Hotels and Accommodation

Hidden hotel fees can give you sticker shock when you check out if you’re not careful. In general, we’ve found that you’re more apt to run into these fees in bigger, more expensive hotels and hotels that tend to cater to business travelers, but you should be aware of them. Keep an eye out for those hidden hotel fees when you’re booking your hotel or checking in.

The fee that used to be the most annoying was the fee for phone calls. With most travelers carrying their own cell phones now, that has gotten to … read more

With unrest and terrorism more of a threat these days, you’ll find enhanced hotel security almost everywhere. It’s not only big, high profile hotels that are beefing up their security for elite guests. Moderately priced hotels that most travelers will stay in at least once in a while are adding layers of security.

Some of these things you may notice right off, other measures that they’re taking aren’t so obvious. And the hotels may or may not let you know what they’re doing. They may not want the “bad guys” to know what they’re … read more

Hotels are called just that around the world… especially in the cities.  But if you’re looking for a place to sleep in more rural areas of a country, it pays to know some of the other names you should be looking for.  It’s just like “B and Bs”… The term “B and B” has become global, but they also have names that they are known by in their home country.

The actual word translates as hotel in many languages, but that doesn’t mean that every establishment that has rooms for rent to tourists will be signposted as such.

In … read more

Have you ever dreamed of staying in castles?  Can You do that?  Don’t you have to be a King or a Queen or something?  Or at least a Lord to stay in a manor house?

There are castles and manor houses all over Europe that have rooms available for tourists wanting to indulge in a little fantasy… I mean haven’t you ever dreamed that you were royalty, and the world just hasn’t figured it out?

As far as accommodations go, this is probably one of the more expensive ways to spend a night in Europe, but it can be … read more

Can you figure out those hotel meal plans?  American Plan, Modified American Plan, European Plan, Half board….  What does it all mean?

If you’re looking up hotels in a book or online, you may see that they have meal plans or dining plans listed.  There are different “plans” for providing a room and meals and services to their guests.  These plans, and other amenities, are often listed as a string of letters after the description of the hotel.

I don’t know about you, but I find all this alphabet soup at the end of hotel listing a bit confusing….  … read more

What about breakfast?  Travelers may plan whole trips around culinary experiences…. dining at Michelin starred restaurants, eating a favorite dish in an exotic land, but most people don’t really give too much thought about food beyond dinner and lunch.

Breakfast is your first meal of the day.  It gets you going in the morning.  The word derives from breaking the fast after a long night of sleep.  What you eat depends on where you are… and if you’re a traveler in exotic lands, what you’re offered might be too much of a wake up call.  So what do … read more

When you’re planning your trip you need to decide…  Will you reserve a hotel or not?  Whether you make reservations ahead of time or not depends on your temperament and your style of travel.

You need to decide if you want the freedom of spirit and sense of adventure and spontaneity that going without reservations will give you, or do you want the peace of mind of knowing there is a room waiting for you.

You may be the type of traveler who doesn’t like to commit to a firm itinerary.  You want maximum spontaneity.  Some travelers like to … read more

About the only things that hotel rating systems have in common are the stars. If you are looking for a big name, five star hotel, you’ll more than likely get what you’re looking for. Where it starts to get confusing is when you get into the one to four star category.

There are French rating systems, British rating systems, Italians ratings, not to mention Michelin guides and others. A two or three star hotel in one country isn’t the same as a two or three star hotel in another.

The systems for evaluating the hotels differ … read more

Will internet hotel ratings help you book the kind of hotel you want? You’ve heard all the big internet travel booking services tell you to book your hotel with them and save money big time. Get a five star hotel for a three star price. Sounds great doesn’t it?

While you may get a good deal, you will probably also get confused trying to compare the sites. There really is no standard set of criteria for hotel rating systems. With internet hotel rating systems, as with those of different countries, the number of … read more