Looking for hotel when we go on a trip is usually one of the basic points when arriving in a new place, but it is also almost always a headache for many. The why? The reality is that the answer lies in the enormous offer of lodging that there is practically in any city or country.
Tourism has been something that has taken off greatly in recent decades. Fifty years ago, fewer people traveled, or only people with more economic capacity could do so.
Today things have changed a lot, money is not an impediment, I have met many travelers who can move with a limited budget and sometimes even zero at cheap hotels in Hong Kong.
And that is something that generates such stress that many times it ends up plunging you into a process of tremendous disappointment or anger. Has it happened to you? You find so many options that you don’t end up deciding on any, and you even end up stressed because of that because you feel that the offer is so great that you will never finish seeing all the different options you have to stay.
And it is then, when we get tired of searching and searching, that we can ask ourselves the following question: What if I better not book anything and go looking for a place when I arrive at my destination? And although many might think that doing that is too risky, the reality is that more and more people are traveling that way.
I think that here we can treat different approaches and points of view according to each person’s travel style, and that is something that can vary a lot. However, I want to emphasize that the option of not booking any hotel is usually an option that terrifies many, because they like to travel safely and are very afraid that something could go wrong if they do not.
It is normal, and to some extent very true. The uncertainty of traveling without having somewhere you know where to get to, is something that can cause some problems. Obviously, the main one is that you run out of a place to sleep, or that you end up staying in one that you don’t like at all. You can book cheap hotels in Bangkok if you are traveling this place.
Generally, people who usually travel like this do so because they do not have a fixed itinerary. In other words, they do not want to be tied to reserving all the lodging nights of their trip, because they prefer to improvise along the way, if they like a place very much, they stay more nights, and if not, they simply leave.
I don’t know if it has happened to you, but sometimes you arrive at a place with high expectations, where you have already booked and paid for a certain number of nights, and in the end you end up being disappointed, but you have to stay because you had already made your reservation. Well, that’s one of the reasons why lately people prefer not to book anything, and just go to each place to look for something.
But let’s get to the important thing, which option is better? Book in advance or go looking directly when you arrive at your destination?
The reality is that there is no general answer to these questions, and it depends a lot on factors such as itineraries, times, budgets, destinations, etc. It is not the same that you go on a trip for 5 days for your work vacation, than that you go indefinitely, as a backpacker might do.
In the same way, the destination and season factor will be key. For example, if you travel to London in the summer, it is very likely that practically all cheap hotels in London booked months in advance, and arriving without a reservation on the adventure of finding something, can end up sleeping on a park bench.
Be careful, this can vary a lot and even depend on factors such as luck. There are times when you arrive just at the right time, when someone vacated a bed, and you can stay, but the reality is that arriving somewhere in high season and without reservations is like throwing a toss, luck can be with you ( or not).
