7 Hotel Booking Mistakes That Will Cost You a Fortune

Booking a hotel is arguably the most important part of your vacation planning. It’s one of the activities that you plan for during your trip. After all, it’s a high cost; you need to have a time window already set (or you’ll set it around when you book your rooms), not to mention that you’ll plan the majority of your activities around it. The distance to the beach could affect your everyday schedule, and this is just the beginning.

In other words, it’s important that you get this right, and here are seven hotel booking mistakes that might prevent you from doing so.

Some of the old and traditional shops and offices along a street in Perth, Australia — *Image:* Nic Hilditch-Short

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Not using a VPN while researching

One of the biggest risks you’re facing when booking online is succumbing to price discrimination. Some hotels track your location and spending habits, and if they notice that you’re more affluent or from an affluent region, they might charge you more for the same service.

The reason why this is so bad is because you’re literally getting the same service, the same room, and the same duration of stay; you’re just getting charged more. Even if this doesn’t bother you financially, it should bother you on principle. Why allow them to charge you more? If you want, you can leave this excess cash to your room service but don’t waste your resources.

The best way to avoid this is to use a VPN while researching. This is a great idea both when planning a trip and when you’re already on the spot. The importance of VPN apps for mobile devices goes beyond just avoiding price discrimination; downloading them for this purpose is already worth it. Tech and SaaS expert Nick Saraev says VPNs can also protect your privacy and security and can help to shield you from surveillance and cyber-attacks.

Not booking a refundable fare

This is one of those instances where you usually end up losing more money by trying to be frugal. Namely, the biggest problem with this is that non-refundable bookings usually end up being cheaper. Why? Travels are unpredictable, which is why hotels are trying to reduce the volatility on their part. So, they charge you less, but know that they won’t have to face a chargeback.

There are so many reasons you may want to refund your hotel room. The event that you’re planning to attend may get canceled, or you may have a private issue that will make you stay for a while longer. By refunding, you keep the money, and you can reuse it to book another hotel room. You can also just get your money back.

The thing is that paying for a refundable fare is like paying for insurance. It’s a safety net that you hope you’ll never actually get to use. Still, it’s reckless to go without it.

Booking the wrong hotel

There are so many ways to make a mistake when booking a hotel. We can start with something basic like booking a hotel in the wrong location. It may sound silly, but it can happen so easily. You may misremember the name of the hotel or just type in the name without the location and book a hotel someplace else.

Also, it’s often quite easy to fixate on things like price (especially when traveling on a budget) that you ignore everything else. Just think about it: there’s a reason this hotel is so cheap. Maybe it’s a 30-minute drive to the beach, which means you’ll waste all the money you save on Uber and taxi fares or gasoline. You’ll also waste so much time, and the time you have on a journey is always limited.

Just keep in mind that researching the hotel is one of the most important tasks when planning a trip. You need to consider all the variables before booking.

Not asking about resort fees

There are so many potential resort fees that you’ll be exposed to unless you’re paying for an all-inclusive service. Still, even if you are paying for an all-inclusive service, the name of the plan may be a bit misleading since it’s never all that’s included in the service. These additional fees may be things that you’re actually interested in, things that you’re actually going to pay for, and you can potentially lose a fortune by being shortsighted like this.

Sometimes, this is even a daily resort fee, which means that you might end up paying significantly more for the trip and break your budget.

The adult thing to do in this scenario is to inquire about the additional fees in advance. Also, if they’re hiding some fees, they’re doing it deliberately. You can’t just ask if there are any additional fees. Ask about the specific fees to get the answers you need.

Not asking for a room upgrade

Once you arrive at the location, you may learn that there’s a better room available. This might not be evident on the site while booking, but things change, people cancel, and unexpected venues open up all the time.

Most importantly, these upgrades are always available at a minimal additional cost; this means that you have the potential to drastically increase the quality of life during the journey with a minimal cost increase. Also, these luxurious rooms are sometimes more money-saving than their cheaper equivalents because they have amenities that you would otherwise have to buy.

All you have to do is ask. The hotel staff is not likely to approach with an offer, but there’s literally no hurt in asking. You can always say no if the additional charge is too much, and if they don’t have rooms to upgrade to, you’ve at least tried.

Selecting the wrong cancellation policy

Not every cancellation policy is the same. Sometimes, these cancellation policies come with an unnecessary fee, which can easily be avoided. Sure, canceling is still cheaper than getting a full charge; however, this can be skipped or avoided if you just read the fine print or ask a few questions in advance.

The cancellation policy in question can also be non-refundable, which means that you won’t be able to get a single dollar back.

Sure, the right cancellation policy will end up costing you more, but the security and flexibility that you get from it are more than worth it. This can safeguard your investment against unforeseen charges in plans and ensures that you’re never caught off guard.

Not reading reviews

Lastly, and there’s no excuse for this one, you have to read reviews in order to get an idea of what things will be like when you arrive at the location. These reviews usually contain pieces of insight that you need in order to put together a whole picture.

Just keep in mind that everyone’s telling you their own experience. It’s completely possible that you’ll find a review describing the place as the best one ever and the next one depicting it as the worst hotel on the planet. Both can be true simultaneously.

Watch out for the ratios. If there are too many bad reviews, it might be best to avoid the place.

Taking just a bit more time can prevent some of the biggest mistakes

It always comes down to one thing – you value your time and effort more than your money. It may not seem that way but your laziness in double-checking, shopping around, reading the fine print, and going through just a few reviews could ruin your trip and end up costing you a lot more. This is something you should never allow to happen, and all of the mistakes listed above are easily avoidable.