What's Your Favorite Resource for Accommodations?

I like using HRS.com and sometimes Trip Advisor, but when I find what I like, often go to the hotel direct to book. Saves them paying the commission.

I like booking.com and Airbnb. Booking.com for small hotels and apartments, Airbnb just for apartments.

If I’m looking for a hotel RS guidebooks are a good start, too. I especially like them for seeing what streets/neighborhoods he suggests. If the hotels in the book aren’t for me I can still look for places in that area. Often if I’m looking for a hotel I need a quad room and the hotels in guidebooks often don’t have that. A web search where I can filter for that is much more helpful. But if I’m not traveling with my kids then guidebooks suddenly become more useful.

In some cities there are legal restrictions on Airbnb type apartments so I will confirm my rental is legal or find a local agency that features legal vacation rental apartments. Finding those agencies takes some searching but isn’t too hard.

Booking.com

Sometimes I check reviews on other sites like Trip Advisor as well but the reviews on booking.com are all from people who have actually stayed at the place so no fake reviews like some other sites get accused of. Booking.com is so popular now that there are usually plenty of reviews. Read the actual reviews , don't just look at the rating. Booking.com has all types of accommodations, many of the apartments and B&Bs are also on AirBnB and other sites. I find booking.com really easy to use and especially to cancel if I need to change something. Read the whole thing though, often there are multiple prices listed with cheaper prices if you are willing to pay ahead of time/time of booking versus cheaper if you want the ability to cancel. How long you have to cancel also differs and that is usually up to the property. But all the info is right there if you just read it.

We did an apartment once and found that to be not our style at all, so I only look at hotels. I always have the RS book for my destination so I usually check what's on offer there, but the choices are typically more basic than I'm looking for. TripAdvisor is usually my best bet, along with recommendations on various travel boards.

I use Kayak.com and TripAdvisor.com for research, but I go directly to the hotel or B&B to book. I sometimes check AirBNB, but most of the time the available lodging is not in the city and no cheaper than what I find on the two sites. If I was traveling with a family of 6, I would probably use AirBNB more.

I don't like using sites like Booking.com or Hotels.com since I lost a considerable amount using 1800Hotels.com a few years ago when it went bankrupt. I have always been able to book directly with the B&B or hotel of my choice at the same or lower price that Booking.com or Kayak.com provides.

I like the feature on TripAdvisor that allows you to go to the map. You can hold the cursor over the hotel location and a price will appear. This allows you to evaluate location and price, the two most important features for selection, once you cull those that are acceptable. We usually do not book any lodging in the five star luxury category, unless it is only for one night and the location (like at an airport with an early flight) nor do we book anything on the extra cheap side.

We find that we actually enjoy staying more at small hotels or B&Bs where you get to know the owners or people that operate the hotel. You get either free or inexpensive breakfasts that are great and people that will help you a lot on recommendations for transit and or places to visit.

For me it is a mix, and sometimes I am traveling for business...so that adds some restrictions. But generally, my strategy is:

• Figure out the city, know about where I would like to stay, and a bit about the other neighborhoods.
• Look at the Rick Steves listings, If I wind up in one of those, I have had good experiences.
• Search for IHG hotels, particularly for larger cities (Through business travel I have lots of points, in fact I have made reservations for several nights in Lisbon and another few maybe in Porto and still have a bunch)
• Search on Booking.Com
• Narrow the list and look at the individual Hotel websites
• If I find what I want, I usually book direct, but sometimes Booking.com is less.
• I also may only come away with a decent list, waiting to book closer to my dates or when I am "in-Country"

Since I’m usually looking for small hotels or bed/breakfasts, I start with Trip Advisor, as others have mentioned. Important first step for me is to reset the “sort” to Traveler Ranked. The default is “Value” but I’ve never found that sort to be as helpful.

Once I settle on a part of a town, sometimes I’ll use Google Maps to unearth other lodgings...and definitely use Google Maps to check out the neighborhood of a hotel I’m considering.

Rural areas can be a little more challenging. Then I look for regional accommodation websites to find bed and breakfasts that are either newer or places where the owners don’t want the stress/expense of a booking.com. I found all my accommodations on the Outer Hebrides that way.

In rural France I still use Gîtes de France, even for chambres d’hôtes. And over the years I’ve found the odd hidden gem on a local tourist office website.

I’ll add the points/miles perspective since that’s not one shared on these boards often. I start with the Marriott and Hilton websites since those are my preferred hotel brands and I have status for both. I choose between them based on price, room type (with a family of 4 in Europe often a suite or two rooms needed), and location near sites I want to see. If both of those brands are outrageously priced or cannot accommodate four people, I turn to my second tier rewards program hotels which are Radisson and Best Western. I particularly like BW in Europe because they are widespread, BW points never expire (so if I don't stay there often it doesn’t delete my points stash), and BWs in Europe are generally nicer than BWs in the US. Once I’ve narrowed down my preferred hotel based on best value and location among my four brands, I then go to TripAdvisor and check out the reviews. My number one killer for any hotel is multiple reports of noise. In the rare event a location does not have one of my four hotel brands, such as in the Berner Oberland, I tend to go through booking.com using their reviews as a guide.

I also use TripAdvisor as a mainstay although not the only source of my research. I pull info from books, articles, online discussions, and personal recommendations.

I've been active on TripAdvisor for a long time, and have posted dozens of reviews of lodging and dining experiences. I don't take every review I read there as gospel, but I think you can learn a lot by thoughtful scanning all the reviews of a place and - best of all - the actual traveler photos. Like the OP, I use the TA feature to sort the types of accommodation and traveler review scores, and also appreciate the map function.

I never book through third party sites, for domestic or foreign travel. I don't do AirBnB, haven't needed to, and if the occasion arose I'm not sure I would. As the owner/resident of a condo, I've already had one brush with AirBnB. A neighbor (a tenant, no less) illegally listed his unit on AirBnB while he was out of the country. It is not a good feeling, in a small-ish condo building with no onsite door/lobby staff, to suddenly have a constant rotation of random strangers hauling their luggage in and out of the unit next door, for a few weeks. We eventually got that shut down. I would emphasize to anyone booking AirBnb type lodgings: do a little homework, unless you don't mind the risk that you've booked an illegal let which might get shut down between your booking and arrival.

For me, its Airbnb or B&B. I like an apartment type with a small kitchen so I can at least make breakfast or have some food in the fridge. I do look for unique places, I have stayed in a treehouse once!

I think too, your general strategy about what you book comes into play. I am one of those that does not book everything ahead, and the level of pre-booking depends on the trip.

As an example, for an upcoming trip to Portugal, I have the first night booked, the second not, the next three are booked due to demand over Carnival, then maybe the last five nights in Porto and Lisbon are booked. So that is 9 out of 14 nights, we will likely leave the rest and book as we go, but have a short list in cities of interest.

90% of my accommodations now is via Airbnb. I review local short let apartment rentals, but they are often too big, more expensive, require damage deposits in cash, or other inconvenient rules and regs. I always review Booking dot com, but am trying to move to Hotels dot com as supposedly they have the largest pool to draw from. I just don't like the website as much. Unless Booking has a significant savings, I try to book directly with the lodgings. At times, I use google maps if there is a location I want to stay in, and sometimes learn about chains (Premier Inns) or local family hotels from several travel forums.
I read, but often can't afford RS recommendations and though I read their reviews of my short list, I only search for hotels via TA when it is for work.

We use booking.com almost exclusively. Easy to use; we can sort by price and in large cities by neighborhood. Then it's easy to scroll down to find a location with good reviews in the location we want and for a price we're comfortable with. I like the fact that we can often choose nonrefundable or free cancellation. The fact that all the reviews come from people who have actually stayed in the accommodation gives me some certainty that they are accurate, at least in the opinion of the reviewer.

Generally, we now use booking.com to both search and buy (previously we mostly used expedia, but I found its "interface" increasingly tiresome and dropped it when they stopped giving Nectar points). With both these websites, I like:

• the wide selection available (different types of accommodation, different classes of each type and different rooms/offers within each individual hotel),
• the detailed lists of information about facilities, and ability to search/refine by particular needs/preferences, and
• the reviews from people who've genuinely stayed there.

For multi-stop holidays, I also like having all reservations in one place on the "app".

I dislike the hard sell - "only two rooms left", "popular destination, don't delay".

I use a guide book (usually Rough Guide or DK, but Bradt if available since they're the best guides by far), to try and get an idea of which district to stay in if it's a large city with lots of neighbourhoods, but don't actually read their specific hotel recommendations. For smaller towns, it's not really necessary to chose a particular district and the map on booking or expedia shows location relative to railway station, town hall, etc.

I usually also read the British Daily Telegraph hotel recommendations - though they tend to be a bit posher (and dearer), than we often settle for. But its suggestions for rural hotels in England has always been spot-on.

I tend to start with the RS guidebooks, and then go to Booking.com. What I really like is that I can pick a neighborhood via RS, and a price range from Booking. Then I select a sample hotel to look at and on "map view" it shows the prices of all of the other nearby nearby options too. A great comparison tool, even if I book with the hotels directly.

I like Booking.com, however I do not pay up front. We're now trying to stick to apartments and B&B's rather than hotels.
Whenever we have laundry facilities, we can travel lighter--half the clothes we'd otherwise carry. We also prefer to do a little cooking ourselves.

We live and die with Hotel.com especially hoteltonight.com. Like the automatic 10% refund or credit.

For research, Booking, Expedia, or TripAdvisor, plus whatever RS says. We then use the site with the cheapest rate, including the hotel’s own website. I’ve never had an issue booking lodging via any of the sites I mentioned.

I usually start with Kayak to get a sense of what's out there but sometimes I start with my points/miles on Chase since they have a good map tool. I read reviews and as mentioned above the number one negative for me is noise. Unless I'm actually using my Chase points to book a room I try to go direct to the property. I use TA as a resource but have never booked through them. For some Italy trips I also use Karen Brown - especially when looking for an argriturismo. And of course RS and this website.

If I want to stay at the airport - I look at NH and Accor as they have many airport locations. I will check Hilton and Marriott if I they have the best airport locations. We have begun to stay our last nights at the airport since we usually have early flights back home.

I always begin with Booking.com, and only rarely look further than that. I have never had a problem with Booking.com, the lodging was always expecting me, honored the rate on my reservation, and on the rare occasions when I have cancelled or modified a reservation, all went well. Sometimes I will check the web site of the lodging itself or Expedia.com, to see if there might be a better rate or amenity. Last year I had a conversation with the desk manager of a small hotel in Spain and she indicated that they worked with many internet hotel reservation sites/companies, and often had problems, but never a problem with a Booking.com reservation. .

What I did worked very well in Italy. I started with Booking.com to research hotels. Then mapped it onto Google maps/Maps.Me to see the location for convenient access to sites we wanted to see. Then I confirmed the ratings against Trip Advisor. I also had bookmarked a few hotels I had seen mentioned on the forum. If all looked OK, I went to the hotel's website to book the hotel. I'm glad I did that because of changes and questions I was able to build a relationship with the hotel before leaving home. One hotel and one B&B could only be booked on Booking.com which I had no problem doing. All reservations regardless how I booked them were changeable. I also rechecked Trip Advisor and Booking.com ratings periodically which was a good thing since one of the original hotels I booked came up with a review stating bedbugs!. Cancelled that hotel and booked better hotel. I didn't use RS Italy guidebook for researching hotels although I looked at it after the fact and found I didn't really agree with his assessment of a couple hotels we stayed in.

I use the forums ( this one and tripadvisor ) for personal recommendations, I also use booking.com and read reviews on tripadvisor ( I also post reviews there ) .. I like the travelers photos included on TA reviews.. ( as opposed to the commercial beauty shots the hotels post..lol ) .

I usually book directly with hotel.. on occaision I do use booking.com . Never had any issues.

While I tend to use Trip Advisor to find places to stay, I book directly with the hotel/B&B.

I have tried apartments, but, like Patricia above, it did not really match my style. I like getting to know the owners of the places I stay, and I really, really like someone else cooking breakfast for me when on vacation. As I've said on this forum previously, I just can't make a soft-boiled egg correctly.

I did find Booking.com quite helpful on my recent Slovenia trip for many of the reasons noted in this thread; I actually booked two places through them because I couldn't figure out how to do it directly with the owner and found their booking process a very positive experience. I've also found holidaycheck.de to be helpful for information on lodging in Germany.

If all else fails and its a short stay in a German or Austrian city, I always look for a Motel One. I've stayed at the chain in Vienna, Stuttgart, Bremen, Leipzig, Berlin (Hbf), and London. Always a great experience.

I will add that while I like the RS travel guides in general, it's rare for me to look at his lodging recommendations. On one of my first trips to Europe, I cross-referenced his recommendations with other sources, and they often did not get such good reviews elsewhere (particularly places in Venice). I've been so pleased with my TA strategy, that I just stick with it.

I do most of my research on TripAdvisor, supplemented by visit[destination].com type websites. We also look for lodging mentioned in guidebooks to see what the review sites say about them. My first criterion is usually location, as we make a point of travel by public transit. Thus, I want to know how close the venue is to the railway or bus station. Booking is often through booking.com or direct. Sometimes I use expedia if there is a discount after booking my flights. sometimes hotel.com.

Always booking.com
I look up hotels on that site then read reviews for it on TripAdvisor.
Once I find one I use booking.com because they have a very generous cancellation policy if you purchase the correct room on the site.
I've used them to book more than 50 times and have never had a problem.

Another vote for booking.com.
I first read Rick’s recommendations, then search on this forum for reviews of his recommendations and other hotel names. I then cross reference those names with booking.com. I read all the reviews there and map it. I then narrow it down to 3 selections and have my husband read reviews, check price, and check location. We then make a decision together. (If we are traveling with my sister and BIL, I do this with her). If possible, I will try and book through the hotel directly.

Booking.com for me.

Trip advisor for me. I’m not looking for cute and quaint or a conversation with the owner. I’ve never really considered Air BNB either, as a solo traveler I don’t really think economies of scale kick in along with the hassle of check in/check out and luggage storage. Even when I’ve been in extended stay hotels in the USA on business, it always seems like every time I cook, I realize I don’t have an ingredient or a condiment.

I usually try to find a modern hotel in the city centre. A pod type hotel, a Citizen M, or a premiere inn or equivalent works well for me. I usually do take the hotel breakfast as it gives me time to plan my day based on the weather and my level of tiredness, plus check emails and social media.

Michelin. Hotel standards are very high in most of EU, so TripAdvisor over rates hotels. Odds are any place you stay will be OK, so it will get a good rating. Same for restaurants. Example: in my town in nowhere, UT, Arby's gets 4.5 out of 5 on TripAdvisor. Taco Bell gets 4 out of five. There is nothing fit to eat at any Taco Bell, and this exposes how unreliable TripAdvisor is.

I use a combo of Trip Advisor and Expedia, and end up booking through Expedia. I've never had a problem with rooms not being as represented or any other issues, and I put plenty of effort into my research.

I love Airbnb and used them for all my accommodations on my latest European trip. Never had a bad experience as I really pay attention to reviews. Had one apartment cancel on me one month before the trip last year when we were going to Colombia. No issues with refund and found another place easily. Prefer them over hotels.

Kb1942

Tripadvisor doesn’t exactly rate places - we do - it means that most reviewers of that place liked what they got - not that it’s Michelin stared food lol. So in your town most people liked the Taco Bell lol

Europe has much different standards for earning hotels than north American - I’ve stayed in 2 star hotels that were better than 3 stars .

Booking.com Sometimes after I do the research I contact the hotel directly as often I can get a better price.

Booking.com to start. Right now Hotels.com is having a short-term special deal with Capital One (10× points) so I booked a few hotels on that site for this trip. For longer stays I like HomeAway/VRBO.

And since we are creatures of habit, if we return to a city we often book the same hotel or apartment, possibly booking direct with the owners.

The Rough Guide is mainly what I use and consult. I don't use Trip Advisor at all.

Like many others I research booking.com. I have found honest and accurate information. Along with this site I get recommendations from relatives, RS Forum and friends. I have had success booking directly on hotel websites, B&B's and booking.com. So far we haven't been disappointed.

We use airbnb and hotel.com for most of our bookings. We also use friends who have been to some part of the trip. Right now, we are looking at going to Asia-Japan, Ankor Wat and Viet Nam. We will be staying where friends stayed in Ankor Wat. Looks charming and good price. The rest of the places I think we will try hotels which are centrally located. We usually don't but I want a relaxed environment where someone speaks English and can get us to our next destination. For some reason I am nervous about the Viet Nam section and getting to places. Fingers crossed.

I NEVER book through an aggregator like booking.com, Trivago, or Expedia. I use them and chambers of commerce, tourism sites, and the like for general searches, then go straight to the hotel website to book. Here's why:

About four years ago, a buddy and I went to Socorro, NM to visit Trinity site (location of the first A-bomb test) on one of the two days a year that it is open to the public. I booked a Holiday Inn Express through either Trivago or Expedia for $160 per night. It seemed steep for a HIE, but I rationalized it being a result of the "big event" at Trinity site. Anyway, the day we departed, HEI slipped a "receipt" under the door--it was for $130 per night! And, naturally, HEI couldn't absorb the $30 they paid to the aggregator. In retrospect, of course, the aggregator has to make money, hence the $30 per night upcharge in my case. But, that isn't how these aggregators advertise themselves--they certainly imply that the prices they show are the "best" available--misleading to outright dishonest, imho. No doubt, they scour up tickets in advance when they see an opportunity. Nonetheless, they ain't getting my money anymore. I go strictly to the hotel websites now--after reviewing whatever info I can find online.

The aggregators do offer convenience, which may, I suppose, sometimes worth the additional cost.

ess

through either

I like either Airbnb or Vrbo. I enjoy cooking and like to find a place with a kitchen, as well as a washing machine so I don’t have to pack as much!