Getting rooms from TI at destinations

By the time you get to the town where you want to stay, I have already contacted the best 3 star hotel in that town and have scored a fantastic room (just the one I loved from the pictures on the hotel website) for a bargain 10% below the normal room rate because I am staying for 3 nights. When you get to the TI, you will be met with smiles and a list with a number of 2 star hotels that weren't appealing enough online to be scarfed up and which have spotty AC and WiFi that only works in the maid's closet.

Adventure doesn't mean that you can't plan. I overplan everything, but that gives me MORE flexibility, rather than less. With current late cancellation policies, I can take advantage of last minute changes in my itinerary and turn on a dime adventures. I don't live out of a Campmor backpack any more (I now have an indestructible Tom Bihn bag that I do carry on my back) nor do I spend the night in airports or train stations to save the cost of a night's lodging.

Is it still easy to do? Not in my recent experience, and more often than not you will be wasting a lot of time and effort trying to snag a subpar room in an already saturated tourist market. The current phenomenon of millions of Asians with disposable income is a formidable threat to free spirited, last minute room searches, particularly in popular tourist destinations.

Think iPad and iPhone instead of the old TI presence for booking rooms.

If your question is specific to France, you might want to re-post it in the France forum. I imagine some folks who are especiallyed interest in France may only read the threads related to that country, not everything on the entire forum.

If you know what towns and cities you'll probably be staying in, just not when you'll arrive in each one, it's probably worth Googling to find the website of the city information offices. If they provide hotel-booking service, I think it would be mentioned on the website.

I traveled through eastern France between May 1 and late July, 2017, making my hotel reservations about 1 to 4 days ahead of time on booking.com. I felt that I was sometimes over-paying in order to get a room in a convenient location, but I was limited to air conditioned rooms. In April you would have more options--perhaps also in May, depending on exactly where you will be. The one time I ran into a big problem was in Provence. It turned out that I was trying to stay in the Arles areas during a fairly major local festival. I ended up in Avignon instead, with no economical options that worked for me even there.

Note that at least some cities in France take the May 1 holiday very seriously. At the Nice Airport there is no public transportation available on that date. I was lucky to be able to share a taxi with another traveler headed into town.

By the time you get to the town where you want to stay, I have already contacted the best 3 star hotel in that town and have scored a fantastic room

There is no such things as the "best" 3 star hotel in any town, unless it's a town with only 1 hotel. Nor is there any such thing as a "fantastic" room, unless the hotel has a spectacular location and only one room has that view.

We traveled the way you did many years ago, and no longer do so. But I wouldn't try to dissuade you from doing it in France, with certain caveats. Like: pay attention to holidays; don't try it in high season; don't try it in very heavily-touristed areas.

Several years ago on a 2 month Europe trip...

How's your memory - or more specifically, how good are you at estimating the passage of time? (I ask that because my dear spouse constantly refers to trips that we took 10-15 years ago as having been done "a couple years back").

Tourism in Europe has exploded in recent years. Places that just 10 or even 5 years ago were quiet backwaters are now crowded with tourists from all over the world.

The idea of rolling into town and strolling to the TI office to ask about rooms is an anachronism. You may still be able to do that and find a place to sleep, but you will almost always do a whole lot better (get a much nicer place to stay at a much better price) if you plan far in advance.

As an example, in the past few weeks I've been planning a trip for June-July 2019. I'm finding some of the best places (including the top picks in Rick's books) are already booked up solid for next summer. That's not always going to be the case, but I think it's indicative of the intense tourism pressure now on many places that are being loved to death. It's obviously less of a problem if you're going way off the major tourist circuits, much more of a challenge if you're headed for someplace popular (and if it's been "a couple years" since you toured Europe, you might be shocked to find how intense the tourist demand is for places that might surprise you - eg Prague and Krakow).

Personally, I now plan every accommodation carefully, up to a year in advance if I can. I once just "winged it" but learned my lesson the hard way (I recall booking a grubby $300+ room in Barcelona one night around 11 pm and felt relieved to just have finally found a place to sleep...).

If you do wing it, keep your expectations low and start early in the day. Good luck.

The issue of hotels is dependent on your level of tolerance. My wife and I prefer to spend little on hotels and more on food. We often book 2-3 days in advance, and as we look for 1 room, this is not a problem. In 2017, we found 4-5 accommodations this way. We never spent more than $80/night. We booked rooms in hostels (single rooms sometimes with bath can be as low as $50). We booked in Ibis and other business travel hotels, which have very inexpensive rooms. We have several friends that we stay with, so that is not available to all.

If you want luxury hotels, pre-planning may save. If you have less interest in your room, go ahead and wing it.

I'd actually not go to the TI. booking.com, AirBnB, online services are easy to work with, and can be done 2-3 days in advance.

Paul has nailed a very key factor.

For some travelers the lodging is a really major part of the experience. They want charm and above-minimum comforts. They read descriptions of special places and fall in love with them. Some such travelers set their itineraries way in advance, based on the availability of a particular lodging or even a particular room in a particular lodging. They need to do that because the lodging matters so much to them.

Then there are people like me. Just give me a clean room (and I haven't seen a dirty one in over 25 years) with a private bath, a/c in summer, Wi-Fi, decent plumbing and a reasonably comfortable bed. I want a passably convenient location that isn't dreadfully noisy. Those are the essentials. Anything else is a bonus--a place to hang up some clothes, a chair, a place to put my suitcase other than the floor. If the price difference is great enough, I will do without those extra features. And I'm good with a tiny room. I'm easy to please, so it works for me to retain some flexibility.

There's a whole continuum between Type 1 and Type 2 travelers (and there are folks with more basic needs than mine, who are OK sleeping in a dorm or a room with the toilet and shower down the hall).

Make no mistake: If you book your lodgings late, you will be paying more for the same quality than the folks who nailed things down early, or you may be staying a bit far from the sightseeing zone--or both. Sometimes a good last-minute deal comes up (often it's for a business-class hotel on a weekend), but those do not make up for the much more frequent occasions when all the best-value options are long gone.

My experience is booking late can be much cheaper than booking early. If you want to stay at a particular place, and won't be happy anywhere else, you need to book early. Otherwise, you won't go homeless unless you are trying to book last-minute on opening night of Oktoberfest (I did that once, but still found a nice place - at a good price).

I traveled, still do, with a list of potential places to stay. I call them and ninety-nine times out of a hundred, get my first or second choice. I usually have four or five places in my likely destinations.

TI's used to be second on my list of how to book rooms without reservations. More and more TI's are becoming commercial sponsored organizations who are more interested in spending your money than providing guidance. They are still useful but their recommendations, for food/lodging/entertainment, need to come with a grain of salt.

I'd seriously consider a TripAdvisor app on your smart phone as the best way to book last minute at the best possible price. That seems to be the most popular approach with my European friends.

In the first two weeks of this past October, my mom and I had no significant problem finding town-center rooms on short notice in France, mostly on the afternoon of arrival by either phone call or internet. It did take some time, especially with the slow data connection that T-Mobile provides abroad for my iPhone. Since we wanted a twin room, and many beds are not made up that way without advance notice, that disqualified some available rooms. The areas where we were (Dordogne, Loire, Brittany, and Normandy) did not feel crowded with tourists. As far as American tourists, we hardly saw a one until reaching Normandy. However, weekends could still be quite busy at beach or resort towns, as evidenced by road traffic, and as we also experienced in England. The overnight stays on this trip were at St. Jean-de-Luz (booked 2 days ahead), Beynac, Amboise, Chinon, Guerande, Pont-Aven, Roscoff, St. Mere-Eglise, Arromanches, Honfleur, and somewhere on the coast between Etretat and Dieppe. Obviously, driving makes it a little easier to be this flexible.

P.S. Six of these hotels were recommendations from RS France and five were found on Google Maps or booking.com for towns he doesn't cover.

We too were in France from Oct 4-16. I normally am the over planner with 90% of our stays booked months in advance, partly to find the perfect place and experience. Since we were traveling with my brother and his wife, they are the "let's decide how long we want to stay before we commit to anything". I thought I would completely stress out over this methodology, but I was fine. And since we had our dog with, I was a bit stressed about finding dog friendly lodging. But that was OK too. All the rooms were just fine for what we needed. Some smaller than others, some had balconies or patios, some had views. All in great, central, locations with parking at hotel or nearby.

Our first night was in Buene, France and we extended our stay by a night (2nd night was less than prebooked night).

Next we went to Rouen, France. My brother had reserved room for night 4, but we decided to arrive on a day early. Called the hotel same day enroute to arrive a day early.

Next we reserved 2 nights in Arromanches via email, but hotel honored the booking.com non refundable prepayment rate. Extended stay for a third night at the same rate. The next destination was Mont Saint Michele and booked enroute on booking.com. Before going to bed, we booked the following night at a fabulous Chateau in the Loire valley (a splurge, but at 50% of their posted room rates). The next morning we booked via booking.com for that night and the following in Amboise (at a RS recommended hotel). After leaving Amboise, we decided to spend a night in Chamonix, France and booked that hotel 1 day in advance.

I'm not sure I would do a whole trip again booking the day of/day before, but I would certainly leave more nights open for the sake of flexibility than we've done in the past.

No problem with "spontaneous room booking."

Going to the Tourist Info for a hotel room in Germany, I did it once, in Munich....ages ago, 1977. You can expect to get a decent place, no dump or anything bordering on unsatisfactory. Let them know how much you intend to pay, what type of room, how many persons, etc. If you plan on relying on the TI in Germany, I'd say go ahead.

Other countries I don't know since I never used that option, such as in France, Italy, etc.

I don’t spend a minute of my precious vacation time sorting out accommodations as I can do that easily from my desk at lunch, well before I travel. Why add stress and waste time during vacation?

I just use either www.hrs.com or booking.com. I can see photos, filter in distances to the train station or city center, see the location on a map, read reviews, filter breakfast in or out, and so much more. I can do this on my day of travel too so if you want to be spontaneous, you can.
Going to the TI is the most inefficient way to book a room.

If you want to be spontaneous, it is still better to have a smartphone or ipad and book a couple hours ahead. You can get on booking.com or hundreds of other sights, look at what is available, and book it from the train on the way there. That way you can have an idea of what you are getting, can adjust if town A is all full and go to the next town, and can go straight to your hotel on arrival, not waste time.

I do not know if TIs rent rooms in France. They may well do so, but times are different and more people book ahead or online so the services are probably in much, much less demand. TIs themselves aren't as common as before and have shorter hours sometimes because of this.

I personally am a pre-planner but I do respect wanting to be flexible. Booking a few hours ahead online allows this, but the "best" places will be booked. Probably the majority of all places will be booked. You may have slim pickings of second rate and overpriced - not everywhere but it's hard to tell where will be more difficult. A local festival or event like a big sports match can fill up hotels for miles around. If you are flexible, not picky, and have a decent budget then go for it!

France does have more holidays and events in April and May than you may expect, and residents like to make them into long weekends, which can particularly affect rail traffic and probably road traffic. But some of those will be heading to family or second homes, not all to hotels. An event at a specific destination would have a stronger affect on hotel cost or availability in that spot, like the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand Prix.

A lot depends on the time of year and location. We still do it with no problems. BUT -- our standards may be low. All we want is a clean bed and decent location. Don't need views, chatty hosts, great breakfasts, etc. 'Cause for us, it is just a place to sleep. A "3 Star" hotel - what is that??? Says nothing about quality - only services that are provided. So, the best 3 Star means nothing to us. We tend to travel late Spring and mid Fall. Will book the first night or two and same for the last night or two. After that it is hotel apps and TIs. Haven't slept in a train station, yet. Go for it. You will be fine.