Five Important Tips on Making Hotel Reservations

You may think making hotel reservations is fairly easy. Wrong! A million things could go wrong between now and when you’re kicking in the Caribbean. Consider five important tips that will improve the quality of your hotel stay.

1. Talk to the hotel personnel by phone. Sure, booking online and taking a travel agency’s word for it is easier. However, when you talk to the hotel personnel you get the skinny on special discount rates that you may qualify for. You can also ask questions in advance so there won’t be any misunderstandings. You can also flirt with the front desk attendant. Hey, why not?

2. Book the room well in advance using a valid credit card. This is as good as gold to a hotel, and will guarantee that your room is not given to someone else. Furthermore, ask for the final price plus tax before paying. Once you prepay (or at least get a final bill) then you will be protected from other unexpected charges. This just bears repeating: make sure your card is valid—check the expiration date and credit limit!

3. Ask the hotel staff in advance for any special requests such as provisions for the disabled, non-smoking rooms, cribs or extra beds. You should never assume that all of your needs have to be met upon your arrival. If the hotel doesn’t have anything left, you get nothing.

4. Verify the arrival and departure days. There have been many horror stories about early and late arrival dates that were different than what were ordered, resulting in costly and inconvenient problems. Verify your dates in advance to avoid arriving a day early or leaving a day late. You might also ask for a confirmation number for each room you reserve, as this will help your case should a dispute arise.

5. If you book by credit card, the hotel wants to see a matching name and card upon your arrival. Bring the same card for check-in. If someone else made the booking and they are not present then you may be asked to have your other party fax in crucial information like a signature, photocopy of the card and other information.

Unless you specifically prepay, you are usually not charged until after the checkout or unless you ring up an unusual amount of expenses. Remember these tips when you travel and try not to steal any towels, okay?