Hotel reservation without payment. Hotel booking requirements for visa application
The question is how book a hotel without a card online, very relevant. Indeed, in most cases, this requires a bank card. What to do if you don’t have a valid card, or it’s not suitable for payments on the Internet, or you don’t want to show its details, but you desperately need to book a hotel here and now?
Access to card data for hotel reservations: yes or no?
Lately we have been diligently Avoid entering card details when booking hotels even on well-known and respected online booking systems. The reason for this is one case related to Booking.com, a popular service for independently searching and reserving hotel rooms.
The site is very convenient. Just select the desired city, dates and number of guests in the search form, click “Find hotels” and on the search results page on the left you will see the option - "without a bank card". This allows you to sort only those hotels where you can make a reservation without a card.
By the way, in the window on the right you can see their location on the map and select the appropriate one.
The principle of operation is the same as that of the Island. When searching, select “without a bank card” on the left and get a list of hotels. The database of hotels that allow you to book a room without a card is slightly smaller here, but the prices are quite reasonable.
What is the best way to book a hotel without a card?
In our experience, the easiest way to find a suitable hotel is on booking.com. Simply because it is unlikely to find hotels on other booking platforms that are not on Booking.com. By the way, if you have never booked hotels on Booking, this is a surprise for you! Follow our link, book and receive 1000 Russian rubles on your card! Especially when it comes to Europe or America. In Asia, for example, an impressive database of hotels and guesthouses is presented on Agoda.com. To be honest, we don’t like this service - the booking conditions are not transparent, the price often does not include tax, and the interface is let down - but all this is not for everybody.
Found a suitable option? Check it out, maybe somewhere there is a lower price for it or better booking conditions!
That's basically all. If there is a need to issue hotel reservation without card, look for suitable hotels and book with confidence. This way you will protect the money on the card and avoid unnecessary expenses if your travel plans suddenly change.
How to book a hotel for a visa In addition, this penalty is developed individually by each hotel according to its internal policy, and therefore you can find it in the description of the hotel room that you intend to book. Most often, the closer the settlement date, the greater the likelihood of paying compensation. The client agrees to the conditions established by the hotel at the time of reservation. In such a situation, the bank card data serves as a guarantee that an unscrupulous tourist will inevitably fulfill his obligations. How to make an air ticket reservation for a visa without prepayment or with minimal losses Vinsky Forum This procedure is called “re-authorization” or Hold. The amount that the hotel will reserve can range from 1 dollar to the cost of the entire reservation. Sometimes they only reserve the amount for 1 night's stay.
We book a hotel without paying for a Schengen visa
Hi all! Many readers of our site have questions related to obtaining a visa on their own. First of all, this is due to the opportunity to fly on last-minute tours for pennies.
The main requirements of the consulate that cause difficulties are the justification of housing and transport. If the question of transport is resolved by providing documents for the car and a route sheet (Google maps can help), then with the hotel, at first glance, everything is also simple - a cancelable reservation is made without payment and after receiving a visa the reservation is canceled.
Then you go to the country you need. YOU MAY NEED: DISCOUNTS on accommodation when booking through Booking. We advise you to contact professionals: greencard-shop.ru For only 500 rubles, they will make a real reservation for you and tell you the details.
Menu
Here is that Prague hotel:
- Keep in mind that some countries are loyal when issuing visas: Spain and Portugal issue multiple visas for a period of six months at once, but upon subsequent application to them, in the absence of border stamps, they will require confirmation of stay in the country. If it is absent, you will be denied a visa (20%), will be issued a visa for the duration of the trip (50%), and will be issued a visa for the duration of the trip with the right to enter only this country (30%).
- Some countries require booking confirmation with payment required.
Poland - minimum 50% payment, Slovakia - 100% payment. Payment is confirmed by a bank statement. Exit: book with payment and the possibility of cancellation (although you can wait a long time for a refund, or buy such a reservation at an agency (costs 1000-2000 rubles per person, the burden of returning the money is borne by the agency.
Booking a ticket and hotel without paying for a visa
But since it is not always possible to obtain a guarantee, and paying for a hotel in advance is often unprofitable, it is worth considering an option such as booking a hotel without paying for a visa. Content
- More information about documents to confirm place of residence
- How to book a hotel
- Booking process
- Is it worth canceling the reservation?
- How to cancel a reservation
- Penalties for cancellation of reservation
More information about documents to confirm place of residence Certificates that confirm place of residence can be:
- Invitation from a private citizen indicating the dates and place of residence.
- Confirmation of ownership or rental of real estate in the country.
- Invitation from the host organization.
- Hotel reservation.
The last option is the most common among tourists.
How to book flights online without paying for a visa
Therefore, it is better not to immediately cancel the booked room after receiving the visa, as this may have a bad effect on the visa reputation of the applicant. How to cancel a reservation However, if there is no other option, you need to know how to properly cancel a room reservation.
To do this, you will need to perform several steps.
- In the confirmation letter that was sent to the applicant’s email after making the reservation, find a link to make changes to the order or cancel it.
- After clicking on the link in the “My Orders” section, cancel your reservation.
- Indicate the reason for this decision and reconfirm the cancellation.
If everything is done correctly, you will receive confirmation of your refusal by email. Penalties for cancellation of reservations Almost every hotel has a system of fines in cases where the guest did not check in at the specified time or did not cancel the reservation in a timely manner.
How to book a hotel online without paying for a visa
Attention
To find out what the confirmation looks like, you need to visit the official website of the country you are planning a trip to or visit the Visa Center. Most often, a printout of the reservation on the website is sufficient.
However, there are cases when consular officers require confirmation in the form of a fax from the hotel on company paper. In this case, you need to find out in advance what format a hotel reservation or payment confirmation is required.
Important
How to book a hotel There are different cases when a tourist needs to make a hotel reservation without paying for a visa. This may be necessary if the traveler is not completely sure of his travel plans or does not yet have the finances to cover the costs of the vacation; the applicant may also hope that more attractive accommodation options will appear in the future, which indeed often happens depending on the tourist season .
Hotel booking without prepayment and credit card
Most often, the closer the settlement date, the greater the likelihood of paying compensation. The client agrees to the conditions established by the hotel at the time of reservation.
In such a situation, the bank card data serves as a guarantee that an unscrupulous tourist will inevitably fulfill his obligations. back to content How to book a hotel room without prepayment In addition, so that all efforts are not in vain, before going abroad you need to find out whether you have a travel ban; the proven service nevylet.rf will help with this, which will provide you with information about the presence of debt on loans , fines, alimony, housing and communal services, etc., and will also assess the likelihood of a ban on flying abroad. Booking a hotel without paying for a visa is not the only case when you need to provide yourself with housing, but there is no particular desire to deposit funds in advance.
Vinskiy forum
Set the filter “Without map”.
- Don’t forget to check the box next to “Ability to change online bookings.”
- Click continue and enter the latest information regarding your country of residence and phone number.
- The system does not request any information about the card. In a few minutes, the hotel’s electronic voucher for a visa will be sent to your virtual mailbox. back to content Booking through Hotellook A portal such as hotellook.ru is also very popular. To order through it, follow the following procedure:
- We fill out the sections with destination, arrival and departure dates, and number of guests.
- In the top horizontal menu, select the “More” section and click on the “Without bank card” function.
Booking a hotel without paying to obtain a visa Consulates require booking a round-trip air ticket to obtain Schengen.
How and where to book a hotel for a visa without paying in 2018
We print out the found reservation for the embassy. There is no print button, you will have to copy this into word. If for some reason the reservation is not found, you will see the message “send the reservation code by email.”
We send and wait. You can also check your reservation on the airline's website. We also enter the reservation code and the passenger's last name. Personal experience: the last time we applied for a Schengen visa, we booked through the Aeroflot call center.
The reservations were sent to us by email. We printed them out and submitted them along with a package of documents to the visa center. The ticket reservation was canceled before the visa was received, but it doesn’t matter. The visa was given for a year. What are return tickets and how to buy them for a visa Not all travelers want to postpone buying a ticket until they receive a visa.
Booking a hotel without paying for a visa
This is inconvenient for an independent tourist: the date and country of return are not always known, and a visa may be refused. And if a hotel reservation can be easily made through Booking and cancelled, with air tickets things are more complicated.
Let's figure out how to book air tickets without paying for a visa, or reduce costs to a minimum. Content
- Risk of failure
- What methods work?
- Ticket purchase and return
- Reservation without payment
- Where to book
- Confirmation of another mode of transport
- What airlines say
Risk of refusal The EU visa code clearly states that in order to assess the intention to leave the Schengen countries, it is sufficient to provide a return ticket, a round trip ticket or a reservation for such tickets.
Booking does not imply payment for tickets.
The most popular ticket sales agencies: http://agent.ru http://anydayanyway.com - a reservation can be made if you have previously bought tickets from them http://aviobilet.com http://avantix.ru http:// Avio.lv - Latvian website, booking for 3 days https://www.bilet.ru http://biletix.ru http://biletyplus.ru http://chartex.ru http://clickavia.ru https: //www.onetwotrip.com/ru/ - for 200 rubles you can make a reservation for 7 days. https://www.ozon.travel/index.dir http://pososhok.ru Among these agencies, it is more convenient and easier to issue tickets on the website http://agent.ru. Let's take a step-by-step look at how to book a ticket online without paying.
- First, select the city of departure and arrival on the website, enter the dates and click search.
- We select from the found tickets the one that suits the time and price.
- Enter the passenger's details: full name, passport, telephone and email. Be sure to provide correct information.
- Our reservations meet all the necessary requirements of the Italian consulate to obtain a long-stay visa.
The document meets the booking sheet standards for passing border/customs control. - Reservations to Italy last 10 - 14 days. If necessary, they can be extended (without additional payments).
- No blind payments! Payment for services is made after agreement with the manager, you will only pay when your reservation is guaranteed.
- You can get professional advice from us for self-service documents for a visa to Italy by phone
+7 495 532-58-41 .
What do you get
- Airfare reservation to Italy is held the entire period for reviewing documents at the embassy (10-14 days). If necessary, the validity period of the reservation will be increased.
- The booking sheet contains the individual PNR booking numbers of the airline and the booking system required for verification by the consulate. We also provide a link to check your reservation individually. Please note that the reservation must Necessarily contain the information specified in, otherwise the consulate may require you to provide the purchased air ticket.
- Since 2017, consular services have been required to check air ticket reservations, especially if you have a clean passport or have been refused. If the reservation is invalid or not confirmed by the company responsible for the document, this may cause a visa refusal.
A reservation made with us will be valid for the entire period of work with your documents at the consulate and will be confirmed by our company upon calling. - If you wish, you can redeem your booked ticket.
- Hotel reservations are being done with financial support in the national reservation system of the host country, which significantly influences the decision on the duration of the visa.
- Experience: our documents meet the necessary requirements and are accepted by all consulates in the Russian Federation.
Cost and payment
- Booking a flight to Italy - 500 rubles. (for one passenger), 400 rub. per person for two or more passengers.
- Hotel booking in Italy - 1100 rubles. (per room, stay up to 14 days).
- (coverage - 35,000 Euro, 80 rubles per day). We are authorized agency for issuing insurance policies for those traveling abroad.
- Departure of the courier - 400 rubles.
- Express booking (from 9:00 to 21:00) - by agreement.
- A payment link (Alfa-Bank electronic payment portal) is sent to the customer’s email after agreeing on services. Payment is made by any credit card without commission.
How to obtain documents
Confirmed airline ticket booking sheet, hotel reservation and insurance policy
- by email;
- in the office (Moscow, Nikoloyamskaya st., 29, building 1, office 303);
- by courier.
How to order services
To book flights and/or hotel to Italy, fill out the order form or call +7 495 532-58-41
Our visa department will help you apply .
Our company along with sale of tickets and registration of visas to Italy offers services for booking air tickets and hotels for independent preparation of documents for a visa to Italy.
When ordering this service, we create air ticket reservation, which is required to obtain a visa to Italy. If necessary, you can order an invitation (hotel reservation) from us, which is required to obtain a visa to Italy. An invitation is made with financial support in the national reservation system, which significantly affects the duration of the visa.
Attention! Currently, it is not safe to independently book hotels on common booking resources.
With the features of self-preparation of documents for obtaining a visa, you can
Book air tickets without payment for a visa to Italy
Book air tickets without payment for a visa to Italy or how to obtain the necessary documents to submit documents to the embassy for visas to Italy
How can I book air tickets without paying for a visa to Italy.
Now in many embassies, to obtain a visa to Italy, it is best to present a reservation and it will be easier to book air tickets without paying for a visa than to pay money and not receive it.
Most airlines require you to pay for your booked tickets immediately or within 24 hours, otherwise your reservation will be cancelled. With us you can make a reservation for a period of 10-14 days. How to book on our website. You will need to print out your Italy booking confirmation to present at the embassy along with your other documents. This reservation will remain valid for 10-14 days.
How to make a visa reservation
One of the documents that should be prepared for traveling to a foreign country is booking tickets for a visa. Consular services request it as confirmation of the real purposes of the trip. Purchased plane tickets or their reservation will serve as proof that the visa applicant intends to visit a specific country on certain dates and then return to their homeland.
How to get a flight reservation to apply for a visa
The procedure for obtaining a visa depends on the decision of the consulate of a particular state. But as a rule, consulate officials are more willing to give permission to visit the country to those who have already purchased a ticket. However, in some cases, it is better to only book plane tickets to obtain a visa, and not buy them in advance. For example, not everyone wants to spend money and buy tickets if they are not sure that a visa will be given, or if the visa is issued in reserve and not for a specific trip. You can book air tickets for a visa at a travel agency, or you can do it yourself. To do this, you need to use one of the aggregators for searching for plane tickets on the Internet. There are many search engines suitable for these purposes, among which are: metasearch engines - they search for tickets on many sites and provide the information found about various options for flight conditions, airlines, dates and prices in one table; Ticket search sites – allow you to make a reservation without going to the airline’s website; air ticket exchanges – offer various promotions and discounts; airline websites.
How to make a reservation
How to make a flight reservation for a visa? Having opened the most suitable search engine and entered the details of the desired flight, corresponding to the travel details in the requested visa by direction and dates, you need to select one of the proposed options. After filling out the column with your first name, last name, passport data, and contact email address, you can proceed to purchasing a ticket or simulating it to create a reservation. Immediately before payment, a window should appear with all the passenger’s entered data, as well as the reservation number, which is a sequence of six characters - numbers and Latin letters. As easy as getting an airfare reservation for a visa, the consular officer can check it for validity. Therefore, the reservation must be made with the company and on the site where it lasts the longest, so that at the time of submitting the documents it still has legal force. As a rule, an unpaid reservation lasts from one to ten days.
Where to check and print your flight reservations
Tourist and airline companies use special global systems to issue tickets. In them, but in a version adapted for ordinary users, you can check and print an air ticket reservation for a visa. Main systems: Siren – www.myairlines.ru; Galileo – viewtrip.com; Saber – virtuallythere.com; Amadeus – checkmytrip.com. Different airlines operate with different systems. Therefore, if no recognizable data about the global system was specified when booking a ticket, you will have to check each of them. To do this, you must enter your reservation number and last name in the window provided. If the information is found, it means that the ticket has been successfully booked, and you can print this file to present at the consulate.
Is it possible to get a visa without booking tickets?
Not all consulates require air tickets or flight reservations to obtain a visa. Therefore, in order not to do unnecessary work, before submitting documents you need to check the exact list of papers that should be prepared. For example, when applying for a Schengen visa, it is mandatory to present booked or purchased tickets.
Low-cost airline ticket
An excellent alternative to a fictitious visa reservation is a real ticket for a low-cost airline. Low-cost airlines are low-cost airlines that reduce flight fares by reducing the services offered to passengers, as well as optimizing the work of company employees and equipment. Sometimes you come across tickets that are so cheap that even if they are purchased only for a visa and you don’t have to use them, you won’t mind throwing them away. When using the services of a low-cost airline, the passenger receives an electronic ticket for a visa, which will need to be printed and attached to the main package of papers when submitting the application. This ticket differs from a reservation only in that it has already been paid for. Low-cost airlines do not offer real tickets, since all sales are made online.
Confirmation of another mode of transport
If crossing the border by plane is not part of your plans, then you can attach confirmation of another type of transport to your visa application package. If the trip is planned by car, then it is necessary to draw up a free-form itinerary sheet - a description of the trip by day, mentioning all the places where you plan to visit and all the hotels where you plan to stay overnight. In addition, you will have to provide a vehicle registration certificate or confirmation of car reservation, a green card (transport insurance), and an international driving license. You can also book another type of transport - train, ferry or bus. In addition, a combined travel option using several vehicles may be allowed. In this case, you must provide tickets or reservations for each of them. Before applying for a visa, you need to find out from official sources which vehicle reservations the consulate of a particular state allows for consideration. For example, the Schengen countries are very loyal to any methods of border crossing. But there are a number of countries whose consular services do not accept any other means of transport for entry into the state, except for airplanes.
Where to book flight tickets for an Italy visa without hassle?
It often happens that it is almost impossible to buy air tickets for a visa to Italy for a particular flight. All this happens because customers contact the airline too late, thinking that tickets should always be on sale. Some people simply do not have time to go to the airport and book air tickets for a visa, but this problem can be solved quite simply. To stop asking where, you should contact us.
How and where to book air tickets for a visa quickly and profitably?
Booking air tickets to Italy is necessary in order to have confidence in the possibility of departing from the country on time. Of course, not all people have the desire and opportunity to go to the airport, stand in long lines, and additionally visit the help desk to find out about the availability of tickets to Italy, their price and the features of the chosen flight. Now you don’t need to do this anymore, because you can always do it online.
Booking plane tickets to Italy using our service is not only simple, but also quite profitable.
Booking gives you peace of mind that you can fly to your destination on time. You no longer need to wonder where to book air tickets for a visa to Italy, because this process can be completed online, without leaving the aisles of your own home.
Booking airline tickets on the website is quite simple and comfortable. Absolutely anyone can find tickets for a visa to Italy and book them at a favorable price. Cheap tickets can be booked at any time, with the peace of mind that you can travel on time.
Where to book flights for a visa to Italy
Air tickets for a visa to Italy can be selected from the available catalog and ordered for yourself at an affordable price. The booking service is available to clients who have already reached the age of majority. You can receive a booking confirmation from the airline by email. You can always pay for the service in a way that is convenient for you. Booking airline tickets is very convenient and profitable, and absolutely everyone can use this service. All you need to do is perform an action on the Internet, pay for and pick up tickets, and the company providing this service will take care of their availability and availability. Booking air tickets for a visa online is always convenient and affordable.
Booking air tickets and hotels for a visa to Italy in summer, autumn 2019 for 10-14 days
If you are planning to independently obtain a visa to Italy without paying for air tickets, since the exact dates of the trip are uncertain or you are not ready now to purchase and pay 100% for air tickets and hotel accommodation (apartments, hotels), you will need a confirmed real reservation. Our company, along with selling tickets to Italy, offers services for booking air tickets and hotels with confirmation to obtain a visa to Italy. We can also issue an international insurance policy for a citizen traveling abroad, which is a necessary document for obtaining a visa. The amount of insurance coverage complies with the legislation of the Russian Federation (from December 22, 2015 - 2,000,000 rubles) and is 35,000 Euro.
Reservations are valid for the entire period of consideration of your documents at the embassy (10-14 days). If necessary, the validity period of the reservation will be extended. (You can familiarize yourself with the intricacies of independently preparing documents for a visa).
Air ticket booking confirmation sheet, hotel reservation and insurance policy You can get it in one of the following ways:
- by email;
- in the office (Nikoloyamskaya str., 29 building 1, office 303);
- courier (paid service).
Along with the reservation sheet provided to the embassy, you will receive a link with the individual number of your reservation in the international reservation system.
Our guarantees:
1. Air ticket reservations are monitored daily by the operator via the ticket office console.
2. When you call from the embassy, your reservation will be confirmed by our company.
Please note that since 2016, most embassies check air ticket reservations through the reservation system and call if necessary.
3. If you wish, you can redeem your booked ticket.
4. Experience: more than 7 years of successful filings.
The cost of booking an air ticket to Italy (charter or regular route) is: 500 rubles when booking one passenger, 400 rubles per person for two or more passengers. We keep your reservation for the entire period of consideration of documents at the embassy.
The cost of booking a hotel in Italy is 900 rubles per room. We keep your reservation for the entire period of consideration of documents at the embassy.
The cost of an international insurance policy for a tourist traveling abroad (Schengen countries) is 60 rubles per day. Coverage - 35000 Euro, without franchise.
We provide a service express booking by appointment.
For reservations of 3 or more, a discount is provided.
To book flights and/or hotel to Italy, please fill out the order form, or call +7 495 532-58-41
Book air tickets to Italy without paying the cost.
Air ticket reservation with confirmation
If you wish to obtain a visa to Italy yourself, you will need a ticket or a confirmed reservation for a round trip ticket, as well as a hotel reservation. Our company, along with selling tickets to Italy, offers the service booking air tickets and hotels with confirmation to obtain a visa to Italy.Please note it is free long-term automatic reservation made “automatically” without payment through various sites online-there is no reservation.
Such reservations are kept for no more than a day and cannot be confirmed if checked by consular officers.
Our agency provides this service for a fee, but guarantees the duration of the reservation 10-14 days, which is a sufficient period for consideration of your documents at the embassy. You can always check your reservation on the carrier's website. Be careful!
Air ticket reservation with confirmation to Italy
A life hack that allows you to book a ticket without paying for up to 10 days. This method has helped me out more than once, because there are situations when you just need an air ticket to Italy, which you don’t need to buy. For example, to obtain a visa to Italy when you are not sure of your chances. Or fly without a return ticket, and they may require one at the border.
To book an air ticket without paying, I use. Unpaid reservations are held here for up to 10 days.
Reservation for a visa to Italy
Some airlines allow you to keep your reservation without paying for up to 10 days. For example, Qatar, Turkish Airlines and others. If it is the active reservation that is important, and not the presence of an unpaid ticket form, then.
How to book a ticket to Italy without paying
1. Go to the website https://www..php and select the country we need.
2. Fill out the data, enter your email and phone number and click order
3. We pay for the booking service and receive a real reservation to Italy, with which you can even buy air tickets if necessary
Air ticket without payment
Ticket without payment
How to print an air ticket without paying
You can find and print your reservation on one of the following sites:
You should print no more than two sheets - embassies do not accept sheets of more than 3 sheets
Booking air tickets for a visa to Italy
If you are booking tickets to obtain Schengen, you will need a reservation that lasts for at least 7 days, or even 10 ideally. Tickets to Italy must be valid for as long as possible while your documents are being processed.
To obtain a visa yourself, you will need confirmed flight booking. You can use the services of our company to book or purchase air tickets to the following countries:
Austria Belgium Bulgaria Great Britain Hungary Germany Holland Greece Denmark Iceland Spain Italy Cyprus Latvia Lithuania Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia USA Finland France Croatia Czech Republic Switzerland Sweden Estonia Schengen countries
The Internet works wonders: today you can pay for plane tickets and hotels online. If you do this in advance, you can certainly save money and time. But sometimes there are situations when we just need to book a hotel without paying. For example, the embassy or visa center requires a hotel reservation to obtain a visa. But there is no 100% guarantee that a visa will be given. Therefore, in order not to lose money by paying for a room prematurely, you can book a hotel without payment and present your unpaid reservation to the embassy.
There are several nuances that you need to pay attention to when booking a hotel for a visa.
5 steps on how to book a hotel without paying
1. Go to the website, indicate the destination city, travel dates and number of people, then click “find out prices”.
2. In the window that appears at the top, in the “additional” section, select “free cancellation”.
3. Check on the agency or hotel website until what date free cancellation is valid. It is important that the reservation is valid at the time of applying for a visa. Also, if you do not cancel your reservation in a timely manner, you will have to pay a fine to the hotel. Information about penalties and conditions must be read carefully before booking.
4. To confirm your hotel reservation, you need to fill in the following fields: email address, contact phone number, first and last name, as in your international passport. When booking a double room, it is important to provide the names of all guests. Sometimes the hotel asks you to leave your bank card details. Funds will not be debited from the card as they are needed to guarantee the reservation. However, we should not forget about timely cancellation.
5. Make sure that the reservation notification has been received by email and contains the address and telephone number of the hotel, arrival dates and the names of each visa applicant. Having seen all the data, you can print out the reservation and feel free to go to the embassy for a visa.
Now you know how to book a hotel without paying for a visa. It's also possible. We wish you pleasant travels!
Updated: 2019-3-13
Oleg Lazhechnikov
86The most important thing to start planning for an independent trip is buying tickets and booking accommodation. Tickets are a separate matter. Now let’s figure out where to start and how to properly book online accommodation for your trip, be it a hotel, guesthouse or hostel. Now there are many booking systems (such as Booking, Agoda, etc.) and services (for example,), where you can search for hotels and compare prices in different booking systems.
First, let's talk about everything in detail. At the very end of the post I’ll tell you how I book hotels myself, in what order.
What do you need
To book a hotel yourself, you will need a little time and three simple things that most people already have:
— Internet access. Now it is available almost everywhere: home, mobile, in cafes, shopping centers, hotels, etc.
— Bank card (debit or credit) Mastercard, Visa or similar. You need to do it in advance, before the trip, in your hometown
- Email. Her address must be indicated when booking, and you will receive a booking confirmation email and a booking code there.
By the way, some systems now allow you to book a hotel without a card.
What is a reservation system
A booking system is a website that allows you to book a hotel, essentially a database of hotels around the world. Hotels themselves are added to it in order to be able to rent out their rooms via the Internet. Reservation systems do not charge users a commission for using their database, and receive money directly from the hotel. That is, as a rule, the cost of staying in a room via the Internet or on site (at the reception) does not change for you. But it all depends on the specific hotel, because it is the hotel that sets these prices; for example, it may hold a promotion that if you book in advance you will receive a discount (but there will be no discount on the spot).
In any booking system, you can select hotels according to different criteria - country, city, dates, number of people, availability of certain services. Payment is made by bank card (). After payment, you will receive an email with your reservation details (reservation confirmation).
Which booking system should you choose? There are no clear rules here, it’s a matter of habit; some people understand one interface, others understand another. However, the number of hotels in different countries in booking systems is different. Therefore, there is an unspoken rule: there is a greater choice of Asian hotels, and more suitable for Europe and Russia.
List of hotel reservation systems
The most popular reservation systems: Ostrovok, Hotels.com, Expedia.com. There are also booking systems specializing in hostels, but now the same Booking and Agoda have become very large services, and they have hostels, apartments, and even houses with villas.
Here are my instructions for each service:
You can search for hotels in different booking systems and compare the results. In some places the interface is more convenient, in others there is a larger database of hotels. Therefore it is best to use Hotel search engines, which are searched across all booking systems at once. Essentially, such services do most of the work for you. More about them below.
Apartment booking system
I would like to make a separate point about Airbnb. This is a service that offers private housing. Most of them are apartments, rooms in apartments, or even houses of local residents. This service helps home owners make money by acting as an intermediary between them and you. By the way, you can also rent out your apartment by the day this way if you wish (anyone can participate).
If you are not yet familiar with the service, be sure to read about it, where it tells you what it is, how to register correctly, how to book accommodation, etc.
So, Airbnb offers really cool options that are primarily of interest to families with children and groups of several people. Because often an apartment can accommodate not two people, but 4-6 or more. And with this approach (you usually pay for all accommodation at once) it turns out to be several times cheaper than in a hotel. After all, a hotel would have to take several rooms for such a number of people. Moreover, living conditions in an apartment can be much better than in a hotel. For example, most apartments have kitchens, and many also have a washing machine. These are very relevant points when traveling with children.
What are Hotel Finders?
A hotel search engine is a service where you can search for hotels in all popular booking systems at the same time. That is, such a service searches for the hotels you need right away, both in Booking, and in Agoda, and on Ostrovka, and in other systems. It would be a pain to sort them out manually. Hotel search engines are also called aggregators and metasearch engines. In essence, this is a hotel Google.
How does this happen? You also specify the search criteria you need (country, city, dates, room services) and the search engine gives you the results - a list of hotels. And then, having selected a specific hotel, you will see the cost of living in this hotel in various booking systems (Booking, Agoda, Ostrovok, etc.), that is, you have the opportunity to compare and choose. When you make your choice, the search engine will redirect you to the website of the selected reservation system, where you will make a hotel reservation. That is, the search engine itself does not sell anything, it only searches. There are no additional or hidden fees. The principle of operation is reminiscent of those already familiar to everyone. You can read more about the services in my instructions:
One of the best hotel search engines in my opinion is . It has very good integration with Booking and other systems, it has all the necessary filters, and the hotel rating is immediately shown. I personally also like the display of hotels on the map, since I often look for accommodation in a specific location. And when you move the map, hotels are shown throughout the entire territory, even if I initially specified a different city in the search. This makes it easy to find hotels between cities or on specific beaches without even knowing their names. You can try searching for yourself using the form below.
Book a hotel in advance or search locally
Local search is more relevant for inexpensive Asian countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and where there are many small hotels at every turn. But in Hong Kong, Singapore, or Europe it is cheaper and easier to book everything in advance. However, I still prefer, if possible (when I know the exact dates), to book everything in advance so as not to waste my time searching, there are all the tools for this, it’s stupid to ignore modern technologies.
- By booking in advance, you will be sure that you will have overnight accommodation upon arrival. You can adjust and plan the entire trip at once and, thus, the likelihood of falling behind schedule is minimal. This is especially true if you are traveling to a popular place during the season, you can simply stay on the street and not find any empty seats.
- Again, during preparation, you can read real reviews from guests in booking systems and take into account all your wishes: distance to the beach, air conditioning, swimming pool, WiFi, etc. On the spot, you will have to go to all the hotels in a row and ask what is available, and it will also not be entirely clear what the actual service is, do not ask people on the street.
- The most important thing about booking in advance is saving time and effort. The fact is that searching on the spot is far from a romantic activity, and not everyone will like spending even 1-2 hours walking around various hotels in the heat and after a long flight. No, of course, if you come for several months and you need to carefully select housing for this period, then this may be justified.
- It often happens that prices when booking online are lower than directly on site. I remember I made a reservation right at the hotel reception (it was almost 2 times cheaper), no matter how strange it may sound.
- When you receive your visa, you may need printouts from the reservation system to confirm that you have a place to live. For example, the French consulate (and many other European countries) accepts printouts from
Some nuances when booking
- Check the check in time (usually around 2 pm) and check out time (around 12 pm). Some hotels are very strict about this and may charge you for another day if you are late. You also need to understand that if you arrive earlier, the hotel will only be able to accommodate you if it has such an opportunity, otherwise you will wait.
- Check the opening hours of the reception desk, otherwise if you arrive late in the evening or at night, you may arrive to closed doors.
- The debiting of money for a hotel or the possibility of booking a hotel without payment (with payment at the time of check-in) depends purely on the specific hotel and its policy.
- Please read the cancellation policy carefully, especially if there is a possibility that you will need to cancel your reservation. Usually, a reservation can be canceled without any penalties some time before arrival. In some cases (for example, there was a special offer), the reservation is not canceled and the money is not refunded. All this is indicated on the page of a particular hotel. Also, in case of no-show, they may begin to write off money for accommodation.
- Sometimes it is possible to book a hotel not only without prepayment, but even without providing your bank card details. Of course, you can score and not cancel the reservation later, but I would not recommend doing this, there is a risk of getting fined (the cost of one night). Alternatively, you can register a new account each time, but IMHO it’s easier not to go through with it.
- If the type of bed is very important (a large double or two singles), it makes sense to contact the hotel or at least read the reviews, since it is not always clear what is meant in the room description. Although I personally have never encountered any problems.
- It is best to always have a printout of your hotel reservation (voucher) with you or a file with it on your phone to show on the screen. But usually just giving your last name or reservation number is enough.
How I book hotels and life hack
Life hack for those who are used to . Search for a hotel on your usual Booking website, copy its name and paste it into the search window for the dates you need. Thus, you will find out whether the hotel is offered at a cheaper price, for example, on Agoda, Ostrovok and others.
After using a little different sites, both booking systems and search engines, you will figure it out yourself. There is nothing difficult about finding and paying for a hotel or guesthouse. I am looking for housing in the following order:
In Thailand, if I don’t know exactly when and where I’m going to stop (for example, I’m traveling 800 km by car), then I look for accommodation right along the route of the service. But again, not without the help of services. I have a mobile application from Hotellook (Android, iOS, Windows Phone), the convenience of which is that it can show hotels right next to your location. Sometimes it’s enough to walk 100-200 meters and the hotel you need will be there. Actually, these are not all the possibilities; there you can search and book hotels in advance, which is what I also do.
But in general, it’s better to book in advance; during the peak season in Thailand, it happens that all suitable hotels are already completely booked on the day of booking, and you have to check into places where you wouldn’t otherwise be able to.
P.S. Add if you forgot something :)
Life hack 1 - how to buy good insurance
It’s incredibly difficult to choose insurance now, so I’m compiling a rating to help all travelers. To do this, I constantly monitor forums, study insurance contracts and use insurance myself.
Life hack 2 - how to find a hotel 20% cheaper
Thanks for reading
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