Hanging Poolside in our $50 family bungalow in Ubud.

How to Find the Best Hotels, Hostels or Bungalows While Traveling with Kids

Finding Family Friendly Accommodations

Let’s be honest, finding accommodations as a solo traveler or as a couple is a cinch. Add 2 kids into the mix and things just became a lot more interesting.

Some hostels will not accept kids, often the pricing can be astronomical, and our American children tend to be too noisy to sneak past the hotel lobby front desk staff. Trust me we have tried.

Then there are concerns such as how complimentary breakfast is handled (if at all) and sharing beds and bedding.

Over the past year, we have booked 100’s of family-friendly accommodations all over the world. Because we have been traveling with a rough itinerary most of these (if not all) have been fairly last minute bookings.

When traveling with kids booking hotels can be complicated. In South Africa, for example, a price might look amazing until you realize that the price quoted is based on a per-person pricing structure. All of a sudden a budget accommodation has turned into the same price as a 5-star hotel.

And books like lonely planet can be extremely hit and miss (often miss) when it comes to recommending family friendly accommodations.

When I search using traditional routes this is usually my plan of attack:

Booking.com – Great for Europe and North America and becoming a lot better in Asia. One of the largest collections of hotels of any booking site. Helpful reviews from confirmed guests.
Agoda.com – Specializes in Southeast Asia.
Hotels-Combined.com and CheapZebra.com are The best for last minute deals.
Hotwire.com – Hotwire will often land you 5 star accommodations for 2-3 star prices. It takes some bravery, but this often pays off with big comfort and amazing accommodations which can be great, specifically for families.

Don’t spend hours searching for a hotel room. Prices don’t fluctuate that much so it’s not worth the time to do so.

Booking a cheap hotel looks like this:

Start off with Priceline, Expedia (affiliate link), Travel Pony, or your favorite booking site.
If you are booking in Asia, use Agoda (affiliate Link). They are hands down the best site for the region.
Double check a few more sites just to cover your bases.
Cross check with Tingo. They have a very cool price match guarantee (See Below or click here)
Book a place.
Go on with your day.

What is the Best Way to Save Money on Hotels?

Start your hotel search as early as you can. The longer stretch of time you have to search the better deal you’ll likely find. Often, early bookers get the best rooms too.
If your dates can be flexible then compare different date ranges for the best rates. Hotels can fill up for a big convention or big event. Busy and expensive one weekend. Empty and cheap the next.
Flip-flop weekends and weekdays. Hotels target different types of travelers which will have very different weekday and weekend routines. Hotels that have a large business clientele can be very quiet (with large discounts) on weekends. Hotels that see more leisure tourists will be packed on weekends but cheaper on weekdays.
Think upgrade: book the least expensive room through a booking website then contact the hotel directly to inform them of special requirements or enquire about any available upgrades – if the hotel is quiet they’ll often be free or for a nominal charge.

When is the Best Time to Book Hotels?

Here’s a huge generalization that works pretty well for most situations: For hotels that have a business clientele the last week to 10 days will get you the best deals.

For hotels and resorts that have tourists as their primary guests then booking 2 months to 6 months prior to your stay is likely the best.

Why? Business travelers are much more likely to arrange and make last minute (or last week) travel plans. A month before a given date, a hotel in the financial district of London might not have many bookings but will not start discounting those rooms yet. It will still expect to make a lot of bookings in the week or two before that time frame.

Often it’s not just about the price. Early booking will get you the best rooms at a similar price to the less coveted rooms. E.g. A huge family room that is only a little more than a cramped double room.

A hotel in Cancun, Phuket, or Bali that has a lot of openings in a month will start to worry. Most of its guests should have already booked those rooms so the hotel will start to aggressively discount those rooms.

What Day of the Week Has the Best Hotel Deals?

It depends what type of hotel you’re booking.

Business hotels will offer bigger discounts on the weekends (when business clients are at home). Budget hotels will have empty rooms (and discounts) through the week because the people that stay there (weekend shoppers, concert goers, university students) come on there weekends and return home Sunday night.

Why Do Hotels Use Booking Sites Like HotelsCombined or Booking.com?

Here’s where it gets tricky for hotels. Yes, they want to fill some of those rooms. Even if a guest is only paying half the rack-rate it’s still a lot more than zero. At the same time hotels do not want to establish the practice of rewarding guests that wait the longest to book. Then everyone will book last minute expecting (and probably getting) discounted rates.

Hotels offer those rooms to hotel consolidators so that the price discounts don’t reflect directly on the hotel itself. A hotel guest that learns from another guest that they got a 50% discount by booking through HotelsCombined.com would probably shrug their shoulders and try to remember the name of the website. But if that same guest learned that their friend simply booked through the hotel’s website and got a vastly cheaper rate, they’re likely to be upset and displeased with the inconsistent way the hotel charges customers.

As well, when guests book through 3rd party websites they often book other travel options (travel insurance, airfares, rental cars). These serve to obscure the true cost of the hotel room so a direct comparison to the rate another guest paid can’t easily be made.

What’s Included and Are There Extra Fees?

When you’re comparing different rates from different websites be sure to check what’s included in the quoted price. Are there extra fees and taxes?

Extra costs could include an of the following:

City, State, and Country taxes
City, State, and Country surcharges and other fees
Booking service fees (often disguised as hotel charges)
Hotel energy surcharge
Hotel resort fee
Spa or swimming pool fee
Phone or internet availability fee
Short stay surcharge or room cleaning fee
Parking
Credit card surcharge

Clearly it’s not easy to compare 2 rates with all these extras to consider. Taxes and booking fees are the biggest ones so if you’re feeling overwhelmed focus on those and you should be fine.

If you’re staying at a big resort it might be wise to check the hotel’s official website to look for extra fees that may be applied (e.g. a charge for using the spa).

Most websites have search options for the following specifics:

Swimming Pool (Indoor and Outdoor)
Spa
Fitness Center
Kitchenettes
Wi-fi
Parking
Location (and vicinity of the airport).
Airport Shuttle
Non-Smoking Rooms
Rooms or Facilities for Disabled Guests

Be sure to use these if you’re looking for a hotel with special features or characteristics as in my experience they’re accurate.

A final tip, is to check whether breakfast is included. When you arrive at the hotel you can even ask (with a tone of voice that expects that it is included). It’s often of little cost to the hotel to serve another buffet breakfast but this can be a huge savings for you especially over the course of a week or extended stay.

The Essentials for Finding and Booking Hotels Online:

This is the cheat sheet for booking hotels online.

Imporant! – Like airfares, hotel prices go down and go up. Unlike airfares, you can (usually) cancel hotel bookings and book a different hotel – or book the same hotel through a different website. So if you see a decent deal book it. And then keep looking for a better deal.
Important! – Verify directly with the hotel after booking through an online booking website (e.g. booking.com). This is easy to do and well worth it. Occasionally, you’ll get an even better room than if you hadn’t contacted them. For example, if you send an email saying something like this, “I had just wanted to confirm my booking with your hotel. We’re a family of 5 so really need this to go smoothly. Thanks.” At the very least it lets the staff know you’ll need a bigger room. Maybe it won’t change anything but occasionally some of the time it will.
Important! – If you belong to a hotel loyalty program and want to get points by booking directly through the hotel you can still benefit by using 3rd party hotel websites. Simply look for deals for your chosen hotel then phone the hotel and state exactly the deal you found online. They’ll often offer you the same price on the same room. (Though not always, as sometimes they have sold these hotel rooms as a block and are not looking to discount the remaining rooms they still have booking access to.)
Print your confirmation email (or have easy access to it on your phone) to show at reception. 9 times out of 10 you won’t need it but on occasion the hotel might not have received the reservation info and the confirmation will help.
If you’ve already decided on the datess of your hotel stay then you’re starting from a disadvantage. Sometimes you have to travel on specific dates but if you can swing it, try to book hotels before you’ve settled on your dates.
Check multiple sites before you book: the hotel’s website and at least 2 hotel booking sites.
If you’re looking for a specific hotel and see that it’s full on the nights you need then be sure to check a second or third website as this can simply mean that the first websites’ allocation of rooms has sold out, not that the entire hotel is booked full.
If possible contact hotels directly to ask for deals or enquire about special offers. This is a pain and it’s become less and less effective as the online deals have become so competitive but it’s still worth a try. It can be especially effective if you’re staying for a week or more. Hotel booking sites won’t be able to offer special deals based on length of stay.
The biggest risk with reserving through a hotel booking site isn’t that you’ll be scammed out of your money by an illegitimate business (all of the websites that I list in here are reputable) but that they will overbook your hotel and you’ll get an email a few weeks before your stay saying that your room is not available. This is very rare, but it does happen. Contacting hotels directly after you book (I’m mentioning this twice since it’s so important) makes this scenario much less likely.
If you book a non-refundable hotel (read the fine-print) you will never be able to cancel so be certain before you reserve it.
The more particulars matter to you (e.g. special room requests, king or queen sized bed, bathtub, space for cot) the less well booking sites will suit you. That said, many sites are very good at passing along your specific requests when you book, so be sure to include any necessary needs or preferences when you place the booking (there’s usually a form when you can add extra information).
For budget hotels it’s often better to book directly with the hotel. Usually they won’t be listed in the hotel booking sites anyways.
Agoda.com and Hotwire.com are travel websites that accept PayPal – if that’s important for you.
If booking an apartment or family run B&B through a site (e.g. Venere) don’t assume that the same apartment will be payable using a credit card. Confusing I know. The initial credit card is used to reserve the room with Venere, but when you arrive (and need to pay) the owner might only accept cash.

What are The Best Hotel Websites for the most most popular destinations?

Here are direct links for some of my favorite places:

Hotels in Europe

Hotels in Asia

Hotels in the USA, Canada, and Mexico

Other Cheap Accommodation Options

Couch Surfing

Couchsurfing.org – Find hosts to stay with in over 100,000 cities and connect with travelers from all over the world.

Pros/Cons to Couchsurfing:

Couchsurfing pros: free, live like a local, interact with locals, kitchen access, take more than one traveler.
Couchsurfing cons: privacy, boring host, must trust people, not luxurious, be prepared for anything.

FREE Hospitality Networks:

Be Welcome: Step inside and invite travelers to your home, find hosts all over the world, and become part of our multicultural hospitality community. We are not-for-profit, open source, and exclusively run by members in a transparent and democratic way.
GlobalFreeloaders.com: is an online community, bringing people together to offer you free accommodation all over the world. Save money and make new friends whilst seeing the world from a local’s perspective!
Servas: it’s a different way to explore the world 14,000 Servas members in over 130 countries will welcome you into their homes Servas is an international travel network whose members want to promote peace and understanding through contact with people from other countries

Home Exchanges are a Good Option – If you own a home!

House Sitting

trustedhousesitters: TrustedHousesitters.com provides a simple solution to a very common problem: They connect home and pet owners who need a sitter with trustworthy people who want to housesit; reliable pet lovers and experienced home minders who are willing to live in your home and look after it while you’re away (usually for free).
mindmyhouse: Home owners join for free. House sitter memberships are the cheapest on the web at only US$20 or equivalent per year. Dual memberships are perfectly respectable.
Housecarers: Get help you with tips and guides on how to Land the housesit, and give yourself the best exposure to our high traffic dedicated House Sitting Site. They have been Securely Matching House Sitters since October 2000.

Apartment Rentals

Airbnb
Home Away: Find and book your perfect vacation rental with HomeAway. Rent everything from cabins, condos and castles to villas, barns or farm houses.
Vacation Rentals By Owner VRBO: Find and book over 620000 vacation rentals around the world on VRBO – Vacation Rentals By Owner

Farm Stays

WWOOF: Italy, France, NZ
Helpx.net
workaway.info

Monastery or Convent Stays

Google monasterystay

Lighthouse Stays

Hostels, Hostels, Hostels

Hostelworld.com
Hostelbookers.com
Hostels.com

5 Keys to finding the best prices

Know The Market – Predict if you should book now or later.

Just like airlines, it is possible to predict prices for your hotel stays.

The Web-based price predictor feature on TheSuitest forecasts how room prices are expected to fluctuate for the next month-use it to find the right time to buy in any market.
Then cross-check with DealAngel and Bing’s Hotel Rate Indicator-both compare quoted rates with a hotel’s average cost, telling you which deals are really worthwhile.

Stay Notified – Sign up for email notification.

You don’t have to do all the work yourself.

Sign up for e-mail notifications from Yapta, and the booking site will alert you if room prices go down.
If you make a reservation with Tingo, they will track your rate and refund you if a cheaper one pops up.

Book Blind – Suspense Can Pay Off

You can save up to 60 percent with mysterybooking pioneer Hotwire and Travelocity’s Top Secret Deals. The trade-off: they don’t tell you where you’re staying until you’ve paid.

For that, turn to Bidgoggles and HotelDealsRevealed, which can help you figure out what property might be behind the curtain.
Better yet, Guestmob offers similar discounts if you let it choose one of four predetermined hotels for you (all in the same part of town).

Try Your Luck – It’s Not As Risky As You Think

You gotta love Priceline’s Name Your Price auction tool, which lets you propose a rate to properties you’re considering.

Equally worthwhile is BackBid. Use it to submit the details of an existing, refundable reservation, and similar hotels will try to outdo one another on savings.
You can also win big with Roomer: like StubHub for hotels, it’s a resale marketplace for nonrefundable bookings-sold here at rock-bottom prices.

Procrastinate – Early Birds Don’t Always Get The Worm

Same-day booking apps such as HotelTonight (free; IOS) and Booking. com Tonight (free; Android,IOS) yield up to 70 percent off regular rates, if you’re willing to wait until the last-minute. Thanks to their popularity, there’s plenty of inventory to choose from daily. Pro tip: the deepest discounts surface on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and right after holidays.