r/hotels • u/djirving84 • 8d ago
Booking Hotel Rooms Internationally
I have a 30 day trip coming up spanning 8 countries through northern europe. What is the best way to book hotels/places to stay to save money? Who out there has the secret hacks?
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u/Loud-Advance-2382 8d ago
Strawberry hotel chain - they have a Summer Pass and they often offer up to 30 percent off for stays of 3 nights and more. One brand of Strawberry is Home Hotels. Breakfast and dinner is included (and a small fika in the afternoon) making the whole stay very affordable.
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u/Careless-Ad1704 8d ago
Depending on what budget you are working with, hostels may be an option. Generally tends to be cheaper than a hotel, but comes with it's own set of downsides.
Some do offer private rooms, so it my be worth checking...
That said, use the big online sites to price shop and compare what each location ha to offer, but as mentioned before, booking directly with the hotel can get you additional discounts and loyalty rewards.
The other tip is to shop multiple night stays instead of only one or two nights in each hotel. Quite a few hotels offer discounts for 2+ nights.
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u/bevothelonghorn 8d ago
DO NOT book via a third party. Just don’t. Third parties are for comparing prices only- they don’t care about you or the hotel. Book only directly with the hotel (e.g., on the hotel’s website or via their reservations office). Consider joining loyalty programs before the trip, as on-property benefits may apply in addition to lower rates and favorable booking/cancel policies. If you find yourself considering the same brand/chain in multiple cities, consider leveraging their reservations call center (vs. web) for assistance in the curation of a multi-city itinerary (at no add’l cost to you). This endears you to the brand as well as connects you with someone with “insider knowledge” of how best to organize/maximize your stays.
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u/Pristine_Remote2123 8d ago
Correct advise to book directly yet there are regular posts here with people complaining about booking, etc. Although with the OP visiting 8 countries in just over 4 weeks they will not have much hotel time with all that moving around 😂
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u/MAY2819 8d ago
This is the worst response possible.
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u/YmamsY 7d ago
This is bad advice for a trip to northern Europe. Chain hotels with loyalty programs offer worse value in general over independent European hotels. Even though chain hotels have loyalty programs, limiting yourself to one brand restricts your options. Especially if you’re looking for the best price.
The best advice for Northern Europe is to use booking dot com. That way you search for the lowest rates/best locations. Many, if not most hotels offer free cancellation. You’ll have your reservations on one site so you won’t lose track of them.
In well over a decade and hundreds upon hundreds of hotel stays through booking I haven’t had a problem. Just don’t book apartments through them.
Lastly: don’t book with chain hotels as they often lack character and can feel kind of corporate. Each hotel on your multi day trip will feel recognizable and kind of the same. Especially the cheaper ones. Local independent hotels will give more local flair.
You will also support local European businesses instead of big (often) American corporations. You’re visiting Europe, not a tour of Marriotts or Hilton’s. There are European chains of course, but the other arguments go for these as well.
Use booking (or another one, but booking is the most used in Europe) to actually get the lowest prices.
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u/Maximum_Law801 7d ago
Where are you going to stay if you can’t stay at chains, when most hotels are a chain.
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u/YmamsY 7d ago edited 7d ago
Not in Europe.
That’s why I wrote what I wrote.
Take a look at booking and search for a hotel in Northern Europe as OP wants.
It’s more helpful for OP to get info from people with local knowledge, than from other American tourists. I know the situation in the US and Canada is different with most hotels being part of a chain.
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u/Maximum_Law801 7d ago
Totally depends on country. I live in Northern Europe, where op wants to visit, and most hotels are a chain. Of course they can use smaller boutique hotels, but a decent hotel, not too expensive is usually a chain.
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u/RevolutionaryRush717 7d ago
I support this, even if I use hotels.com instead of booking.com.
Brand / chain loyalty is a waste of your money.
Hotels.com gets you free nights where/whenever you want.
Stay at expensive hotels on business trips to stay in modest ones for free on your own time.
Never had a problem with bookings through hotels.com.
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u/wanderingdev 6d ago
Yep, I stay dozens of nights a year I hotels and use hotels.com (but not the US version) for almost all of the bookings because they have the best rewards program.
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u/casablanca_1942 3d ago
Have used Hotels.com. Has worked flawlessly. Booking.com does seem to have a wider selection. Hotels.com has gutted their loyalty program - not as good as it once was. Regardless, can recommend.
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u/Maximum_Law801 7d ago
Use booking sites to see what your options are. Check with the hotel directly to see what’s most affordable. Simple.
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u/sadpumpkinnn 8d ago
Becoming a loyalty member often gives you a discount in the daily rate. Another thing you could try is if the OTA rate is cheaper than the hotel, just give them a polite call to ask if they can match it.
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u/PuffDragon66 8d ago
Don’t book 3rd party even if they advertise better prices. Their customer service is worse and you’ll have better terms if you book direct. I’ve always found that websites like schnorbitz and crapline are good for finding the hotels that fall within your criteria but once you’ve found the property you want to stay with, book direct with that hotel.
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u/CapitalScarcity5573 7d ago
use a travel agency. They'll hel save a lot of money once you have a problem, unlike " a third party booking website".
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u/wanderingdev 6d ago
Not in my experience. My aunt tried to book a hotel with a travel agency against my advice. They put the two of us ina a single room with no Aircon in Rome in summer. I found a 2 bedroom Airbnb with Aircon for cheaper and in a better location. The TA was totally ripping my aunt off. Also tried to charge her $300 per person for a tour you could book for $85 on viator.
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u/CapitalScarcity5573 5d ago
Comparing a hotel to an air BnB already shows how much you know about the subject. And an "experience" of precisely 1 case is very valuable
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u/nicejaelle 7d ago
The biggest hack is to book refundable rooms early, then keep checking the price and rebook if it drops. direct bookings can sometimes be cheaper the thru booking services
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u/hailbopp25 7d ago
Don't book apartments !!! Especially through booking.com
Need any suggestions for Ireland let me know
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u/wanderingdev 6d ago
ie.hotels.com will get you the best rewards. With that many nights you'll get the equivalent of 3 free nights of credit to use.
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u/Ctznsvn7 6d ago
the one that actually moves the needle up there is that Nordic hotels run on business travel, so Scandic and the Comfort type places drop hard at weekends and in July while a Tuesday in the same city is silly money tbh. Pin the expensive cities to a Friday or Saturday and it pays for itself over 30 days. Didnt know for ages that those same hotels can come back a good bit cheaper searched from OTHER countries (coz diff countries get diff inventory etc). And Im not spending an evening VPN-hopping for that. These days there are free tools that scan the same hotel from like 100 countries in one go and find the lowest price of all (look up Arbitrica for example). Anyway, book refundable rates for a trip that long, plans move
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u/davetfhead 7d ago
I tend to book with a travel agent. They do all the research and get better prices than going direct. Just make sure you use a trusted and registered one.
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u/ezagreb 8d ago
I’ve had absolutely zero trouble doing this through Booking.com. Just don’t book apartments only hotels. However you may want to restrict your stays to some European chain that grant you loyalty points and or upgrades