Travel Planning 101 : Finding Perfect Place to Stay

When you take a trip, most of us don’t want to just stay in the same old place. If you really want your trip really memorable and enjoyable, why not plan ahead and find the perfect place to stay! It’s not as hard as you might think, believe me. By using a few simple tools and techniques you can turn your vacation or trip from average to spectacular.

Brenna Bustamante of PhilippineTravelogue.com – I choose the hotel to stay in after considering 4 factors – comfort (especially if I’m traveling with someone), location (which is important if I want to save money on transportation), budget (of course, important for my overall budget) and WiFi (also important because I need to check my email every few hours for work updates). Once the hotel has all these, then I look for other factors like aircon, restaurant, amenities and all that.

1) The first thing to be sure about is your budget. If you only have $50 per night to spend, you can immediately eliminate staying in fancy five star resorts. And if you want to spend $500 per night…well, that’s a problem we all wish we had.

Aleah of www.SolitaryWanderer.com- I’m a budget traveler, so my main consideration in choosing a hotel is the price. I can stay even at a dormitory room just to save on expenses. In Siem Reap, however, I found very affordable accommodations (own room, T/B, A/C, free breakfast and Wifi–all for $8/night) that let me extend my budget and made me enjoy Angkor Wat a little more.

Once you know how much you want to spend, you can start to narrow your search down further. The first thing to do is to really look at your destination. If you are heading to a place like Singapore, you have a huge number of options to consider before you even begin looking at properties.

Josiah Sicad of Lakas.com.ph – If I am a walk-in customer, I check if their rate is within my budget. If it is, I then request to check the room, if the room is sufficient for a comfortable good night sleep with good amenities then that’s the resort/hotel I will be staying.

2) What is the purpose of your trip? If you are there to enjoy Little India, Chinatown or shopping then you will want to focus on finding accommodation in those areas.

Marky Ramone Go of Nomadic Experiences – When I’m traveling alone I just make sure the room wont kill me with suffocation and it is not inhabited by large creatures. A nice bed with clean bedsheets, at least with no obvious stains visible to the eyes and warm colored paints adore the walls. Violet, yellow and pink are a no-no. Other than that, I’m not that choosy when choosing a place to sleep during travels. But on trips with the girlfriend, a large enough room with a spacious shower room and a veranda overlooking the sea is a big plus.

If you are there for a relaxing holiday in the consolidated resorts like Marina Bay Sands, then obviously you want to stay there. If you are looking for the excitement of the theme parks and boardwalk, focus on those areas and if you are looking for a beach experience this will also influence your decision.

Maybe you are there for business but also want to enjoy some museums and take in a show or two… Knowing what you are there for makes a big difference.

3) What is more important to you? Service, ambiance, view, uniqueness, privacy, status or something else. If price is the most important focus on deal sites or perhaps stick to looking at hostels and budget hotels. The more you know about what you want, the more likely you are to get it.

Now you are ready to hit the internet and start looking for the right place to stay. First of all, use your social media contacts to ask if anyone you know has a recommendation.  Good for me, I have several travel blogger and frequent traveller friends who are always there to give me tips and recommendations. Post message on your Facebook status, who knows, a friend of yours works in a hotel in your desired destination:)

Your next stop should be TripAdvisor. Don’t forget to check out Agoda and Booking for great hotel deals! Go to google blogs and search under blogs for ‘hotel in ___________’ and be sure to include the keywords you are looking for. If you find something that looks promising, be sure to go back to TripAdvisor and see what others have said about it.

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