Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Cheap Hotel Bookings and Reservations

You know when you give family and friends really good advice that could save them hundreds of dollars and they thank you for telling them but in the end never really listen to you? Maybe it's telling your mum that she won't be able to take money out of Japanese ATMs with her Australian bank card only to be frustrated when she arrives at Narita with no money in her wallet and bitches for the next week about not having enough money on her.

Or maybe it's telling your friends that they should make a hotel reservation when they arrive at Shanghai airport as they could be staying in a 4/5 star hotel for what they're budgeting only to be shocked when they decide to stay in a dingy backpackers while you're in a 4.5 star double room overlooking the central park for the same price.

Despite the fact that I'm actually living in Japan, my mum (despite her best intentions) refused to change her mindset that Japan was as international as the travel shows lead her to believe and while I had been to China before and researched travelling in the country immensely, my friends were fixated on staying in a backpackers because logically that should be cheaper.

I'm sure everyone's (especially if you've ever had friends or family visit you in in a foreign country) had a similar experience.

A recurring cause of frustration for me is when I tell almost everyone that when travelling in most countries (with the exception of China. Seriously make a booking when you arrive at the hotel desks. You may get a 70% discount!) it's almost always cheaper to make your hotel reservations through an online system such as HotelCombined.com, Expedia or Hotel Club.

The sites (and numerous others) are a fast (especially HotelCombined.com) convenient way to make a booking. Most offer customer reviews of each hotel or service and provide photos of the hotel rooms. Also as mentioned before, making a booking online can end up saving you hundreds of dollars as these services don't charge extra like a travel agency would (or at least not as much).

If you're intimidated by using the internet for making purchases, try doing a Google search for information on the site you want use to see if any users have had a negative experience with it before you use it.

Everyone likes to do things their own way, but when someone with experience gives you advice, it's always good to consider it.

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Labels: Australia, Cambodia, China, japan

2 Comments:

Melanie Gray Augustin said...: I totally agree!

As for the hotel thing, I now always book through one of those sites and know for a fact I've saved hundreds of dollars in single weekends.

As for people ignoring advice before they come over - it happens time and time again. For some reason, people (esp. my parents) seem to think that a travel agent who has never been to Japan knows more than me, who's been living in this country for 5 years. Go figure.; Wednesday, 28 May, 2008
Brad said...: Haha. Exactly.

Another example would be my mum speaking slow and loud English to every store clerk she came across.

"Mum, they're not mentally retarded!"; Wednesday, 28 May, 2008