How early is too early to book accommodations?

If it's refundable book it as early as you can. That way you will have accommodation you want. If you don't care about particular hotels, B&B etc. you can book later. If it is non-refundable booking then be more careful because the earlier you book the higher chance that something happens which prevents you from going and therefore forfeiting your money.

rachael,

How early to book will likely depend on the destination and which type of accommodation you're going to book. For example, if booking hotels in the Cinque Terre, I'd probably start inquiries at least in February (assuming they have someone monitoring their websites that early). If your booking an Air BnB site, you may not have to start that early (not sure, as I travel solo so I only use hotels).

Most hotels these days are "bed & breakfast" and many of the ones listed in the guidebook are quite reasonably priced. You'll need to be prepared and flexible with breakfasts as those can vary with country and specific hotel. Many in the cities you're visiting will serve the "typical" European breakfast with cold meats, cheeses, buns, bread, yogurt, cereals, perhaps hard boiled eggs, juices and coffee. In my experience, hotels in Germany have the best breakfasts, although a few that I use in Italy are also good. I don't know if Air BnB places offer breakfasts?

You might also want to do some research on how meals in Italy are structured (ie: Antipasti, Primi, Secondi, Contorni, Dolci, etc.). If you order the "full meal deal", it will get expensive in a hurry! I typically order a Primi dish (Pasta) and a salad, and that's all I can eat.

I am an uber-planner so I book as soon as I have airfare! If I want a vrbo, the really good ones go early. If it's a hotel, I book it (most are cancel-able) and then I adjust if I see the rate go lower, or if I find somewhere else I want to stay. :)

Kim

Once air fare is locked in there is no reason to wait on bookings that have no cancellation penalty. Anything in Rick Steves (which is probably in several other guides ) will be booked well in advance. Anything highly rated on Trip Advisor will also be booked in advance so there is no reason to wait if you can cancel a few weeks ahead of time with no penalty. I've booked 6 hotels for May already and some of them are non refundable deposits. If I was young and carefree I'd wing it with my backpack but those days are long gone. I like to know that I have some nice accommodations that'll make my wife happy.

We are going to England and Wales in June 2017 and I have all but two locations accommodations booked. And the others said they will take bookings in January. So if they'll let you book I say go for it.

Just to make it clear that not everyone is an uber-planner: I always fly to Europe with only my first hotel booked. I book online as I go, typically 1 to 3 days in advance, because I do not know how long I will want to stay in each city and therefore have trouble determining accurate arrival dates.

I would not recommend this technique for a honeymoon, mind you. It helps a lot that to me, hotel rooms are a means to an end, not an important aspect of the trip. I stay in budget places and even though I usually don't get the best bargains, overpaying slightly for a budget hotel room doesn't cost much extra money. It's worth it to me for the flexibility. I also tend not to stay in small, touristy places in extremely high demand (like beach resorts in peak season).

My approach does get a bit risky when I want to stay a long time in one hotel. Finding a last-minute room available for 3 or 4 nights is a lot easier than finding one for 7 to 10 nights. This summer I caved and booked 10 nights in Barcelona 6 or 8 weeks ahead of time, once I knew I was ending my trip there. (Yes, I started the trip without a return flight; you can do that with frequent-flier miles.)

A bigger issue for me is what happens to many rail fares and airfares if the tickets are not bought early. There, you're talking triple the cost. Eek.

We usually travel each September, and I book hotels/apartments in late November through early January. I have all of our reservations for Spain in 2017. I've checked the same hotels periodically in the past in Spring and Summer. Either they were sold out or still the same price or higher. I'm picky about hotels. I want them located in the center of the sites; those tend to go quickly.

I think in two instances it's likely too early to book accommodations:
1. If you haven't purchased your flight and feel committed to the trip
2. If you haven't put together an itinerary yet and don't know where you'll be spending the night on any given date

I look at hotels early (just for fun) or to get an idea of which ones I like or where I may want to stay, but I don't book more than say 6 months out. I'm not worried that there won't be a place to stay (that's not likely unless some major event is going on) and I'm flexible (I'm not shooting for the "best"). I use booking.com very often and, on that website at least, it really doesn't pay to book too early since the prices often go down over time (there's a sweet spot which is somewhat of a guess - it can't be too late or too early). I have no problem booking non-refundable lodging close to the time of the trip where I'm sure I won't need to make changes - provided that the tradeoff is a substantially cheaper price. If there's no upside to booking a non-refundable lodging, then I stick to refundable bookings (of course I prefer them, but sometimes non-refundable makes more sense). I basically wait as long as I reasonably can before I pre-pay for anything in advance, including airfare (why float someone else money with nothing in return until a future date?). Good luck with your search, and be sure to read the fine print for every booking to make sure you are clear on the rules regarding cancellation, prepayment (if any), etc.

You've already received good info.

The times I've used AirBnB, they charged me for the whole visit when I made the reservation. I really don't care for that. I later realized they sit on the money until my arrival and they then advance the funds to the rentee. And not only to they immediately want me to grade the property, they're also asking the owners about me--what a good renter I was. This info is kept in my record.

I would say as soon as you are sure about your plans, there is no need to delay. Some places may not take reservations more than six months out, or so I've heard, I've never tried it. For an August stay I would say as early as possible especially if any of your stay is on the coast, or any place not off the beaten path. We always travel shoulder season and I have never booked more than two months in advance. We rarely make our plans more than that far in advance due to busy work and personal lives. I recently traveled to Italy (late October early November) and you would think that would be getting into low season but it was packed with Italian tourists in Rome due to All Saints Day November 1. Even so, it was easy to get rooms just a couple of days before I flew. (This trip was booked very on the fly). I actually use booking.com a lot these days because some of Rick's hotel choices have gotten a little out of my price range for many destinations (still use his guidebooks though), and the fact that when trying to book direct so many owners are not especially responsive. Two good things about booking.com- confirmation is immediate and they are very explicit about cancellation policies.

If you're going to France, specifically Paris, the vast majority of rental apartments do not have air-conditioning. Hotels do, and you will need this in July and August.
You can book inexpensive to moderately priced hotels in Paris using www.booking.com, filter for a/c and look for advance refundable rates. Just remember to call within the 24 hour deadline to cancel if you need to.

The short-term rental system in Paris is changing - property owners are required to apply for registration numbers - and I would not advise reserving for July and August at this time.

I always book far ahead, but I love finding gems and to get the best you have to book before other people do. I booked an apartment for next May last February- yep! Over a year in advance! But, I had been watching it, noticed that they book up completely and when I knew I had only one week that worked for me I figured why not? Most of the time you can cancel with proper notice and get a refund on your deposit. In my case, I knew my reservation was a $100 risk since there is a cancelation fee. And, wouldn't you know that I will likely have to cancel due to health issues. But, still it is a gem and I was willing to book that far ahead. Typically, I plan the itinerary, then airfare is purchased, next the apartments/hotels/B & B.

No reason to wait! Other people are booking places you might prefer. And, yes get air-conditioning! And, expect it won't work as well as we have here in the states.

Some hotels don't offer listings on booking sites too far in advance (perhaps December for summer travel), but this seems to be changing.

I book as soon as I have an itinerary, always refundable, pay when I stay (not six months in advance).

An example of the advantage of booking far ahead: I found a lovely little hotel in Roma for €75/night, booked it in September; went back to the site yesterday to book another night and the cost was €125. Another property in Sicilia was sold out when I tried to add a night there.

I would wait for sure until you book airfare. I was all set to book some trains/accoms because we for sure were going to go Apr 16 to whenever. But after hunting around, it seemed like going a week earlier was cheaper. Then, come to find if we left 2 days later from the week earlier prices/come home two days later, the airfare was $300 cheaper. So after playing with about 4-5 different departure dates, I finally booked our tickets a few days ago (saved another $100 because of Cyber Monday deals!) - but had I already booked trains/accoms, I wouldn't have been able to be as flexible with flights.

Now the fun begins for me because I'm one of those who loooooves looking for accoms!

I booked my Paris hotel for next August this week. It is a great location, AC, reasonably priced, and good size rooms and they only have 22 rooms so I wanted to make sure I got it. I had to leave 1 night deposit but it's fully refundable up to 7 days out.

I also booked my Bruges hotel because it was no money up front.

I'm keeping an eye on my Amsterdam hotel. It's pay in full, no cancellation. I want to wait till after the holidays, but if I see a 1 or 2 rooms left note on the category I want I'll book it.

Thanks so much, everyone. This is super helpful. Guess I'll be making some threads looking for accommodation recommendations! :) I also have some of Rick's books on the way and will check out booking.com since that seems to be popular.

I do already have my flights and I think we've finally nailed down our complete itinerary so I guess there's no reason to delay.

You may encounter "no availabilty for the dates you have selected" on some sites. Don't be put off, this does not mean they are already fully booked, it means that they aren't yet taking reservations that far ahead - could be that they haven't yet set their fees for the coming season, or that they don't book more than a few months ahead. If something sounds really good to you, contact them directly. . . or try again in a few weeks.