With more and more hotel reservations being made online these days it is always going to be difficult to tell whether or not the hotel is going to be any good before you arrive – by which time it is usually too late to change your mind if you don’t like the place! To help you out here, the following are 15 tips to online reservations that should help to ensure that you make the right hotel reservation.

Amenities
Before booking the hotel online, always check the following:
1. will you stay in a single, twin or double room? Some online hotels advertise all three; however, they don’t specify which you’ll have until you arrive. To avoid any disappointment, make sure this issue is clear from the beginning.
2. does the hotel have room service and restaurant facilities? A lot of hotels advertising online do not offer room service. Moreover, whilst many may state they have a restaurant, it later transpires this is only for breakfast – not for lunch and dinner. If these are going to be important to you, check this out carefully.
3. telephone, cable television, on-suite bathroom and 24-hour front desk service. Again, a number of hotels that advertise online do not have direct telephones to your room, cable television, nor do they have on-suite bathrooms. Furthermore, a number will not have front desk service during periods of the night, which may be an important amenity if you need to book out late at night.
4. smoking and non-smoking rooms. A number of European hotels do not differentiate their smoking and non-smoking rooms. If you are a non-smoker, make sure you let the hotel know this at the time you make the booking.
5. sports facilities. More and more these days having gym, pool and spa facilities is an important aspect of your stay.

Booking Your Room
Before you book the room, you need to be asking yourself the following questions:
6. does the hotel accept your credit card? Paying by credit card should help to protect you if you experience any problems.
7. what is the hotel check out time – and, importantly, is there any time of the day when you will be excluded access to your room (for cleaning, etc. purposes)?
8. does the hotel have a safety-deposit box?
9. is the room charge net or gross local sales tax? – many hotels do not include tax in their advertised room rates, which can make for a surprise when it comes to time to settle the bill.
10. will you be charged a fee if you cancel the booking nearer the time?

Local Amenities And Sight-seeing
It’s no use having a cheap hotel if you’re going to be stuck out in the middle of nowhere. As such, before booking your reservation online, check out the following:

11. where’s the nearest train and/or subway station?
12. does the hotel have taxi or limousine service?
13. are there other hotels in the nearby area?
14. are there any major landmarks nearby?
15. are there any restaurants, shops, and supermarkets nearby?

Assuming that the answers to most of the above comply with your needs, it should be safe to go ahead and make the booking. However, always make sure you take a look at the photographs of the rooms before making your final decision and be cautious of any hotel which doesn’t have photos of its rooms available on its internet site. Also make sure that you keep your online booking reference close to-hand.

There have been places for the tired and weary traveler to stop and stay at since time immemorial. After all, Jesus himself was born in a stable – having been turned away from an Inn. The Romans exported the concept of thermal baths all over Europe (notably to Britain) during their time as colonial power. And even the Greeks has a form of an Inn in their heyday. But, when can we say the hotel industry really developed into the multi-million dollar business sector that it has become today?

The Early Days – filing in the register
If we are not to include that period of time when the Romans and Greeks were busy looking after worn weary travelers - but try to look back to the time when the modern hotel was born - then, depending on where in the world you live, the earliest “legalized” forms of hotels started to spring up between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. The thirteenth century is the date often cited as being the time when staging posts in China and Mongolia first started to appear. However, its questionable whether you can really differentiate between these and those earlier Inns kept by the Romans. So, if we are really looking for the first form of “legalized” hotel, then the period would have to be the fifteenth century: when both French and English law started to require Inns to keep a register of all their guests.

The brand name
Around the same time as French and English law required Inns to keep registers of their guest, Inns started to take on the shape of hostelries. In their primitive form, the architecture of these places was such that they contained a paved interior court, which could be accessed through an arched porch. Both sides of the courtyard had rooms for lodging in. On the outside of the “hotel” was hung a signboard announcing to the world that it was both a place to stay and eat – and the brand name was born!

The business and leisure travelers
The next real step in the development of the hotel industry came as a result of two major events in mankind’s overall development – (i) the stage coach, which used to stop off at Inns on its way between towns; and (ii) the Industrial Revolution, which resulted in the first real business and leisure travelers. The second of these two events also caused the first hotels to be built in city centers – notably, the first inner-city hotel was built in New York City.
At about the same time modern day spas started to spring up all over the place – notably mainland Europe – and well-heeled travelers started to venture further a field, to North Africa and India.

Le Grand Hotel Paris
All of the earlier developments in the hotel industry finally came together in the culmination of the world’s first “Grand Hotel” – Le Grand Hotel, Paris. Le Grand opened its doors for business in 5 May 1862 with a spectacular inauguration presided over by Empress Eugenie. Although many a fine hotel has opened since Le Grand, and although many may claim the accolade of being more luxurious than Le Grand, anyone contemplating a night’s stay in a Paris hotel still has the choice of a night at Le Grand: evidence that to this day, hotels are here to stay!

They’re probably the most famous hotel brand name in the world. They own, manage, or franchise over a thousand hotels around the world. But what do we really know about the Hilton Hotel Corporation?

The start

The dream that developed into probably the most recognized brand name in hotels today drew its first breath in 1919 when Conrad Hilton acquired his first hotel in Cisco, Texas. Today there are somewhere in the region of1,200 hotels under the Hilton Hotel Corporation umbrella; which includes such famous names as the Waldorf-Astoria (New York) and the Hiltons in Paris, Rome and London. A simple beginning has grown into an international phenomenon in less than 80 years.

The brands

Ask any traveler if they’ve heard of a “Hilton” and you’re likely to get around a 90% affirmative response rate. However, ask those same travelers if they’ve heard of “Doubletree”, and (outside of North America) you most probably won’t be surprised to learn that your affirmative response rate is going drop – dramatically! What might surprise you though is to learn that a “Doubletree” is a Hilton by any other name - the name of the game with the Hilton is knowing the brands:

Hilton
The flagship of the corporation and its most recognized brand name.

Conrad
Founded in 1982 by Barron Hilton (the son of Conrad Hilton), the Conrad is joint venture between Hilton Hotels Corporation and Hilton International, with the brand aim of catering to clientele who expect nothing but the best in luxury hotels.

Hilton Garden Inn
Comprising more than 190 hotels across North America, the Hilton Garden Inn is the arm of Hilton Hotels looking to cater to mid-priced clients. Its achievements here have been acknowledged by it having won the “Highest Guest Satisfaction Among Mid-Priced Hotel Chains with Full Service” award.

Hampton Inn
Hampton Inn hotels operate in over 1,200 locations and offer value-minded traveler with a comfortable place to stay. Whilst it caters to value conscious travelers, this chain of the Hilton still maintains the standards expected of all Hilton Hotels and this is reflected in the fact that you can earn HHonors Hotel points (Hilton’s loyalty program) when you stay in any of these.

Doubletree
Hilton has 160 Doubletree hotels in major cities that are intended to cater to the business traveler and up-market travel industry sectors. These hotels offer full service restaurants and lounges - with room service and amenities (such as fitness centers). The chain is also well-known for its signature cookies!

Embassy Suites Hotels
With 174 hotels worldwide (the largest of which is in Niagara Falls), Embassy Suite Hotels is America’s largest all-suite hotel brand. The brand was established in 1983 and today has commanding market presence in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

Homewood Suites by Hilton
Homewood Suites is an American chain of over 120 upscale all-suite residential style hotels. The concept behind Homewood is to provide travelers with a “home-away-from-home” feel; which reflects itself in its primary catchment guests – those who are on-the-road for any length of time.