Things to know
Our experience with hotels Canada
Book before your vacation or spontaneously on site?
The big question we get asked again and again. Unfortunately, it is not so easy to answer and depends very much on what type of traveler you are. If you book everything in advance, you don't have to worry about accommodation and you don't waste time looking for a hotel. But you may not be quite as flexible.
In previous years, we usually only pre-booked the first room after arrival. Even in popular destinations, it was hardly a problem to find affordable accommodation. However, this has changed more and more over time. So far, it has never been the case that entire places we have visited were fully booked, but the accommodations we chose were. This means that if we hadn't booked in advance, we would have had to settle for whatever was still available. We have also noticed that accommodation tends to become more expensive rather than cheaper over the course of the year, so there is no reason for us not to book all our overnight stays, some of them months in advance, with the option to cancel. This allows us to remain flexible should anything change in our itinerary, while also saving us from wasting valuable vacation time searching for hotel rooms. Since our vacations are planned very carefully and changes to our itinerary are therefore very rare, this approach has proven successful for our style of travel. However, since everyone travels differently, this is by no means the only option.
Of course, everyone has to decide for themselves, but we would recommend that anyone who can plan ahead book their hotels and motels before their vacation. If you book online, you can usually book all hotels with a cancellation option, so you retain a certain degree of spontaneity. Another big advantage of booking in advance, in our opinion, is the opportunity to check reviews and the location of the hotel online beforehand. For those who are unable to plan ahead, we would recommend deciding in the morning where you would like to be in the evening and reserving a hotel. This avoids having to search for accommodation on the spot and, in the worst case, not being able to find anything. For those who have never been to Canada before or are planning to visit the highlights around the Rocky Mountains in western Canada, we would definitely recommend booking hotels in advance.
Chain motel or independent motel?
Chain Motels: Chain hotels usually offer a similar standard, which is a big advantage. Of course, there are different categories, but within a chain, you generally know what to expect. In most cases, you can be sure of finding a clean and tidy room. In Canada, there are also a number of hotel chains that have properties across the country. However, they are mostly found in large metropolitan areas and cities.
Independent Motels: Independent motels are actually always small surprise bags, because you never really know what to expect. The advantage for us is the more personal and individual atmosphere that you usually find in such houses. Nothing is standardized like in chain hotels. Often you can also park directly in front of the door, which is very practical, because you can carry your luggage directly from the trunk into the room. So far, we have had very good experiences with this, especially in Canada.
What you ultimately choose also often depends on the price and availability. Sometimes places are so remote that you can't find chain motels. Or you decide consciously for a free motel in special places. Often free motels are also cheaper. Since the free motels are always very individual, it is also the houses to which one usually still remembers after years. Individual chain motels are more likely to be forgotten.
Airbnb: Especially in rural areas and places where there is hardly any tourist infrastructure, Airbnb has proven to be a good alternative for us in recent years. Very often, you can find great accommodations that create a completely different vacation atmosphere than anonymous hotels.
Travel agency or internet—where do we book?
We have actually almost never booked our hotels at a travel agency. Since we book all the hotels in advance, we book them either through a travel portal, or directly with the hotels. The main reason for this is that the hotels in the travel agency are usually no longer cancelable. If you book hotels via booking portals or directly with the hotel, there are almost always very flexible cancellation conditions. Experience shows that people often enough take advantage of this option. Rescheduling is relatively frequent for us, so we remain flexible. Even frequent cancellations are no problem at all.
If you want to save a few euros, you can do without the cancellation option and pay the hotels at the time of booking. In doing so, one is then fixed, but gets away cheaper.