Tips for choosing a hotel

Whether you stay at a hotel occasionally for vacation or you are a road warrior business person who feels like you spend half of your life in hotels, here are 6 ways to make your stay at a hotel more enjoyable.

1. Before you go to sleep on the first night, make sure that the alarm clock is set for the time you want and that the television does not have an auto-on feature. People will sometimes set these for the middle of the night as a prank on the next person in the room, since the cleaning staff will rarely check them.

2. Bring your own refreshments since refreshments provided in the bar fridge found in the hotel room are often exorbitantly priced.

3. Bring any problems that you encounter to the attention of the front desk as soon as you see them so that they do not assume it was you that left the room in that condition. For example, if you are missing a towel, let them know right away so they don't think you stole it!

4. Hotels are charging for local calls now, and sometimes by the minute, so make sure to clarify upfront any potential telephone costs. Often, going down to the lobby and using the payphone there is much cheaper, even if it is not the most convenient.

5. It is okay to demand excellence from the hotel because you are paying good money to stay there. Just demand it in a polite and reasonable way and always with a smile.

6. A hotel, like a car-rental company or a video-rental store, has a fixed number of income producing units. These units are used by customers who are not always as accommodating to your schedule as you'd like them to be. If you get to the hotel and find that your room is not ready, relax! You'll find that by being patient and understanding, the hotel staff will bend over backwards to make sure you are happy; while, if you are abrupt and impatient, they will provide only the service that you're paying for, and they'll do so grudgingly. Remember, it is rarely the desk clerk's fault that your room is not ready for you. More often than not, it is because another customer was late leaving their room.

These six ideas will help you have a more enjoyable stay the next time you have to stay at a hotel.


About The Author:

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Hotel Resources a website providing information on Hotels This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_9025_29.html

Finding the Best Hotel Deals

By: David Chandler

When it comes to hotels, things boil down to a tradeoff between low cost and convenient location. In many cases, especially when traveling to major cities and popular attractions, the closer the hotel to the city or attraction the more you can expect to pay. The best way to save money, particularly in large cities, is often to stay in the suburbs.

Of course, this means that you will spend more time getting to the places you want to visit, and this will mean spending additional money on gasoline, etc. It is important to compute all these costs to make sure that you will really be spending less on a less convenient hotel room.

There are of course a number of ways to save money on hotels and motels without compromising quality. For one thing, a membership in AAA or a similar auto club also entitles you to discounts on hotel rooms, as does military service and senior citizen status. When inquiring about a hotel room, always inquire about discounts that may be available.

In addition, shopping early for a hotel room can often yield the best deals. That is because hotels often reserve a block of low cost rooms, and when they are gone they are gone. Thus, the last room at a hotel may be much more costly than the first. Getting the best hotel room deal is often a matter of timing.

Of course getting a great deal on a hotel will mean nothing if the place is a dump. Shopping for a budget hotel should not mean settling for a hotel that is dirty, poorly run or in an unsafe location.

Fortunately, finding a good budget hotel has been made much easier with the help of the internet. What used to take weeks or even months to research can now be done in a matter of hours or even minutes. Many hotels, even budget properties, feature pictures of the property and the surrounding area, so be sure to research the property you are considering if you have never stayed there before.

It is important to research the area in which the hotel is located as well. Be sure to check out things like restaurants and attractions within walking distance of the hotel. Doing research on the area will help ensure you do not end up staying in a dangerous neighborhood just to save a couple of bucks.

The internet also provides a number of review sites where those who have stayed in various hotels share their experiences and their impressions of the hotel properties. These review sites can be very useful for travelers, particularly those traveling to a new location for the first time.

In addition, the internet hosts a number of comparison web sites where travelers can easily find and compare hotel properties for their individual dates of stay and destinations. These web sites offer a number of ways to search, including distance from a particular tourist attraction, price, star level and more. The only caveat to consider when using such a web site is its independence. Some comparison web sites feature only properties that pay an advertising fee, so using a comparison site does not necessarily guarantee the best price. It is best to use a number of such web sites to get a true picture of the lowest prices available.

For more information about securing cheap or discount hotel rates, visit these sites, Cheap Hotels and Discount Hotels