The world is gradually moving away from the traditional method of hotel booking into another convenient means. Before now, a traveler needs to travel to his/her destination before booking hotel accommodation. One of the disadvantages is that you will not know if there is a vacancy or the hotel is fully booked. Now, you can relax in the comfort of your home and make hotel booking and compare prices with other hotels.
Booking hotel online is not as difficult as you may think. Before booking a hotel online, please read this article.
There are five simple steps you need to follow if you want to book a hotel online.
Search for Hotels Online
Enter the URL (Hotel Booking Search Engine Website Address) of the hotel. For example, TravelStart, JumiaTravels, Hotelsng, Bookings. Go to your browser type the web address and click send
Once the website opens, you can enter the necessary information such as
• Name Of hotel or search by destination (For instance, Lagos or Ebonyi so that all hotels in Lagos or Ebonyi will appear)
• Your dates i.e. the date of arrival and departure (the number of night you will spend at the hotel).
• Number of rooms you want (and number of occupant per room)
• Click on search to display results.
Read Hotel Reviews
Reviews are very important. It serves as a guide to avoid lodging at the wrong hotel. Using TripAdvisor for instance, you will get to see what people who have stayed in the same hotel you want to stay are saying about the hotel. Something like Excellent, Perfect place for your honeymoon, No Electricity, the bed is bad etc.
NOTE: Not all that guiltier are gold, some reviews are misleading and not completely trustworthy or honest.
Reserve The Room
The next step after Review is selecting the hotel you want to stay. The hotel you are comfortable with the price and the reviews. After selecting, the next is to make a reservation. There are two ways of making a reservation either online or call the hotel for reservation.
You can make the booking online by providing the necessary information to filling the form that will be displayed.
If you don’t want to book the hotel online you can contact the hotel either via email or you place a call directly.
In the case of a group rate, it is advisable you contact the hotel directly because some of the group rates are not displayed on the website. Some online hotel booking website like www.priceline.com displays group rate.
After the reservation, a confirmation letter will be sent to you. This will serve as evidence that your room has been reserved and a reservation number for reference purpose.
Payment
There are two methods of payments; they are Online payment and Payment at the hotel.
ONLINE PAYMENT:
The online payment entails using your credit card, debit card, PayPal and other acceptable means of payment. After making payment, a receipt will be sent to you as evidence that you have paid for the room.
PAYMENT THAT THE HOTEL
If you don’t have any of the above means of payment, don’t worry you can pay at the hotel. Some of the online booking websites also allow you to pay at the hotel if you are not with your credit cards, debit card or any means of paying online.
Booking confirmation
After all the processes you will receive a confirmation letter and a payment receipt. Read through the letters carefully in case if there is a need for correction. Cross check your dates. Check if there are some hidden payments you need to pay. Don’t forget to check their terms and conditions.
How do you book your hotel? Have you tried the online booking before?
