Accommodation quality

  Essentials

• Location — You want to get good rest and a nice price, but it’s great to be near to your activities. If you have to be farther away, you want to be close to cheap and efficient public transportation. 
• Comfort — Your room has to be good enough to get quality rest. You probably have an idea what your minimum standards are, but could you save money by doing with less?
• Services — What services do you need? WiFi is helpful to our travel methodology, but most others are optional.
• Security — Your room, the lodge, the street and the neighborhood should all be reasonably secure.
• Better amenities = higher cost — Accommodation will likely be the mostly costly budget line on your trip. The way to save money is to know the minimum combination of location, comfort, services and security that keeps you happy. 

You will need some place to stay every night. It must be good enough for you to unwind and get a decent night’s rest.

Keep in mind that there’s a difference between what you need in order to get rested and optional wants that are just nice to have. For example, you need to have a decent bed to sleep on, while it’s nice to have a pleasant view out the window.

So, what are your needs and wants? If there is more than one of you traveling, you have to acknowledge the needs of the most demanding traveler. Maybe you can survive a hot night with just a fan, but she needs air-conditioning.

Once you are traveling, your needs will quickly become apparent every time you spend an uncomfortable night. She was right after all — you had a bad night’s sleep because it was still too hot under the fan.

While standards vary among travelers, they can also vary by location and activity:

• When you’re desperate for a port in a storm — If you’re visiting a chaotic city that sucks the energy out of you, returning to a spartan room in a cheap and dingy lodge might be too dispiriting. Consider a better room in a better lodge. When you get back after a wearying day, you’re saying, “Ah, yes!” instead of “Oh, no!”
• When leaving town — What if your departure is late at night or very early in the morning? What if that last few kilometers to the airport or train station could take hours snarled in traffic? One option is to spend that last night in a lodge located close to the transport hub. Even if the lodge and room are below your usual standard, it’s just one night.
• When being close to an activity gives you no choice — When you’re going to do an activity in a small or remote location, there may be no accommodation up to your usual requirements. Perhaps you’re about to head off on a trek and have to spend a night at a village near the trail head. When you find that the only lodge is super-basic, the rooms unheated and not very clean, you just have to suck it up and get the best rest you can. Fortunately, these events are usually short stays.
• When you really don’t need much — In some places, you don’t need much to get rested. Perhaps you’re  playing Robinson Crusoe, loafing on a beach for a week or two. A grass hut with no other amenities might be fine.

Changing your comfort level (amenities)

Keep in mind that your comfort level is not necessarily fixed. You can increase comfort at higher cost or reduce comfort to save money.

If you have a generous budget, then no problem. But most travelers prefer to use available funds on experiences or to extend the duration of their trip. Since accommodation is usually the biggest budget item, those travelers try to save by staying in the cheapest lodging that meets their minimum standards. This is a valid strategy, as long as you don’t make yourself miserable.

Depending upon your experience, you may already know what your minimum quality standards are. 

If you’re new to independent travel or aren’t sure about the cost-to-comfort ratio at your intended destinations, don’t assume you can be a budget traveler. For example, western and especially northern Europe are very expensive destinations. You might think that you’ll be fine staying in dorm rooms at hostels and budget your trip on that basis. Then, when you try it, you discover that it’s not for you and you have to get a private room every night. That will certainly blow your budget.

Accommodation comfort strategy

• Take it easy to start — A gentle way to start your travel is to stay in lodges that easily meet (or exceed) your comfort level. 
• Ratchet down your amenities to save money — Try some accommodations a notch below your usual standard to see if you’re okay with them. If so, knock it down to the next level. It’s possible that you start in 3-star hotels and end up enjoying 1-star guest houses… or even dorm rooms in hostels.
• Go to cheaper countries — Travel to middle and poor countries where a given standard of accommodation is cheaper than in rich countries. If western Europe is burning through your budget, it’s well known that eastern Europe is much cheaper. Destinations like SE Asia are famous for a great comfort-to-cost ratio. But you don’t have to leave western Europe.
• Go to cheaper parts of a city or country — Stay farther from the popular city center districts (but stay close to good transport). Smaller cities and towns are cheaper than big cities.
• Go in the shoulder or low season — Instead, head for the suburbs of large cities, smaller cities and towns or travel in the low season for cheaper room rates.
• Treat yourself — After you push the limits of your comfort zone for a while, or have a dreadful night in some dive, you can stay in a higher quality lodge than usual for a day or two, just to relax and recharge.
• Recover from problems — If you or your traveling companion falls ill or one of you gets serious culture shock, evacuate to a better quality lodge to recover.

The happenstance of independent travel means that you might end up somewhere terrible, but probably for just one night. It’s part of the adventure, right? But you should not make a practice of staying in accommodation that makes you miserable, just to save money.

Accommodation quality features (amenities)

Tourists and business travelers seem to base their judgements on the amenities cited on an OTA or hotel booking site, such as air-conditioning or laundry service. But our definition of amenities expands the list to the dictionary meaning of “a desirable or useful feature or facility of a building or place.”

Amenities include all the quality elements for accommodation — location, comfort, services, and security. But the booking websites will never tell you about issues like bad location, noise and safety shortcomings. Does the traffic roar 24/7 on the 4-lane road outside? Is public transit a half-hour walk away? Is the neighborhood too insecure to step outside the lodge after dark? 

You might find information in the user reviews, but it’s time-consuming to wade through them, unless you know how to find the most useful reviews. Guide books may address some of these issues, too,

With the exception of security, all of the quality features correlate closely with cost. Superior location, more comfort and better services = higher cost. Security can still be quite good at low-cost lodges.

• Core amenities — Your personal core amenities are the basic ones you look for every time. In the tropics, some travelers can’t manage without air-conditioning. Many travelers want a lodge with free and decent WiFi.
• Optional amenities — These might be nice to have, but you wouldn’t spend extra for them. A TV or minibar? Really?
• Where to find out about amenities — Some amenities can be filtered on OTA websites, while other (important) amenities have to be researched in reviews attached to the OTA listings or from third party sources such as discussion boards on the net. The information in guide books is often out of date.

In the end, you will have to make a decision to book a lodge or not. Upon arrival, you then inspect the neighborhood, street, lodge and room to decide whether it meets your standards. 

Location

“Location, location, location” works as well for travel accommodation as it does for real estate. Before you seek accommodation, you have to know the best district or location at your new destination.

• Proximity to activities — Try to be as near to your activities as you can. However, it’s no surprise that good locations near to popular attractions tend to cost more, sometimes much more. 
• Proximity to local transport — If you’re using public transport instead of taxis, it’s helpful to be near bus or metro (subway or light rail) lines. It’s especially important for budget travelers who are staying farther from their daytime activities that affordable and reasonably quick transit is nearby. A lodge farther out might be right on a metro route and take less time to activities than somewhere closer in that’s farther from public transport. Consult transit maps, where available.
  • Search “[name of city or location] transit” or metro or subway or bus. Bus routes are notoriously hard to figure out.
  • Google Maps usually has urban rail stations marked.
  • Printed maps may be available at the airport or rail station, but only on arrival, so that’s after you’ve made you first accommodation arrangements. They’re still handy to have as you move around the city.
• Proximity to transport hubs — If you’re leaving on intercity or international transport, especially late at night or early in the morning, staying near the airport, railway station or bus terminal may make your departure less frantic. All maps show major transport hubs, but often omit private bus yards.
• Safe streets & neighborhoods — Location is also about safety. The neighborhood should not be in a rough part of town and the street your lodge is located on should be busy enough to be safe. Budget travelers sometimes end up on bad streets in bad neighborhoods because the lodges are cheap there.

• A Room With a View —  Are you dreaming about a wonderful room in Florence, with a sweeping view of the Arno River flowing under the Ponte Vecchio? Are you ready to spend $500 a night? Except for rooms in some resorts and country lodges, don’t expect a charming view from your window. The cheapest rooms in a lodge are almost guaranteed to have no view or perhaps a charming vista like this one from a room in the Hotel Delle Vittorie in Rome. For some reason, it wasn’t in the OTA listing photos.

Comfort

Comfort is what makes your room your personal space for rest and relaxation after a long day.

• Air-conditioning — If you’re traveling in the hot season, will a fan be enough? Air-conditioning is highly variable, from quiet central or split air to rattletrap window units that barely work — the booking site won’t tell you. Regardless of quality, air-conditioned rooms always cost more than un-air-conditioned.
• Heating — Just as some rooms can be too hot, others can be too cold. Booking sites assume the rooms are heated where it’s cold. Yet, quality varies from efficient central heat to electric baseboard heaters to a temperamental radiator to an iron stove. There’s normally no extra charge.
• Attached bathroom — At the lower end of the market, there’s  sometimes a choice between shared and private bathrooms. Or maybe just a shared bathroom only. You can’t tell till you arrive whether a shared bathroom will be okay or a horror story. You can usually judge something about the attached bath from the booking site description, but for info about whether the hot water works, you have to check recent reviews.
• Refrigerator (or mini-bar) — What you want is somewhere to refrigerate your own drinks and perishable foods. Consuming the supplied contents of a mini-bar is a bad idea, since they’re always way overpriced, but you can unload the contents and put your own stuff in there. Drinks and perishables purchased from stores will help keep your costs down. If you do consume something from the mini-bar, try to replace it before housekeeping does a count.
• Kitchen or kitchenette — You’ll pay a bit more for cooking facilities in your room, but preparing your own food can be a major cost saving over endless restaurant meals. It’s healthier too, since you can control hygiene and ingredients. In some cheap lodges, the kitchenette is so ill-equipped that you can’t cook properly or so unhygienic that you wouldn’t want to use it. Check the reviews. 
• Non-smoking rooms — Often cited in rich country lodges as a booking option, but much less often in middle or poor country lodges. If there’s no option to select a non-smoking room, use the special request text box on the booking site to inquire. Hypo-allergenic rooms are uncommon even in rich country lodges and non-existent in middle and poor countries.
• Disabled (wheelchair) access — While increasingly common (or legally required) in rich countries, wheelchair access is rare in middle and poor countries. Use the booking site filter, but, for poor countries at least, a claim of wheelchair access may simply mean that there are ground floor rooms with wide enough doors, but not necessarily ramps from the street or roomy bathrooms with hand grips. Check reviewer comments.
• Peace & quiet — No booking site will admit that the lodge rooms are above the loudest club in town or that four lanes of traffic roar outside all night. Sometimes, the lodge itself has an echo-chamber stairwell, clanking pipes, rattling air-conditioners or noisy staff. Reviews are the only way to find out.

Services

Business travelers need services inside their hotels because they don’t have the time to seek them outside the hotel. Resort tourists often prefer the convenience of services in the resort, even when they’re not actually trapped there. But travelers are out and about on the streets of the city, where choices for services abound. It’s only when traveling in rural areas or villages that you would have to rely on your lodge for basic services.

• Free cancellation — The best prices can be had by prepaying for your room. You may also want to reserve early if it looks like the town is booking up. But if you think there’s a risk you might have to cancel, then it’s best to make a reservation that can be cancelled without penalty. Penalties start at one night’s cost and go up from there. Read the cancellation policy of the individual lodge very carefully. You must give notice a specified minimum time prior to the first night.
• Airport shuttle — It’s great to take a dedicated shuttle when you arrive tired in a new city, so that you don’t have to deal with touts, taxis, trains or buses. It’s also convenient to have lodge transport to the airport, especially at an inconvenient hour. Especially for smaller lodges, shuttle service may not run on a schedule. It might be some guy with a car who has other duties, so be sure to book at least a few hours in advance, if not the day before.
• Parking — If you’re traveling by motor vehicle, even a motorcycle, you’ll need secure off-street parking. It’s usually free at lodges located outside city centers. Look for free parking at city center lodges, otherwise it could be a costly extra fee.
• 24-hour reception — If you plan to arrive in the middle of the night, someone at the lodge you booked had better be awake to open the door and check you in.
• Free WiFi (in the rooms) — Our style of travel requires connectivity to the internet. Yes, they say they have WiFi, but sometimes it’s available only in the lobby, where it’s okay to use a phone or tablet, but not okay to pull out your new Macbook Pro for all to see. If WiFi is available in the rooms, is the signal strong enough to reach the room they offer you and is the bandwidth adequate to serve your needs (not including streaming video)? Maybe a room closer to reception or a signal booster would help. Don’t stay at hotels (usually costly ones, for some reason) that still charge extra for WiFi.
• Free breakfast — Included or optional at extra cost. The description may say whether its continental, full, buffet or some other descriptor. Large hotels often offer an attractive buffet selection, but smaller lodges tend to be basic and repetitive. If you’re staying more than a few days, you might get bored with the same few breakfast options. Regrettably, most lodges catering to travelers serve standard western dishes — local fare may not even be on offer (if it is, go for it). Many lodges include a breakfast in the room charge, while others charge extra for it. In the latter case, it’s sometimes a good deal to order it when you book compared to ordering it when you’re already there. Make sure the serving times are early enough not to interfere with your early start to the day’s activities. If there’s an included breakfast, but you need to leave earlier than the serving time, ask for a boxed takeaway meal or a reduced room rate.
• Laundry service or self-laundry — Extra charge. Lodge laundry service is usually expensive, so only make a habit of it if you have a generous budget. If you’re in the lodge only a night or two and need express service, it will cost even more. Machines you can operate yourself are a good option, but rare, even in rich countries. You can take your laundry to an outside service, if you can find one. It’s almost always cheaper than the lodge’s service. Or you can do your laundry yourself in your room. In some countries, even the lodge service means someone is beating your precious garments on a rock down at the river. When it doubt, do your laundry yourself.
• Room service — Extra charge on the same food from the lodge restaurant. Hours of service or middle-of-the-night selections are usually limited. Room service can be useful if you’re ill or too tired even to stumble down to the restaurant, but you won’t know that in advance anyway, so there’s little point in filtering your search for it. The exception is when you know you’ll be arriving late or leaving early, in which case you might filter for 24-hour room service.
• Fitness center — Sometimes extra charge. Keeping fit from any activity other than walking can be a challenge during urban travel, so a fitness center presents a welcome opportunity for something different. However, they are uncommon except at mid to high-end hotels and resorts and many are poorly equipped, located in an unpleasant spare room and minimally maintained. Check reviewer comments.
• Bar or lounge — While not the only drinking spot in most towns, security issues on the street after dark may restrict your movements.
• Secure luggage storage — No charge. If you are checking out to go on an activity for one or more nights before returning to the same lodge, they should have a facility to store your main bag while you’re gone. This service is rarely included in amenity lists and reviews. You might find that the lodge agrees to hold your luggage, but it’s insecure, sitting in plain view in the lobby or just behind the reception desk. Ask when you check in.

Security

No lodge is good enough unless your personal safety is assured. The safety of your possessions comes second, but is important too. Yet, security is never addressed in OTA listings. Reviews  and guide books are your only sources for advance intelligence.

• Good neighborhood & good street — In the daytime, the neighborhood might seem busy and safe, but at night it might be poorly lit and deserted except for men loitering and watching. You could find yourself trapped inside your lodge after dark.
• Lodge safety — Are there doormen or guards? Is access to the main door or from the lobby to the rooms restricted? Is there a safe at reception (appears in some filters, but rarely listed)? Are room keys not visible behind the reception counter?
• Room safety — Are doors and windows safe? Are there smoke alarms, fire alarms and fire escape routes. Is there CCTV in public spaces?

You can’t be too obsessive about these issues or you won’t feel safe enough to travel. There are some mandatory issues, such as room doors and windows, but most are on a scale that you can assess as a whole and respond to.

Get a secure room in decent lodge

How to inspect the neighborhood, the lodge and your room.

inspection instructions

Use the Requests box when booking online

When making a booking online, be sure to take advantage of the Requests box to ask about any amenities that aren’t clear or make a specific request. For example, you can ask for a room away from the street on an upper floor or you can ask for a discount if you don’t take the included breakfast. A lot of the time, you won’t hear back from the lodge, but will discover what, if anything, they’ve done with your request only when you arrive. It’s helpful to have your request printed out or on the screen of your phone or tablet, to prove that it was made.

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