Hotels

Booking a room

In most cases, hotel rooms are booked, or reserved, in advance, so that a room will be held by the hotel awaiting the arrival of a specific guest. Rooms at hotels can also be rented by simply walking in and enquiring at the front desk, but this may be met with a decline as the hotel may be fully booked for the night. Rooms can be booked directly with the hotels, or via intermediaries such as travel websites (aggregators) and travel agents. Airlines, railways, ferry operators and other travel-related services providers often act as intermediaries as well, providing their passengers and clients the option to book a hotel room in addition to their regular services.

Room rates

If you stay at a hotel of decent rating, the bill will usually be a significant share of your travel budget. In general, room rates reflect the wealth of the hotel's location, its proximity to key attractions, and/or accessibility by public transport. Hotel rooms in low-income countries and less affluent neighbourhoods might be cheaper than a similarly-rated hotel in a cosmopolitan business district. The price paid for staying at the hotel is generally determined by the room rate, i.e. the rate paid for staying each night spent in the room. The base room rate usually does not include anything but accommodation. Other services, as well as meals, usually incur extra charges. Use of some of the room's and hotel's facilities might also not be free for staying guests. It is good to make sure what is included in the rate and what may cost extra before booking, or at least before using specific services. Hotels usually have a standard rate quoted at the front desk and displayed prominently in the hotel and in the rooms, which is often called the rack rate. The rack rate is usually the highest rate the hotel would charge for the room, as it is often required by legal restrictions. There are usually many rates one can pay for a given night that are lower than the rack rate, and the value of the rate depends on a number of factors. Knowing how hotels set their offered rates can help you book your desired room cheaper. Some of the factors that can influence the value of the rate:

Advance bookings – special, lower rates are often available when booking in advance. Hotels are very interested in having as many rooms as possible booked early to manage their occupancy better. The best rates are usually offered when booking 21 days or more in advance, but even booking a few days in advance would often get you a better rate than the rack rate you would get when walking into the hotel on the day of your stay – when they know you will probably take the room regardless. Cancellability – most bookings can be cancelled without charge until the night of or before your stay, so the hotel risks keeping the room for you and then you cancelling it at the last minute. If you choose a rate

Checking in and out

On arriving at the hotel, guests should check in, which means giving the front desk the details of the guests staying in a given room, referring to the booking, confirming rates and conditions, being assigned a room and receiving the key to the room. Checking out is done once a guest's stay is completed. The front desk staff presents the charges incurred and guests settle the bill. The key to the room is returned to the front desk at that time. Hotels usually have fixed check-in and check-out times, given as the earliest hour one can check in at and the latest at which one can check out. Those are usually not the same time – hotels leave a few hours between check-in and check-out times to allow for housekeeping to clean and prepare any rooms that might be vacated at the last possible moment (thus, a day's stay at a hotel is usually shorter than 24 hours even if using all available time). Otherwise, check-in and check-out times are limited by the availability of front desk staff – not all hotels have front desks working 24 hours a day. In small hotels the front desk may not be regularly staffed, and there may be a bell to ring to summon attention or a sign directing you to the bar. If you expect to arrive late in the evening (maybe after 8 PM), it may be advisable to let the hotel know your expected arrival time to reassure them you are coming and find out whether you have to make any special arrangements upon arrival. If the hotel has not taken any payment for your reservation, they may ask for you to guarantee your stay with a credit card, due to a late check-in; otherwise, they may be tempted to resell the room if you don't arrive by early evening. The latest check-out time varies between hotels, but is generally sometime around noon, while check-in is usually possible at times from 2 PM onwards. Earlier check-ins and later check-outs at hotels are usually treated as extra services incurring extra charges. They can sometimes be offered free of charge as perks to some guests and included in some rates or special packages. That said, sometimes hotels will let guests check in early or check out late on inquiry at the front desk with no additional conditions and c

Room types

Within a single hotel property, many different rooms may be available. Even in properties with uniform rooms, it is good to make sure what type of room is available to book one precisely fitting one's needs. Rooms may vary according to number and types of beds, size, facilities and amenities as well as décor and design.

Single rooms are for single travellers. In many hotels, a single room is actually the same as a double room. Double rooms are for two travellers sleeping in the same bed. Twin rooms have two separate single beds. Triple rooms have either three separate beds, or a double bed plus a single bed. Quads rooms are designed for 4 people or more. Suites are complete apartments with multiple rooms, generally intended for longer stays. Honeymoon suites or bridal suites are novelty rooms with oversize beds or whirlpool baths. Marketed to couples, these are often larger than standard rooms but are not multiple-room suites. See also wedding and honeymoon travel. Efficiencies are rooms with kitchen or cooking facilities, permitting travellers to avoid costs of dining in restaurants.

Bathrooms Most modern hotel rooms will include private bathrooms (meaning they can only be accessed from the rooms and are intended to be used by the guests staying in the rooms only), which will be fitted with a sink, toilet and shower or bathtub (or both). This type of arrangement, called ensuite, has become commonplace in properties across all standards, although some hotels even in developed countries continue to offer rooms with shared bathrooms. Such bathrooms are usually located in common hallways and are intended for use by all occupants of the rooms in a given floor. Often a hotel room that is not ensuite will still include a sink with running water or even also a toilet. Although not common, a few hotels in older buildings have some rooms with private bathrooms that are not ensuite; instead, your key will give only you access to a bathroom down the corridor. Some hotels also offer bathrooms especially fitted to cater for the needs of guests with disabilities. This includes special handlebars and supports, a folded seat in a shower stall and other fitments to enable co

Hotel types

There are various types of hotel to suit different travellers' needs or budget, or different companies' priorities. Star ratings may help; sometimes they are governed by tourism officials or a hotel association, so they are somewhat objective. In other cases they are pretty much arbitrary and meaningless. That said, some concepts and formats have been quite uniformly adopted by the industry and can be found almost anywhere in the globe in the same form. Some of the popular and peculiar types of hotels are discussed below.

Full-service hotels A "full-service hotel" is an American term referring to a hotel providing extensive service to guests and generally being staffed around the clock. Many of the services provided i