It’s said that the more the merrier, but one can’t exactly agree on that. The more options and choices I have, the more difficult it is for me to choose. When choosing a hotel, you want to make sure you don’t get surprised on arrival. It’s not about making the right choice. It’s about making a choice and making it right.
Here is a little help on 8 tips on choosing a hotel. At least the perfect one for you.
Love,
♥
Travel Junkie Diary
Location, Location, Location
Find out where you want to go, what exactly you want to do and how far away is it from the nearest train-station or bus stop (Or beach). If you are looking for some peace and quiet, stay away from busy cities. I always prefer by the lake, sea, or park.
Don’t go by ranking on travel sites
What works for others does not necessarily work for you. Travel sites like trip advisor, booking.com etc are not a 100% true/valid or up to your standards. Each to it’s liking. Keep it as a note, but do not follow it as a guide. Remember, everyone has different taste and expectations.
Loyalty Programs
If you travel a lot… actually, if you travel in general, you SHOULD enroll yourself in each hotel’s loyalty program. They offer great discounts, points, early check in and also upgrades. Consider choosing your hotel based on your loyalty card too! Makes the money worth your stay when you add the points up! A plus point for choosing a hotel!
Keep the bedbugs out
I’m not even going to go there. But here is a site worth checking. http://www.bedbugregistry.com/search/
Check in – Check out
There is nothing worse than arriving at 7am from a red eye trip and not being able to check into the room till 2pm, especially if you are traveling with kids. If you are a superhero and can stay up, then taking a walk around town shouldn’t be a problem till check in. But then, I guarantee you will crash and burn. Choose wisely!
Stick to your budget
Well create your budget first, then stick to it. Nothing worse that going overboard with hotel stay and leaving very little for pocket-money. Always check the exchange rate too.
Research, research and research again
Yes, there are LOTS of options out there, but if you do follow the steps, you will be able to narrow it down. Always research online, ask friends and most of all research your favorite spots and calculate how far away is it from your hotel. If you are anything like me, I tend to stay out for about 12 hours a day before going back to the room and getting knocked out!
Make friends with the front desk
I’m not sure why this was not the first on my list but it is OH-SO-IMPORTANT! (I had to use caps) It’s simple, you could never buy an item at a store when the sales person isn’t… nice. Same with hotels. Check how helpful they are over the phone, make friends on first name basis and have them know you are thinking of staying. Some of the best hotels I have stayed in was all thanks to the people working there! A huge tip on choosing a hotel.
As part of the #NotATourist Campaign with Visa, we will be sharing stories, articles and tips on destinations across the world.
The NotATourist campaign is designed to inspire travel beyond the regular tourist sites to savour truly local experiences that are the essence of making a destination unique. The campaign is there to help travellers explore destinations as local inhabitants – not as tourists – by providing local knowledge using crowd sourced digital content that is showcased on Visa’s NotATourist website and the Visa Explore mobile app. NotATourist also offers travelers a platform to describe the many facets of a destination by sharing their own images, videos, posts and comments, making them ambassadors or tour guides of their favourite travel spots.
To participate in #NotATourist all you need to do is use the hashtag and tag @visamiddleeast for us to find you and we will share your stories and images.
The campaign invites users to share content on social media using the hashtag ‘#NotATourist’ and will give participants a chance to win a weekly prize of US$500 for submitting pictures, videos or tips on how to find ‘secret’ and little-known spots or experiences in key travel destinations. In August, Visa will announce two Ultimate #NotATourist content contributors who will each be awarded a travel package worth US$5000. Here is 8 tips on choosing a hotel.
![I found this picture so appropriate that manifests the beauty of my world, my reality, my job and to announce that I am hosting a workshop in DUBAI on the 30th of September at 11am on 'How to start your own blog and be successful on social media'. We've opened a second date since the first date in October got filled in 48 hours. So, for those who want to join, please DM me or contact me on info@traveljunkiediary.com for more information. Spaces are limited so this is a first come first serve workshop.
Love,
Michelle
[Click link in bio]](http://scontent-sjc2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s320x320/sh0.08/e35/c0.135.1080.1080/21690526_824919851015042_8088657813443706880_n.jpg "I found this picture so appropriate that manifests the beauty of my world, my reality, my job and to announce that I am hosting a workshop in DUBAI on the 30th of September at 11am on 'How to start your own blog and be successful on social media'. We've opened a second date since the first date in October got filled in 48 hours. So, for those who want to join, please DM me or contact me on info@traveljunkiediary.com for more information. Spaces are limited so this is a first come first serve workshop.
Love,
Michelle
[Click link in bio]")
![I struggled to choose a caption for this image because they say that you are what you share on social media, and so, I wanted to make it count.
Being a 'blogger' or a 'traveler' has changed significantly over the past few years. You can’t go on Instagram without stumbling upon hundreds of carefully selected, beautifully crafted images.
The truth is, today, things are not the same as they used to be. Travel has changed and grown. The internet has given us a chance to see the world through people's eyes and to dream of places many of us never even knew existed.
But social media has also changed travel and the nature of blogging. Sharing my travel online has today somewhat been a constant pressure and the staging of every single photo has become the business of every instagrammer.
I have felt the pressure of keeping up and carefully selecting what I chose to share.
I've even promised myself that I would be a leader, not a follower, and stay far away from online traveling trends that would warp my ability to offer my readers the very best & honest tips and insider reports.
The key...is confidence... I had the chance to make every possible mistake and figure out a way to always recover from it. Once you realize that there is life after a mistake, you gain your confidence and that, never goes away,
It goes straight to the heart and once you have that, no one and nothing can take that away from you . . I hope I’ll always have the courage to live a life that’s true to who I am and not the life that others expect of me... 💕[Click link in bio to read the full article] 💕.](http://scontent-sjc2-1.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s320x320/sh0.08/e35/c0.135.1080.1080/21373823_662059130656487_3200545646851391488_n.jpg "I struggled to choose a caption for this image because they say that you are what you share on social media, and so, I wanted to make it count.
Being a 'blogger' or a 'traveler' has changed significantly over the past few years. You can’t go on Instagram without stumbling upon hundreds of carefully selected, beautifully crafted images.
The truth is, today, things are not the same as they used to be. Travel has changed and grown. The internet has given us a chance to see the world through people's eyes and to dream of places many of us never even knew existed.
But social media has also changed travel and the nature of blogging. Sharing my travel online has today somewhat been a constant pressure and the staging of every single photo has become the business of every instagrammer.
I have felt the pressure of keeping up and carefully selecting what I chose to share.
I've even promised myself that I would be a leader, not a follower, and stay far away from online traveling trends that would warp my ability to offer my readers the very best & honest tips and insider reports.
The key...is confidence... I had the chance to make every possible mistake and figure out a way to always recover from it. Once you realize that there is life after a mistake, you gain your confidence and that, never goes away,
It goes straight to the heart and once you have that, no one and nothing can take that away from you . . I hope I’ll always have the courage to live a life that’s true to who I am and not the life that others expect of me... 💕[Click link in bio to read the full article] 💕.")
These are some great tips, and I appreciate your advice to consider location when booking a hotel. My husband and I are going to be going on a long vacation in a couple of months, so I’m trying to figure out all of the details for that. Sometimes I get too caught up on price alone, but I’ll definitely make sure to consider where the hotel is located so we’re in a convenient place for the activities we want to do. Thanks for the great post!
I’m glad you enjoyed it Lillian! xx