To start searching for the cheapest rooms in town, you first have to decide the following:
Type of Accommodation
Solo Travellers
If you’re travelling alone on a tight budget, hostels would most definitely be the cheapest option. However some hotels have single rooms that can be a good bargain as well.
2 or More Travellers
If there are 2 or more of you, consider staying in a hotel instead of a hostel. It ends up costing almost the same as paying for 2 hostel beds. That is if you are not craving for the hostel environment where you get to meet lots of new friends. See “Why it isn’t fun for people like me to stay in Hostels”.
Location
For a backpacker on a long trip, you probably won’t wanna be lugging your backpack around town while asking random locals for directions. Stay near the train station to save yourself the hassle and it can be a very convenient base for visiting nearby cities too. If you would rather be in the middle of all the action, stay in the more popular districts but be prepared to pay more.
Hotel Booking Websites
Hotel’s Website
Always check to see if the hotel has better deals on their own website. If you are staying for more than 5 days in the same hotel, you can try emailing the hotel for a better quote. They can usually give you a better price if you book directly from them as they avoid paying commission to the agencies. Be careful when searching for the hotel website. Match the address to make sure you are looking at the right one as there are many hotels with the same name across the world! (Think: Metropolitan Hotel)
Aggregated Travel Websites
- Tripadvisor – One of the first sites to put together travellers’ reviews. You can also compare rates across various websites.
- Kayak – A popular fare aggregator that compares prices from other travel websites
Europe
- Booking.com – My first choice for booking hotels in Europe
- Venere – Similar to Booking.com
China
The 2 sites have very similar pricing but they still have their differences. Be sure to compare prices for the hotels in both sites before booking.
If you read Chinese, do your research in the Chinese interface. The promotions are different and definitely better than the English ones. However some promotions don’t work very well foreigners. For e.g. the rebate promotions require you to have a local Chinese bank account for crediting the cashback. You can also credit it to a prepaid mobile but that takes at least 3-5 days to take effect. So unless you staying in China for a long time, you’re better off just going for the cheapest discounted hotel without the marketing gimmicks.
You can cross-reference the hotel with reviews on Tripadvisor if you can’t find any English reviews on these 2 websites.
- eLong – Currently my first choice. Very competitive prices.
- Ctrip – Ctrip used to be my favourite but now with its popularity, I find the prices to be steeper than eLong. However they do have certain hotels at lower prices.
Australia/New Zealand
- Wotif – The best deals for cheap hotel rooms. In 2008, I booked 16-days of New Zealand road trip with Wotif and spent an average of NZD100/night for 4-5 star hotels!
Deciding Which Hotel to Book
- Check the location to make sure you’re not staying in the outskirts or the dodgiest part of town.
- Read through the “Customer Reviews”. Pay attention to the most recent comments. For e.g., is the hotel undergoing renovation? Is the buffet breakfast really the worst of its kind? Are the pictures posted online all a lie? Be sure to look out for things that matter to you and ignore those that don’t. If someone is complaining about the lack of a hairdryer in the bathroom but you always bring your own, that obviously shouldn’t affect your decision. Or if you prefer having a sumptuous breakfast at a local cafe, then ignore the fact that the place doesn’t provide free breakfast.
- Look through the pictures of the hotel and see if you can convince yourself it’s a nice place. If you are saying ‘yucks’ or ‘ewww’ to yourself, you shouldn’t bother booking it.
Cancellation Policy
Cancellation policy varies for each hotel so be sure to read the fine prints carefully. Most allow you to cancel without a penalty fee between 5-14 days before arrival.
