Hotels and motels are the go to form of accommodation for a great many travelers for good reason. They can be found in the vast majority of tourism destinations and they offer standardized amenities. Standardization can be both an appeal and a drawback, depending on your preference. Some people, especially those toward the dependable end of the traveler type spectrum, like to have their accommodations be similar no matter where they go. Others, like those on the venturer end of the traveler type spectrum, generally prefer a more local feel to their accommodations. For myself, I know that when I have a flight that is very long or has multiple legs – I find myself yearning for the consistently comfortable king size bed and consistently hot shower that I know I can find in a hotel.
One added benefit of staying in hotels and motels is the rewards you can reap from brand loyalty. I highly recommend signing up for reward points through one brand and sticking with that brand as much as possible to reap the rewards. You can read more about this in the Frequent Flier Miles section of this site.
So, what are the sites that I use when I’m looking to book a hotel or motel? This is an area where I usually first search TripAdvisor to see user reviews – and you can even book through the TripAdvisor site now. The great thing about user reviews is that people will often comment on how recently a hotel or motel has been renovated, how the location worked for their vacation, and various other important factors. In addition, you can see how responsive hotel or motel management is to customer feedback – if the hotel or motel takes the time to respond to TripAdvisor posts, you can bet they will be responsive to you as a guest (the same can be said for how they respond via other communication methods like social media). Beyond that, I will often use Kayak for a hotel search as well. Kayak is a meta search engine, meaning it searches multiple other sites to find the best deals. If you’re flexible and looking to save some money, I recommend using the Priceline name your own price tool – I’ve gotten to stay in some pretty cool hotels for not a lot of money that way. Finally, if you’re looking for something last minute, one of my favorite apps is call HotelTonight. They specialize in last minute bookings at steep discounts – the only catch is you can’t book through their website, you have to download the app.