What to Consider When Choosing a Hotel to Stay in
A hotel is a home away from home and you should feel comfortable in your stay. You may be a business traveler going to a conference meeting or looking for the best areas to invest in, your family going on vacation or your friends going for an adventure. In all these situations you will need a comfortable place to lay your head. There are a lot of things you should consider before choosing a hotel.
Hiram
1. Location of the hotel
This is a very important factor to consider, you don't want to be in an insecure location where you can not go for night runs or take long walks because you fear for your life. This will make your stay uncomfortable and you will not enjoy the experience. You should check if the hotel is around shopping malls or shopping centres, near a hospital and if there is ready transport. You should check your google map and see what is around your hotel, you don't want to be far from the sites you have come to see because you will end up spending a lot of money on transport. It is better to pay more for something central.
2. The rooms and the amenities
As we had said earlier, a hotel is a home away from home and you should always feel at home. Are there any changes to their rooms? You should be comfortable and relaxed when lying on that bed. Some hotels allow their clients to choose pillows or blankets which they are more comfortable with. Does the hotel have amenities such as; air conditioning, free WIFI, parking, complimentary breakfast among others. Websites may list breakfast and parking without having a price next to it but that does not mean it is free. Even now there are hotels that charge their guests for WIFI. Are there any bars, a pool, spa or fitness centre in the hotel? You can check the hotel's websites to see if there are any charges.
3. Be sure to check the hotel's stars, reviews and the website
You should always check the recent reviews for the past year. The more stars a hotel has the better the hotel is. You can also read on travel bloggers to get their experiences. You should not ignore the bad reviews, as they might be petty but be sure to pay attention to the recurring bad reviews. The recurring ones are usually the trend and that is what you will experience during your stay. Sometimes issues raised on the reviews are addressed on the hotel's website.
4. Cleanliness
Above everything else, you want to stay in a clean hotel room. The scent of the hotel is usually very important as this might rub wrongly with some clients. There are hotels that still have bed bugs and this is definitely a no. The bathroom in your room usually tells a lot about the hotel's cleanliness. You should check for mould on the bathroom's walls.
5. Friendly hotel staff
You don't want to have to deal with rude staff during your stay. If calling for room service, how is the receiver of the call addressing you and how long does this take. Again you can get this at the hotel's reviews.
6. Loyalty programmes
According to Investopedia, loyalty programmes are offered by retailers and other corporations as a way of attracting and retaining customers and usually offer rewards, discounts or other special incentives to ensure customer's loyalty. See which hotels offer these programmes if you are a frequent traveller. Staying in the same hotel often will reward you for your visits. You might end up earning future points for your stay. In addition, some hotels partner with flier programmes and you might also win points on this. Again you should check on the hotel's website.
