keep my adventures to my waking activities and book a place to stay before I get to town. Can’t imagine not knowing where I was going to sleep that night. It’s nice that I can be more relaxed about the rest of it now. Traveling as a single mom, I researched everything in advance—hours of operation, where to get tickets, which side the door was on…. and always had a back-up plan, so I wouldn’t be out there on the curb trying to figure out what to do next with a little one absorbing his mama’s stress.

elpgal

Veteran

We always book our accommodations and use that structure to be spontaneous during the stay. Most of my local plans are made on the fly on a day to day basis unless there is a must-do activity (tulip festival, dolphin adventure, Vatican visit) etc. If I miss seeing something, I tell myself there’ll be a next time.

Gail

Veteran

I always book ahead of time for accommodations, activities I tend to book more on the fly.

rachylou

Veteran

I found this online too: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Sh.....rance.html

I suppose it depends where and when you go. And a bit on your confidence in your communication skills. Western Europe, the US, Canada, and Mexico just across the border (but not Tijuana), I’m thinking if you get some place early in the day, you could probably still look in the equivalent of a phone book and call smaller local hotels. I’ve done it in all those places with only travel phrases under my belt, except Canada - lol, which I’m pretty sure would pose no worries for you.

rachylou

Veteran

Although it occurs to me a smart phone that works where you go would be really handy. I used to spend the big bucks for an unlocked phone so I could do that. I’m not sure what I’d do now. How do you get a burner smart phone?

Toban

Veteran

I do a mix. I always book beginnings, ends, and weekend/holiday nights. But I’ve often left some spontaneous bookings, especially on road trips and off-season travel. But those I usually book in the morning before committing to a destinatIon. I tend to use the booking.com app. I’m currently in England and the last 3 nights were spontaneous bookings.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Rachylou, no need for a whole burner phone (depending on what you plan to do in said hotel room, lol). You just need a prepaid SIM card.

rachylou

Veteran

SF—I’m almost 100% positive I can’t change the SIM card on my phone. That it’s the standard American locked-into-a-carrier phone. It’s always been that you pay extra for a phone that you can switch the SIM card out on.

ETA: But now I’ve googled it and see that I could switch to an international calling plan or take it into a store and pay for it to be unlocked (but that it probably makes just as much sense to buy a new phone than get an old one unlocked). Or just do everything via wifi.

kkards

Veteran

we have been spending a week or 2 at the same spot on Jersey shore for the last 20 years, we almost always left dinner reservations until the morning of, one thing we noticed in in the last 2 years, staffing shortages have made that a challenge, and we are now booking dinner 3-4 days in advance.

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Rachylou, we didn’t pay to get ours unlocked, but we were beyond the 2-year contract at that point. Another thing to think about is that it can take a couple weeks to get it unlocked.
There are also unofficial ways to jailbreak it. We didn’t look into those, because they violate the warranty.

We have both gotten new phone since moving here. Bought them in the US at the Apple Store where they could sell us phones that weren’t on any carriers plan, so we could bring them back here and use them. That means the prepaid SIMs also work.

But for an occasional overseas vacation, your route—getting a burner phone—is probably easier. Or just keep it in airplane mode and use wifi.

Sal

Veteran

I feel a bit rusty on it all! On our most recent trip internationally we booked in advance in Italy and I was pleased that I had done so. On our South American and US Trips we had some spontaneity as we went along the way but usually booked a night or two in advance.

Jenni NZ

Veteran

In Vietnam late 2019 we only booked the part before the wedding, then we still had about 10 days left and so we used Trip Advisor mostly to decide on hotels. We let our daughter arrange AirBnB for 3 nights in Hanoi. This was fine at that time, pre-pandemic, because there were huge numbers of hotels and many were very reasonably priced. The two we picked in Saigon for before the wedding were NZ-equivalent prices though, but they were more luxurious as I did NOT want to risk getting sick.

bella

(website)

Veteran

I book hotel rooms ahead of time. As someone mentioned, I've started booking some attractions ahead of time as well now that this option is available. It has allowed us to skip lines, or avoid the disaster of having to skip an attraction that we were looking forward to due to sold out tickets. I was also able to book tickets ahead of time for concerts/operas, which I found really adds to my experience of the city. But our trips are usually city trips and 4-5 days at the most, so time is a very valuable commodity, and planning ahead of time helps. If we were traveling to a rural area without strict time constraints, I would maybe do things differently.