Independent traveller's guide to accommodation

Independent traveller's guide to accommodation provides advice, tips, help, reviews and useful links on all aspects of Independent traveller's guide to accommodation.

There are lots of great sites to provide the independent traveller with useful information. For independent tourist information on any country in the World visit Tourist Information Worldwide. A good source of independent tourist information for Spain can be found at Spain Tourist Information. We also recommend Florida Travel Information, France Travel Information and Croatia Travel Information.

Independent traveller's guide to accommodation

There is a vast range of different types of accommodation available for the independent traveller. These vary considerably in terms of facilities, services, and of course price. Cheapest has got to be camping. If you bring your own tent this will keep down the cost of your holiday accommodation! For those of us not inclined to the outdoor life, self-catering accommodation is very reasonable and provides the facility to cook your own food. This eliminates the cost of eating in restaurants. At the other end of the scale there are top class hotels with all the luxuries you could expect. The independent traveller will have a huge choice of hotels and will almost certainly get better value for money than a package holiday traveller.

Types of Accommodation

Hotels

Self Catering Apartments, Aparthotels, and Villas

Guest Houses

Camping

Youth Hostels

Hotels, Aparthotels and Self-Catering Apartments

Some of the best (and cheapest) accommodation options are hotels, aparthotels, and self-catering apartments.
Self-catering apartments are especially favoured by the independent traveller because you can buy your food in the local supermarket and prepare it in your own kitchen or kitchenette. In this way the food part of your holiday costs no more than if you stayed at home! In addition, self-catering accommodation tends to be more spacious than hotel rooms and this can be a bonus for families. Apartments come in a full range of sizes from studios which consist of one room containing bed, living area and cooking area, through one-bedroom apartments, up to four bedroom apartments. For even bigger groups you can hire entire villas or houses for less money than you would think. Many apartments are let by their owners or managers on a "price per apartment" basis irrespective of the number of occupants. So you can forget about under-occupancy supplements, they simply do not apply to the independent traveller!
Staying in a hotel does not mean you have to eat in the hotel for all, or any, of your meals. If you have booked room-only you can choose where you wish to eat: Sometimes in your hotel, sometimes in a local restaurant, or sometimes buy food in the local supermarket and have a picnic.
An aparthotel combines the benefits of both hotel and self-catering. These complexes tend to have hotel rooms and self-catering accommodation within the same building and guests have access to all the facilities on offer, for example the restaurant, pool, bar, reception, etc.
Popular resorts are full of hotels, apartments, and other accommodation and there are nearly always some empty rooms available, even in peak season. It is astounding how cheap accommodation can be. Especially if you're travelling off-peak, for example outside school holidays, you can pick up a hotel room for next to nothing. In addition, most chains have regular promotional offers which can halve the cost of a room.
When booking a hotel or apartment note that a double room means a room with a double bed, a twin room has two beds. Private shower, bath and WC indicates en-suite facilities. In self-catering accommodation, a studio means one room with cooking/kitchen facilities in the room and private bathroom. A one-bedroom apartment usually has a lounge and a separate bedroom with a small kitchen area in the lounge. Room rates are usually quoted per room rather than per person. Check if service charge and tax is included in the price. Locval taxes can add extra to the price.

Booking Directly with the Hotel or Apartment

All hotel chains and most independent hotels allow you to book directly. Usually they'll ask for a credit card as a guarantee, but no charge will be made until you arrive, a great way to spread out the cost of your holiday. You can book a hotel room in several ways:

online

by letter

by fax

by telephone

To book online simply visit the relevant website and follow the instructions. Make a note of the hotel's address and phone number. You will need the phone number to confirm the booking prior to travelling and you will need the address to show the taxi driver when you arrive in your resort.
Booking directly by telephone is a great way to book because you can ascertain availability and cost straight away. You can also ask if there are any extras (probably not), supplements (there shouldn't be), or tax (eg VAT or tourist tax) in addition to the price quoted. You should request confirmation of your booking in writing. Booking by telephone means you can ask for directions on how to get to the hotel or specify a sea view. It is also the quickest method of finding out how far it is to the beach, the proximity of shops/discos/restaurants, or the depth of the swimming pool.
If you are nervous about phoning, if you want to save money on your phone bill, or if you don't have a credit card you may wish to book by letter. It is just as good as booking by telephone, it just takes longer. Many people like to enquire about availability, cost etc by phone and then make the booking by letter. In this way you have the security of knowing your booking information is down on paper and you can, if needed, send a cheque or bank draft with your letter.
Fax is a way of sending a letter quickly. This can be advantageous especially if you request a reply or confirmation by return fax. However you can't send a cheque by fax. If you don't have a fax machine try using the facilities provided by local businesses. Some shops, businesses, post-offices, libraries etc offer a "fax-from-here" service for a small charge. Look for the "fax-from-here" notice in the window or look up "Fax Bureaux" in your Yellow Pages.

Finding Accommodation

For an excellent list of
Private villa and apartment owners and people with guest rooms advertise their holiday properties in newspapers, magazines, or on the web. In some cases an agency handles the marketing and rentals.
We recommend that initially you book your accommodation provisionally. This means get the hotel or accommodation owner to hold the reservation for you for a day or two while you book your flights. With a hotel, hostel or guest house you can arrive any day of the week, but self catering accommodation if normally let from saturday to saturday, or friday to friday, etc and you may have to arrive on a particular day of the week. This is important because charter flights do not neccessarily run every day of the week and you may be restricted to a particular day. With low cost airlines, weekends flights are usually more expensive than midweek flights. If you are travelling on a night flight ensure that you will be able to check in at the accommodation you have selected when you arrive.
Once you have booked your flight you should confirm your accommodation. At this stage you may have to pay a deposit or supply your credit card details.

Family Guest Houses

Pensions (guest houses) provide accommodation of a more modest nature. There is often a more family-like atmosphere, since it is usually the owners themselves who see to the cooking and the cleaning of the rooms. Rates tend to include bed and board. This type of lodging is more frequent in small towns and villages, and in country districts. You may find rooms with private facilities, balconies and swimming pools.

Camping

Camp sites provide accommodation at reasonable rates. The cost varies according to the location, category, the services and facilities provided, the season, the size of your tent and the number of occupants. Expect to pay per night for the hire of the pitch for a tent and per person.
You do not have to camp in a camp site but remember that uncontrolled camping may be forbidden in some countries and/or areas. It is advisable to check at the local tourist office before you pitch your tent.

Youth Hostels

A comprehensive network of Youth Hostels in cities and the main tourist areas provide decent lodging at very reasonable rates. For information on joining the Youth Hostel movement contact the Youth Hostels Association in your home country.

Booking Through an Agency

If you are having problems reaching the individual hotel or apartment complex to make a booking, or if you encounter a language difficulty there are numerous hotel agencies on the internet. They will check availability with the hotel and make your reservation, but they'll also charge you up-front for their services.

Find a selection of self-catering properties for your holiday. Find an apartment in Spain to rent, Spain villas to rent, Spain hotels or other accommodation in Spain. Cheap Flights to Spain has details of cheap flights and low-cost airlines while Holiday Spain: Travel to Spain has more general information on getting to Spain by air, land and sea. Independent Holidays in Spain is a free e-book with lots of great tips and advice. To find more general information on Spain use the Spain Property Search: Buy or rent a property.

Independent advice on holiday homes and overseas property investment is available at Overseas Property Advice and at Passport to the Sun. The Independent Overseas Property Guide has lots of useful information on buying a home abroad. A Place in The Sun discusses the current top 20 places to buy a holiday home. Try the blog and news feed Overseas Property News for lots of advice and tips on overseas property. Investment Property Advice and Tips has a numbered check list of important points to think of when buying investment property plus some tips on the current property "hot spots". Top Twenty Places in the Sun has a list of the top 20 places in the sun as selected by Channel 4.

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