Self Planned Three Weeks Trip to Europe - Bookings - Accommodation

Link to Two previous Parts

Part I - http://harshad-datar.blogspot.in/2018/03/self-planned-three-weeks-trip-to-europe.html

Part II - http://harshad-datar.blogspot.in/2018/03/self-planned-three-weeks-trip-to-europe_21.html

Part III

Booking Accommodation.

We have planned the trip. We also booked Air Ticket. Now is the time to look at where to stay.

Looking for Accommodation at travel destination is a Herculean task. Where to stay, in the city center or away, in B & B or Hotel or should we stay in hostel (and there are plenty of them around). City center saves time of travel but may cost more money while staying away may save cost but travel time (every day one has to travel) increases greatly.

Finally it has to be a compromise between cost and time. Being in city center also means being in the midst of the life and also the night life (don’t be surprised if a young person like me talks of Night life, why not, life is to be enjoyed to the fullest irrespective of the age). One can devote more time even till late into the night without hassle of worrying about subway timings, safety during travel etc.

See the rates of Accor Hotels at Berlin. Though distance is not the only criteria, type of hotel and Star rating also matters. However comparison below is for similar class of hotels of same group.

HOTELS MATCH YOUR SEARCH

LAST CONSULTED HOTEL

Ibis Styles Berlin Alexanderplatz3

 0.9 km from centre

1276 Reviews

4/5  Breakfast included Members' rate: -5%

From 5538  5261₹ Price for 1 person for 1 night

Select

 Rate calendar

Novotel Berlin Mitte

  0.8 km from centre 3026 Reviews 4/5  Members' rate: -5%

From 6903 ₹  6558 ₹ Price for 1 person for 1 night

Select

 Rate calendar

Similarly, most other online booking sites may show distance from city center in their listings. The hotel accommodations are for two or three people per room. In case of B & Bs, depending on its size, it could accommodate 2 people to about 8 people (going abroad in larger group must be fun, We could not find any like minded couples hence we decided to go with the best company, we two for each other).

Many B & Bs, particularly the city center ones in almost all the countries are in old historic buildings and generally on higher floors. Some people may say, so what, there is always a lift in multi story buildings. True but not True! In these historic buildings, there are only staircases and no lift (and the description of the B & B would always say so upfront). The staircases may have tall stairs or in some places they have narrow winding cast iron staircases like in old period films.

This could be a limitation for some people who cannot climb stairs. In turn one may have to let go of some of the fabulous B & Bs because they don’t have a Lift. Most City Center  B & Bs and even some hotels in the city centers have parking problem. Public parking may be available near by but city center parking cost a lot (applicable to those who undertake the self-driven car trips and there are many of us who do it).

Another thing worth indicating is, many a b & Bs having multiple rooms in an old house have shared bathrooms and toilets (may be a bathroom and a toilet). For that matter, most hostels, otherwise a very cost effective and happening accommodation option also have common toilets and baths unless one books a room with attached toilet in these hostels. Some of the hostels, bang in to city center may not have such rooms or they may be occupied on the day of your travel.

Hotels do not have both these problems and some hotels are also bang in the center of the towns but then hotel is a hotel with all the standard comfort but it does not give you opportunity to interact with locals (you B & B hosts). Then there are issues of costs also.

The accommodation booking is therefore a task of perseverance. Keep searching accommodation on various internet sites, whichever ones are liked are to be shortlisted. Finally the shortlist will narrow down to one or two per city based on various requirements an individual has and facilities they offer. Finally a accommodation per city gets selected and then the booking has to be done.  Most sites accept payment in INR.

While we are in the process of shortlisting, sometimes the accommodation you have liked becomes not available  for the dates of your travel. Then what to do? Nothing just move over and book your second choice.

Our search for accommodation took us through all these steps and we also had some disappointments where short listed accommodation either did not have lift or it became not-available on our selected days.

As for payment, Some websites need immediate payment to be done, some offer booking without payment and payment is made either closer rt arrival date or at the reception. Some have liberal cancellation and some are strict in cancellation.

Finally, we completed our bookings. In all we have booked B & Bs at six places, hostel in one place and hotels in three places.

In my next blog post, I will talk about internal transport selection and booking.