How do you choose which hotel to stay in when traveling?

1. Find out the city or place where you’re going to. More than that, find out the part of the place where you’d like to stay. In Hong Kong, I like to stay near the Kowloon Harbour. In Singapore, I like to stay along Orchard Road so I look for places at that area. It’s best to have three or four choice of areas so you’ll have lots of choices when your first choices are unavailable for some reason.

2. Research for the best hotels in the area you like. The best hotels here do not necessarily mean five-star hotels but the best hotels for you. For example, the best hotels for me are ones that are near convenience stores, shopping malls and some tourist spots. It has to serve breakfast and must have coffee/tea/pot inside the room. Five-star hotels are a plus for me but I rarely stay in one because it’s too expensive. I am more familiar with three-star and four-star hotels.

3. Ask around for recommendations. You can ask family members or friends or colleagues who have gone to the same place and ask for hotel recommendations or in some cases, hotels to avoid. You can also post on your website, blogs, Myspace/Facebook/Friendster pages for recommendations.

4. Compile a list of the hotels that you have and start searching on the Internet or travel books for reviews. I highly recommend going to tripadvisor.com, yahoo, lonely planet and arthur frommers for hotel reviews. There are some exaggerated reviews and reviews from some really unlucky people but these sites still have a lot of unbiased hotel reviews which will be very helpful for you.

5. Once you’ve chosen the best hotel for you, book your hotel. You can do this through a travel agent or travel websites. If you’re booking through a website, make sure to look at different ones because prices may not be the same. Shop around for the best rates. You can try expedia.com, hotelclub, hotels.com and ratestogo.com.

6. Once you’re staying at the hotel, try to enjoy all the things that the hotel is offering. You’ve already paid for it so might as well make the most of it, right? With that in mind, if something in the hotel doesn’t quite reach up to your standards, do not be afraid to let the hotel staff know. They might be able to work their magic and offer to fix your problem. Beware, though, not all hotels are quite accommodating when it comes to special requests. Some will assist you but there are still some who have very limited resources.

7. Finally, don’t forget to write a review about your hotel when you go home. Let other people know if you loved it or hated it. Be sure to enumerate the positive and negative things about the hotel.

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