How to Choose a Hotel when Traveling: 10 Questions

Planning a trip can be a bit overwhelming – especially when you get into the nitty-gritty details of planning. If you’re lucky, you have someone who loves planning trips (like me), but for the majority of travelers (like Spencer), it’s daunting. One of my least favorite things to do is pick out a hotel. It’s also the hardest question to answer when people say ‘where do you recommend I stay?’ Where I think is great may not be where you think is great and it might not fit your travel style. 

It’s also a great way to get in the headspace of choosing hotels to check out my tips to saving money on accommodation while you travel. If you’re planning way in advance (like me), you can follow a few of your top hotels on social media to see if they have upcoming sales.

You can always book a time with me to consult on your travel needs and send you a selection of hotels that fit your budget, style, and location. (I can also help you with destination choices, route planning, and anything else you might need to plan your perfect trip!)  

Before you even think about accommodation though, you should have figured out your budget for the trip, length of staying during your trip, and your travel style (luxury vs. budget). Remember this is all in my 8 steps to plan a trip!

If you like this post, be sure to sign up for my e-mail list for travel inspiration (and get your FREE budget printable), or connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

This post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase something from a link, I may make a small commission, at no cost to you. This helps me keep the site running and free.

What’s your travel style?

The types of hotels that I stay at vary greatly depending on the type of trip I’m taking. Whether it’s a quick-budget trip to Panama or luxury camping in Kenya, there’s a trip for every type of hotel. The style of your trip is going to determine your hotel probably as much as your budget. Be sure to know the type of travel you want to go on before choosing a hotel.

Do you want to book by a third party sit?

There are a lot of pros and cons to booking on third-party sites. I typically book with booking.com as their customer service has never let me down. When I have had an issue with a hotel, they’ve advocated for me and even returned the money when the hotel wouldn’t.

On the other hand, sometimes reservations get lost from 3rd party sites, or if the hotel is overbooked, the room may be lost. I always confirm with the hotel before I leave for my trip that they have my reservation. That way I can ensure I’m on their books, they know I’m planning on coming, and I have never run into an issue. Even if you don’t book with them, these sites can provide a lot of information for you to choose a hotel when traveling.

If you’re a hotel loyalty program member (like Hilton Honors), then I suggest NOT booking by third party and booking direct. This will ensure you get the points for your stay! Spencer and I have just started to learn which loyalty programs we want to be a part of, so this is a new area for us.

What even are our options for hotels?

If you start on google with an initial search, you may find fellow travel bloggers with posts that say “best places to say in _____”. While they have probably stayed in one of those hotels (not all of them) these posts can be really helpful. Personally, I put a lot of research into these posts – and I provide both the pros and cons of each hotel. They do the research for you – what’s not to like? (Shameless plug: if you find a post like this helpful, please book through their links. It’s often affiliate income and helps us keep sites like these running! It’s a great way to support content creators without spending any additional money)

When you go to a website like TripAdvisor or Booking.com for the properties, the first properties on those sites mare probably paying for prime locations (i.e. Sponsored). I’ve noticed that when I searched for the Hilton Hotel, Marriott came up first. It’s a pay-to-play game, so be aware. Either way, your initial search will help you get an idea of the options available.

I never suggest using AI for hotel research. I’ve seen AI pull data for different hotels for one answer, which makes it wrong. It might be the name of one hotel, the address of another, and the cost of a different one. Please do your research (and support content creators!)

If you’re planning on using a company to travel, your options for hotels are limited. They usually have connections with hotels where you’d be visiting. When choosing a tour company to work with, you can ask about the types of hotels (or accommodation in general) where you’d be staying. Most of the time they have an option between mid-range (2-3 stars) and luxury (4-5 stars). The mid-range hotels generally make your trip a little more budget-friendly.

What filters do you want?

Figuring out what you’re looking for will help you determine your filters. This will help narrow down your selection and help choose a hotel that fits your needs. 

The filters I often use include the distance from the city center and price range. I used to regularly look for breakfast included but after being very disappointed in hotel breakfasts, I stopped making that one of my criteria. If it includes it, great, if not, I’ll just plan to go to the grocery store and get snacks for the morning. I did enjoy finding some hidden gems like waffle flights during our 3 days in Chicago.  

You might not be able to find everything you’re looking for – i.e. a budget hotel right next to the top tourist attraction – but that’s good to know! You might have to find a hotel a little outside the city center but with easy access to public transportation to get to that tourist attraction. There’s nothing wrong with being a 10-minute subway ride- especially in Europe where their public transportation is pretty reliable. Use “public transportation” in your filter to find them. 

Some filters depend on the traveler or even the location. I used to be perfectly fine without breakfast until our trip to Finland. It was pretty awesome to just go downstairs for breakfast instead of hunting for it. You can put this in the initial search if it’s really important to you, or use it as a deciding factor later. In full transparency, I did not select our hotels for Finland. I worked with Firebird tours to plan the trip and they had connections with the hotels.

What is your gut telling you?

At this point, you should have a decent amount of options available to you. It’s still overwhelming, but at least these hotels meet the bare minimum. 

You’ll start to notice that some of the hotel brands are familiar. Some people prefer to stick to a certain hotel chain for loyalty points and clear expectations of what you’re getting when you visit (for us, the Best Western is always a safe bet). That’s an easy way to limit hotel choices. Some travelers prefer to book more independent hotels. There are pros and cons to each of these. 

Take your time to look through any available pictures of the hotel. Some of them will resonate with you based on style or comfort. Trust your gut – if your gut is telling you no, then follow that. Hotels can make or break your vacation, so if you’re already worried about it, don’t do it. This is also why I no longer book AirBnB’s. Too many horror stories for me to gamble on my vacation. Not to mention the two trips they ruined for me.

What are the pictures saying?

Please, please, please make sure you look at the pictures. There are key things that can be avoided with proper attention to detail. Some hotels just show the best room, but that might not be the room you’re booking. Or, even worse, now they’re showing AI-generated hotel rooms to show off.

I’ve been seeing more and more AI photos of hotels that look like stock photos. Be careful with those. I make sure there is a variety of lighting in the photos to see that these aren’t all the same type of photo or preset used. This is also where third-party sites can help. What’s better than real travel photos that aren’t professional or edited? Feel free to check out traveler reviews on TripAdvisor or Booking – most people provide photos of what they were really happy or unhappy with at the hotel.

If it looks old or dirty, I’m immediately turned off. There’s a difference between quaint and homey and being ‘old’. I love a cozy B&B. I do not like wondering the last time the sheets were changed.

Are you ready for the details?

Now that you have a style, and a general idea of the hotels, it’s time to get more specific in your hotel desires. Hopefully, by now you’ve narrowed down some hotels and can get into more of the details.

Star Rating – I generally won’t stay anywhere under 3 stars. There was a time in my life when 1 star and just a place to sleep was fine, but that time has passed. I acknowledge this. Of course, there are exceptions. We stayed at a few two-star hotels in Japan, but they were perfect. No complaints! 

This is tricky based on the destination though. I’ve learned that as I travel to more remote places, like Uganda, their star rating is very different than the USA. The Buffalo Lodge in Uganda was considered a 4-star hotel, but I easily would have said 5. Where we’re booking in India in 2025 is 2-3 stars, but looks like 4 stars. So be aware of this with the destination you’re visiting. For both of these trips, I have worked with travel companies to customize the itinerary.

Additional amenities  – Are you a traveler who needs to get a workout in the morning? Find a hotel with a gym. Do you know you’re arriving late? Check for late check in. Do they have somewhere to store your bags if you get in early? Do you want breakfast included? Distance to major must-see attractions? Access to public transportation? Sustainability practices? Decide what you want your hotel to include and that will lower your search results. These amenities may not be the most important thing, but they will help you choose a hotel that is perfect for your vacation.

What is the view like?

Recently, there was a Tik Tok about someone booking a hotel that didn’t exist. This is easily avoided by confirming with the hotel beforehand but also checking the hotel on a map. Knowing where the hotel is in a city like Dublin is important – are you around the major attractions? Or in like a city like Las Vegas – if you book a hotel near the airport, you’re nowhere near the strip (this was an expensive lesson to learn in my teens). It’ll help you familiarize yourself with your destination too. 

What are people saying?

Star rating is important, but honestly, reviews are more important. Don’t get sucked into reading reviews until you’ve narrowed down your search a bit (and by a bit, I mean a lot) – they can be overwhelming and get confusing after you’ve read a lot of them. Reviews are subjective – people either realllllyyyy like the hotel, or reallllllyyyyy hate them. However, it is easy to see a pattern in them over time. Use that pattern to guide your decision.

A bad hotel can ruin a vacation, I don’t gamble on it anymore (again, no AirBnB’s for me). If there are reviews that include safety or cleanliness – it’s a hard pass for me.

Ready to Make the Final Decision?

When all the factors come into play, you should have around 5 hotels that meet your criteria. At this point, you should be happy if you numbered them 1-5 and pulled one out of a hat. However, the decision lies in the best bang for your buck. It’s not always the cheapest. The cheapest might save you money, but doesn’t offer breakfast like another one. That means every morning you’ll have to figure out breakfast on your own. On the other hand, if you decide that the amount of money to spend on a hotel isn’t worth it, and you’d rather spend that money on activities instead – that’s fine too!

Final Thoughts When Choosing a Hotel

This may sound like a lot of things to consider when you book a hotel, but you’ll figure out what is important to you quickly on your travels. Spencer heard that I was writing this guide and he asked if this is what I do for all of our hotels, I said yes. A good hotel can make or break a vacation. It’s also why it’s my least favorite part of travel planning. Choosing a hotel is so important. Having an organized way of looking at hotels and narrowing them down can help make the process of choosing a hotel a bit less daunting. (Don’t worry, I do still actually dread this part of travel planning even though it’s a habit!)

Read More Travel Tips

16 Tips on How to Save Money on Accommodation

6 Tips for Finding Cheap Flights

Long Haul Flight Survival Guide

How to Sleep on a Plane

Save “How to Choose a Hotel” for Later!