How to Choose a Hotel: What to Check Before You Book

Learning how to choose a hotel gets much easier once you know which details actually matter for your trip.

A beautiful room won’t help much if you’re spending an hour getting to the places you came to see. Free breakfast isn’t much of a perk if you leave every morning before it starts. And the cheapest room can cost more in the end if you have to pay for parking, transportation or extras you didn’t notice when comparing rates.

When I choose hotels for our trips, I start with location and the itinerary, then narrow the options using the room setup, total price, recent reviews, cancellation terms and the amenities we’ll actually use.

Here’s what to check before you book.

Quick Answer: How to Choose a Hotel?

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1. Start With Location

Location is usually the first thing I look at.

Open your itinerary and identify where you’ll spend most of your time. Then search for hotels that make those days easier.

That doesn’t always mean staying in the geographic center of a city.

For our trip to Zhangjiajie, China, we stayed in Wulingyuan because Zhangjiajie National Forest Park was our priority. Staying there reduced the time we needed to spend getting to the park.

Downtown Zhangjiajie would have been more convenient for Tianmen Mountain and the airport.

Neither location is automatically better. The better location depends on what you’re going there to do.

The same principle applies almost anywhere.

Before booking, check:

• distance to your main attractions
• actual driving or public transportation time
• nearby transit stations
• airport or train-station access when relevant
• whether you’ll need taxis or rideshares every day
• how you’ll reach the hotel with luggage
• whether the area still works for early starts and late returns

Don’t rely only on the distance shown on a hotel listing. Pull up the route on a map.

A hotel that appears close can still involve hills, stairs, indirect walking routes or inconvenient transportation.

2. Check the Exact Room You’re Booking

Once the location works, look closely at the room.

Hotel photos can show several room categories on the same property page, so make sure the room you’re pricing is actually the room shown in the photos you’re considering.

Check:

• number and size of beds
• maximum occupancy
• room size
• private versus shared bathroom
• whether a child’s bed or crib costs extra
• view, balcony or floor if those matter to you
• air-conditioning or heating
• refrigerator or kitchenette
• accessibility features if needed

This becomes especially important when traveling internationally because room terminology and bed sizes aren’t always what you’re accustomed to at home.

For families, “sleeps three” doesn’t necessarily tell you how three people are supposed to sleep.

Find the actual bed configuration before booking.

3. Compare the Total Price

Don’t compare hotels using only the first nightly rate you see.

Compare what the entire stay will cost.

Look for:

• taxes
• mandatory property or resort fees
• parking
• breakfast
• Wi-Fi if it isn’t included
• extra-person or child charges
• rollaway-bed fees
• transportation costs
• cleaning or service charges where applicable

A hotel that’s $20 cheaper per night can quickly lose that advantage if another property includes breakfast and parking or puts you within walking distance of the places you’re visiting.

For U.S. hotel searches, mandatory fees should now be included in the displayed total price, but you should still check what the rate includes before paying. See FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees.

4. Read Recent Reviews for Patterns

I use reviews to look for patterns, especially in recent stays.

One angry review doesn’t automatically eliminate a hotel. Several recent guests mentioning the same problem deserves more attention.

Look for repeated comments about:

• cleanliness
• noise
• uncomfortable beds
• hot water
• air-conditioning or heating
• elevators
• Wi-Fi
• breakfast
• staff
• neighborhood
• parking
• construction
• rooms looking different from listing photos

Also pay attention to reviews from travelers whose trip resembles yours.

A solo business traveler and a family sightseeing with a young child may care about completely different things.

If you’re traveling with kids, family reviews can reveal practical details that don’t appear prominently in a hotel description.

5. Check the Amenities You’ll Actually Use

A long amenity list can make a hotel look impressive, but I care more about the few amenities that will affect our trip.

A pool, for example, can be genuinely useful for us when traveling with our daughter.

During our stay at Jian Guo Garden Hotel in Beijing, the indoor pool became one of her favorite parts of the hotel. After sightseeing, she could come back and swim.

Breakfast also worked well for us because we could eat before starting the day instead of finding somewhere else every morning.

Your priorities may be completely different.

You might care more about:

• included breakfast
• laundry
• refrigerator
• kitchenette
• swimming pool
• fitness center
• airport shuttle
• luggage storage
• 24-hour reception
• on-site restaurant
• parking
• reliable Wi-Fi

Choose amenities based on how you’ll actually use the hotel.

6. Check the Cancellation and Payment Terms

Read the cancellation policy before paying, especially if you’re booking far in advance.

Two rates for the same room can have very different rules.

Check:

• cancellation deadline
• whether the reservation is refundable
• whether payment is due now or at the property
• penalties for changing dates
• no-show policy
• deposit requirements
• accepted payment methods
• whether the hotel requires a card at check-in

A lower nonrefundable rate can make sense when your plans are firm. A flexible rate can be worth paying more for when flights, weather or other parts of the itinerary could change.

Save the booking confirmation and cancellation terms after you reserve.

7. Think About Transportation and Parking

A hotel’s nightly price doesn’t tell you what staying there will cost in time or transportation.

If you’re renting a car, check parking before booking. Find out whether it’s:

• free
• paid
• valet only
• off-site
• limited
• difficult for larger vehicles

In a city where you won’t have a car, look at public transportation and the routes you’ll use most often.

Also consider arrival and departure.

A hotel that’s perfect for sightseeing may be inconvenient when you land late at night or have an early flight the next morning.

Sometimes that tradeoff is worth it. You just want to know about it before you book.

8. Choosing a Hotel When Traveling With Kids

Traveling with a young child changes what I notice about a hotel.

Location becomes even more important because extra transportation at the beginning and end of a long sightseeing day can be exhausting.

I also look more closely at:

• actual bed setup
• room size
• elevators
• breakfast
• refrigerator access
• pool
• laundry
• nearby food
• transportation
• whether we can easily return to the hotel during the day

You don’t necessarily need a hotel marketed as a “family hotel.”

You need a hotel that works for your family’s itinerary.

In Beijing, our hotel’s location worked for sightseeing and for our Great Wall pickup. The pool gave our daughter something fun to do back at the hotel.

In Zhangjiajie, the bigger decision was which part of the city to stay in. Being based in Wulingyuan made sense because the National Forest Park was our priority.

Those practical details mattered more to us than having the fanciest hotel.

9. Compare Your Final Two or Three Hotels

Once you understand how to choose a hotel based on your trip, narrow the options to two or three properties and compare them side by side.

Put the finalists side by side and compare the things that actually matter for this trip.

Swipe to see all hotel options →

You may find that the cheapest hotel isn’t actually your best-value option.

Or you may realize you’re about to pay substantially more for amenities you won’t use.

The table forces the decision back onto the trip you’re actually planning.

10. Where Should You Book Your Hotel?

I usually compare more than one source before booking.

Hotel-booking sites are useful for seeing many properties at once, filtering by location, price and amenities, and comparing guest reviews.

Once you’ve narrowed your choices, also check the hotel’s own website when it has one.

Make sure you’re comparing the same room, same dates, same occupancy and same cancellation terms. A cheaper-looking rate isn’t necessarily cheaper if the conditions are different.

If you’re ready to compare hotels for your trip:

Hotel Booking Checklist

Before clicking Book, I would check these one last time:

Location

• Is it convenient for the places I’m actually visiting?
• Have I checked real travel times?

Room

• Is this the exact room type I want?
• Does the bed configuration work?
• Is occupancy correct?

Price

• What’s the total for the entire stay?
• What isn’t included?

Policies

• When does the cancellation penalty begin?
• Is the rate refundable?
• When will my card be charged?

Logistics

• How will I get there when I arrive?
• Is parking available if I need it?
• Does reception work with my arrival time?

Amenities

• Are the amenities I care about included with my room?
• Have I confirmed anything that’s particularly important?

Reviews

• Are there repeated concerns in recent reviews?
• Do recent photos match what the hotel currently advertises?

A few minutes checking these details can save a much bigger problem after you arrive.

Should You Book a Hotel or Vacation Rental?

For some trips, the final choice may be between a hotel and a vacation rental.

A rental can be useful when you need more living space, a kitchen or laundry, particularly for a longer stay or larger group.

Hotels can make more sense when you value regular service, a staffed front desk, housekeeping, hotel amenities or a more standardized check-in process.

Compare the total price and logistics for your particular trip rather than assuming one type will always cost less.

Final Thoughts

Knowing how to choose a hotel comes down to matching the property to the trip you’re actually taking.

Start with your itinerary.

Find the location that makes your days easier. Check the exact room. Compare the full cost. Read recent reviews. Understand the cancellation terms. Then decide whether the amenities are things you’ll actually use.

That’s the same approach I use when choosing where we’ll stay on our trips with our daughter.

A hotel doesn’t need to be perfect.

It needs to work for the trip you’re taking.

Planning Where to Stay Next?

If you’re planning China, see Where to Stay in Zhangjiajie: Wulingyuan vs. the City for an example of how I choose a base around the itinerary.

For Beijing, read our Jian Guo Garden Hotel Review for a firsthand look at the hotel we used with our 6-year-old.