Hotel Reservations

What you are describing is pretty much what I do. This year I'm adding a new tool to my normal routine. I typically book a place online for my arrival and departure, since those dates and places are fixed, and leave the rest open. Normally, I do research ahead of time (guidebooks, tripadvisor) to create a short list of places I'd like to stay. I take the phone number/address and comments to myself with me. I call, using a pay phone or cell phone, about 10 the norning before I arrive to see if they have a room. I often call two or three from my list, but rarely get to the bottom without finding a room. This year I'll use a cell phone primarily, but a pin card from a newstand and a pay phone works too. My backup has been the guidebook I carry with me. If I still don't have a room, I'll ask the TI - they will book you a room for the night. The new tool this year is an ipod with applications from Booking.com and Kayak.com. I'm not sure how much I'll use it, but, with WiFi, you can book your room online (and not worry about running up big phone bills on an Iphone). I haven't tried this yet, it should work.

We follow the same pattern as Brad. You need a little flexibility. After the second or third hotel you will gain confidence that this will work.

Howard I am more of a "have your hotel in advance" person than the other 2 posters. You are traveling during high season to these destinations. Check to see if the beach locations are booked with Europeans. Is it just you who are traveling? One person or even a double might be doable. But you have to be very flexible about the quality of the accommodations and the location. Good luck! Let's see what the other posters have to say! Bobbie

As long as you don't have to be in a specific place on a specific date, your approach can work well, but you will need to spend some small portion of your vacation time looking for a place to stay. Benefits in reserving as you go, however, include enjoying a lot of flexibility and possibly negotiating better rates. For me personally, I always book in advance. My travel style is such that I just don't need the flexibility of booking as I go, and I really don't want to have to deal with it once I'm there. This year, I opted exclusively for very small B&B type places (no pensions or hotels). Most places are cash only and confirmed my booking with nothing more than name, address, and mobile phone number. One place is also cash only but required a €20 deposit via PayPal. One other cash-only place really wanted a one-night deposit made via wire xfer to their bank account. They would have confirmed without it, but I wanted to follow their normal business practice and made the wire xfer. Both of these deposit methods were new to me, but at least I didn't have to go through the e-mail or call with credit card details debate. I think it's interesting that some places will still confirm a booking with very little info on you and when there is no guarantee you'll show up (it's great but seems risky on their part...although it makes sense a tiny place with 2 rooms isn't subscribing to MC or VISA services).

Thanks for the information. I appreciate you taking the time to help me

I would rather have all my hotel reservations in advance. If you can't find a rooom after your arrival, it will ruin your trip trying to find a place. Then if you find one, they might charge yourmoney than if you had made earlier reservations. Not only would it upset you, trying to find a room, it will waste your valable travel time.

There is no right or wrong answer but for a short trip (2-3 weeks) I personally would look to book in advance. You lose flexibility and if that's important, then stick with booking each end. But you can usually find better deals in advance and you don't lose precious vacation time searching for hotels. Also, depending on where and when you go, advance booking is a must if a city fills up for conventions, holidays, tourist-high season or something like Okoberfest.