So many factors weigh in when you are planning a trip. After you have acquired your plane or train travel plans, you have to chose where to stay, unless you are visiting relations. And maybe because you are visiting relations. There are so many online booking platforms for reservations, and granted there are massive amounts of hotels to choose from it’s very overwhelming. But how do you get the best bargain since most of us are not jet setter millionaires? How can you find accommodations that really meet your needs?

First you really need to know what is really important to you in your stay. Clean and safe are my priorities, especially since I end up traveling alone most of the time. Most hotel booking sites have reviews of their offerings for you to peruse. These are often skewed to the benefit of the establishment. And if you have not been to a location before, you will not know what the place is really like and if you really want to stay there. So how can you be better informed to make the decision that you hope won’t ruin your vacation, the place you set your head down for the night needs to not be a disaster. In other articles, I have written about checking out neighborhoods around where you stay, and this is always a good thing to do. But about the establishments themselves, it gets really complicated.

Really read some of the reviews for a hotel or service apartment service. The reviews on the booking platforms will be more favorable to the hotels and there is no guarantee that they have not picked which reviews to show you. So, if you are looking at a particular place to stay, open another browser window and search on reviews for the establishment. To me it’s the bed and the bath that have to be right.

What to look for in the sea of information that may or may not appear? Look for travel blogs like this one. Many bloggers review in depth a place they stay at. Check out Yelp for the city that you are going to. Search for a directory of reviews for Bed and Breakfast or vacation sublets.

Safety is a big feature for me. You want to save money but that can mean staying in dicey areas. If you are not used to a city, you know there will always be crime areas. Usually you think you can spot what a bad area is, but not always. Research articles before you travel for the cities you plan to visit, safest neighborhoods to live in. Then use the maps features to see what accommodations may be there. Of course if you know you are going to a region that is very rustic, you will have to get what accommodations you can or rent camper vans and camp. That can be it’s own set of issues.

Know what you want or really need in the place you want to stay. If you are there for more than two days, you may want to go the service apartment route. This allows you to actually live in the place and some even come with laundry facilities. Everyone hates to lose time on the vacay with menial tasks like laundry, but it has to be done. If you don’t have laundry facilities, you will have to hunt them down.

While larger booking sites will seem in favor of the hotels, some booking sites do seem to give real reviews, if you can get the feature to work. The system for reviewing is one where hotels solicit a review from guests after their stay, and should be verified that the guest actually stayed there. Some of these can be done in a bribing fashion, promised discounts and such. Smaller booking sites may have more real reviews. And if they all look alike, it’s because they are all working off of the same database for the properties. And then there is Yelp or other review apps for cities.

HotelGuides.Com
This site claims to take a different approach for you the consumer. They only take the most recent reviews and from people who have been verified as staying in the hotel/accommodation. They also group reviews for an area so you can check a part of a city for several reviews at one time. The top recent reviews are displayed. I checked one of the places I am staying in Glasgow, and most of it is very favorable. Full real report from me later.
http://hotelguides.com/hotel-reviews.html

Oyster.Com
Purports to be the be all at ferreting out the truth of hotel accommodations. Real people actually go in and inspect hotels is what they say. Give them a read, see if it seems legit to you. Plus: Really breaks down each hotel room and get better pictures and descriptions of the accommodation than in most other sites. Detailed photos of the rooms. Tried it on one of the hotels I will be in 3 times on trip and fairly good reviews.
https://www.oyster.com

So, overall I expect my stay on the Isle of Skye to not be as good as I had hoped. I had booked months back, but in finding that the reviews are not so good for the guest house I will be at tried for other booking. Sadly it is all taken up so I will have to eat it on this overpriced booking. So look forward to that review when I get there. Sigh.

More Review Sites
http://www.bookdirectrooms.com

Articles

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/travel/2012/options-time-hotel-review-websites/
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/find-cheap-hotel-room/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3647262/Commuters-avoid-crime-hotspots-Waze-app-route-drivers-high-risk-areas.html