5 Steps to take before booking a hotel

The hotel industry is very competitive and there are so many offers, discounts and free nights that you need days to just keep up with all these offers. All chains want your custom and they will try to give you as many incentives as possible so you stay with them. It can be very daunting and time consuming. So here are my 5 top tips of how you can take advantage of these offers and what to look for when you have a hotel stay coming up.

When I book a hotel I usually ask myself the following questions:

• What offers are out there
  
• What is important to me during this trip (luxury, budget, location, price etc.)
• Can I make my next stay as value for money as possible?
  
• Can I earn Avios or hotel points that I can redeem for a free night?
  
• Do I have a loyalty membership with them and what level?

Usually many hotel chains have monthly and quarterly offers giving Avios or bonus points. As you know I post many of these offers here if I know you will find them beneficial. Since I started this hobby, I accumulated quite a few Gold and Platinum memberships with various hotel chains and I have status matched others. (I will explore status matches in another article)

When I follow the questions I mentioned above I can pretty much work out how many points and Avios I will receive. Then I can decide if I will sing up for them and where i might be able to use them. Majority of times one of my stays, pays for the following stay. Let’s say one is paid and the other one will be redemption. This is also how I convince my husband to book the holiday! 🙂

For example I travelled to Dubai and stayed at the Sofitel Jumeirah, apart from the perks I received as Platinum member, they has an offer for 3xAvios. I was in need of a hotel and I would have spent the money, but choosing carefully I managed to earn approximately 10,000 Avios. Not bad really, as I will redeem the Avios for a free flight to Germany. Though I am still waiting for Accor Hotels to transfer some bonus points to me and they should be approximately 6,000 Avios.

Many hotels offer cash-back as well if you book via a cashback website. Most of the times this doesn’t affect you earning extra Avios or points and signing up for them. For the above mentioned stay in Dubai apart from the Avios, I earned £100+ on cash-back as well.

You can really make these hotels and promotions to work in your advantage. All you need to do is follow MuslimTravelGirl for all the new offers, ideas, deals and then just sign up for them. Oh, and of course the hardest part of it all, to enjoy and travel in style around the world. 🙂