No more online hotel booking blues

Life couldn’t be simpler. The Internet has taken the legwork out of much of our effort. You plan to travel to an unknown place – a search engine brings you all the information to that place. You want to make a reservation at a hotel - you click various hotels’ websites or through online hotel booking portal. But if you’re a ‘once in a blue moon traveller’ and have never done this kind of thing before, here’s how you go about it?

Select your destination – the city, province or town where you wish to go, select from the list provided.

Select the Hotel – the screen will now offer a choice of hotels. Browse through the list until you scroll down to a name you have heard of as being a good hotel. Click on the hotel name. The hotel’s website will come up next, usually with a star rating, pictures of the rooms as well as of nearby attractions and possibly also a map. Consider the types of rooms.

Enter booking details – now select the dates and the number of rooms you would like to book. You may be required to also provide details such as number of people traveling, age group, etc.

Your information – Then as a matter of formality and to confirm your booking, you will be required to provide details like your name, phone no, e-mail and physical address.

Payment ­– As the online form comes up you will have to key in your credit card number and its expiry date. This will validate the transaction and enable the portal to process your reservations.

There are usually two ways in which payments are made and it depends on the hotel.
(i) Your credit card is charged directly. Mostly you would be making a payment while making a reservation. The price of the room or rooms you have booked is immediately charged to your credit card. So when you present yourself at the hotel on the dates you specified, you make no further room payment.

(ii) Your credit card number is used as a guarantee and you pay when you arrive at the hotel. This is more a way to confirm reservation than to ensure you pay.

Confirmation – After your credit card details are processed by the portal, your booking is automatically sent to the hotel and you would receive a confirmation by e-mail. Do not delete this mail as it contains your itinerary number as well as URL that links you to the portal’s cancellation page. If something happens to make you change plans, you can as easily cancel your reservation. But you will be charged a cancellation fee which will be debited from your account, which is why they ask for your credit card details.

Keep your travel plans flexible
Experienced travellers know how to take advantage of the difference between peak-season and off-season rates. If the peak season for your destination is between August through January and your trip is scheduled towards the end of January, then you could defer your trip by a couple of weeks. Find out when the low rates are applicable and make bookings accordingly. You will make a neat little saving this way.

Of course, there are also hotels which would charge you peak season rates despite the fact that you were a guest during the off-season.

Choosing a place to stay
Veteran travellers would advise you to avoid city centres, airport neighboring hotels and busy areas. Instead, you should seek out accommodation on the fringes of popular destinations. This way you not only find a comfortable, suburban type of accommodation, you also make a good saving.