It’s easy to jump onto any old booking site and go for the cheap and cheerful option but when it comes to seeking accommodation in a warmer climate, it’s worth taking a moment to consider a few factors that could make your stay a lot more comfortable. Below we have highlighted some of the most important things we have learned in our reservation and accommodation experience.
by Jake RoswellReading Time: 6minutes
Filters are your friend When Seeking Accommodation
Most if not all of the big name booking sites have a comprehensive filter selection that can help you tailor your perfect trip, but some options you may take for granted are in there too and should not be neglected. If you’re not one to share bathroom facilities this is a key one to look out for, as the descriptions can be missing these nuggets of information.
Important ones to keep in mind are ‘free Wi-Fi’, some establishments offer this in communal spaces only. ‘Facilities for disabled guests’, not always a given around the world and the older the hotel the more chance you have of running into problems. If the room you are booking is in a shared property, this is largely a concern to be found on Airbnb but always worth thinking of, if a room looks a little too cheap to believe (even with great reviews) this could be the case.
Reviews
Be them comprehensive, one worded or just a thumbs up. User reviews are the main weapon of choice when it comes to picking your abode abroad, and some sites also enable reviewers to upload their own photos which can tell the story of a thousand words.
Something to consider while getting a consensus from the masses is that the dark times of Covid 19 have left a black spot in the running narrative of user reviews. If you like to base your choice on not just the first one or two. If you’re looking to see what people are saying about something specific such as the quality of the Wifi, reviews can suddenly jump from the present to way back in 2019 and further.
What was offered then may not be anymore and lots of places have yet to fully recover and or will have undergone remedial works in the meantime, so before you disappear down the rabbit hole of reviews keep one eye on the date posted.
When Seeking Accommodation always Inspect the Room Photos
Aside from the general look and feel of the hotel, the photos are a fantastic tool to inspect the details of the room but it is always wise to double check the validity of the photo. Is there a photo filter applied to make the pool look that bit bluer? Is the brightness pushed up to make the dim room look bright? Has the photo been taken with a fish eye lens?
As well as the booking sites it is good practice to check Google reviews and photos from real people. They tell a better story of the real world experience than somebody with a fancy camera and a good photo editor.
Next check the contents of the room photos and use them. They may mention a TV in the description but is it a modern one or a classic CRT? Is the air conditioning unit right above your bed? Why is the mini fridge doubling up as the bedside table? As most hotels now offer a plethora of photo documentation of what they have to offer, you can get as good a scoop on the facilities as much as the reviews and see for yourself if things are up to date.
Location, Location, Location
You’ve found the ideal hotel with a cheap room and all the extras you could ever want! But on arrival you have the unpleasant surprise of it being next to a nuclear fallout zone. A bit extreme but the point is if you do set your heart on a hotel do some extra research outside of the booking site on the area in which it is located, local history and current affairs.
There may be a Facebook page for the area or even just throwing the name into google and seeing what info comes up in the news feed is a good shout. Some types of accommodation can be miles from anywhere, they can be in the middle of a field and therefore more prone to bugs and insects, the location of accommodation is definitely something you need to be aware of when booking.
Air Conditioning
Quite possibly the number one thing to look for when seeking accommodation in a warm climate. As a rule, you will find a good amount of places will have air conditioning units installed and listed in the amenities but there are a fair amount that still operate with just fans only.
Fan only rooms can have free standing fans or ceiling ones which (we have found out from experience) are manageable for a couple of days but any longer and you can become somewhat sticky to say the least. Even if the aircon is listed in the description of the room you’re looking at, it’s always good practice to inspect the room photos to get an idea of the age of the unit just in case.
Amenities When Seeking Accommodation
Other than the basics, ask yourself:
What is it that I want from the room? What are my daily habits and does the accommodation include the amenities I need?
As an example you may like to make yourself a morning coffee – In our experience not every room comes with a kettle. It’s such a small thing but can be super inconvenient to have to run to the nearest coffee shop every morning just for the sake of a kettle. These little things are very easy to miss. Even with glowing reviews, if people do not have the same requirements as you – you can find yourself coming up short.
Common amenities I would personally suggest looking for when seeking accommodation:
Kettle – For the morning coffee
Power outlets by the bed – To charge phones, tablets and other devices
Number if power outlets in general
Additional seating in the room or outside
The presence of a window and/or view- This is not always stated or guaranteed. (As we found out one time in Phuket, Thailand where the curtain opened to view a solid concrete wall).
Bugs
By their nature, warmer climate countries have an abundance of creepy crawlies that will be delightful for you to meet when making your morning coffee. One to look out for in south east Asia especially are ants, both small and large. If you are keeping food or tea and coffee in your room we strongly recommend keeping these in air tight sealed bags and off any surfaces in the open as these pesky critters are extremely resourceful when it comes to getting into anything they want. I still mourn a pack of noodles I was looking forward to before discovering it had become an ant farm.
Encounters with bugs are almost inevitable but the amount can be down to luck, we have stayed in bungalows with a garden in a semi rural environment and seen few then been on the third floor of a hotel and seen many.
Type of Accommodation
Accommodation types vary wildly. Some are little more than somebody’s house where others can be glitzy resorts with pools and gyms. Some can be treehouses and others are basically an amusement park with noise 24/7. The point I am making is that before hitting that book it now button always check who the main audience is in the hotel.
An example of the importance of this would be: You like to swim and you book a hotel with a pool and you prefer a quieter environment. On arrival it looks more like a water park, there’s a constant noise of people and the pools are always crowded. The moral of the story is that It’s advisable to double check what kind of hotel you’re going to be stopping in, user reviews are always a good indicator for this as you may not always tell from the booking site description.
