Finding International Hotels With Character

by Tim L. | September 15, 2006 at 12:41 PM | 0 Comments

[Ed. Note: Our own hotel maven Tim Leffel, author of Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune, gives the lowdown on finding lesser-known hotels.]

When you use the well-known, U.S.-based hotel booking services to find an international hotel, you end up with mostly well-known chain hotels. At times, that can be a good thing, especially if you are on business and you want everything to be predictable, with no surprises. But what if you're looking for charm, local character, and a sense of place?

In that case, you need to do some digging. Small, locally-owned hotels aren't flush with advertising money. They are not going to form a bunch of international booking alliances to fill up their 10 or 12 rooms. They might not even have a web site. Booking hotels online requires these assumptions. 1) The hotel has reliable Internet access and a reliable electricity supply. 2) A staff member not only has the ability to speak English but knows English well enough to read it and write it effectively. 3) A staff member has the time to spend hours a day going back and forth with travelers who may or may not show up weeks or months later.

More tips on finding these places post-click.

In many cases not even one of these assumptions is correct. In developed countries and major cities, yes, but in much of the developing world they're still waiting for the phone guy to show up. Sometimes it's best to trust serendipity: just show up and have a look around.

Otherwise, where do you find out about the gems? Here are a few ways to open up the options:

1) Crack open a guidebook. Yes, good ole ink on paper still trumps the Internet when it comes to finding small hotels with character. Guidebook writers get plenty of feedback when they screw up too, so it's a self-correcting process.

2) Consult local web sites. Nearly any town or locale with lots of tourists will have some kind of local web site, often run by expats. These usually have far more area lodging choices. Examples include Travelfish.org (Thailand and its neighbors), Andean Travel Web (Peru), Yucatan Today, and BrazilMax.

3) Check review sites and message boards. Review sites such as TripAdvisor, VirtualTourist, and IgoUgo can be helpful, but keep in mind that the smaller hotels aren't likely to have as much feedback as the big ones. Travel message boards (Lonely Planet, Fodor's, etc.) are a good place to turn to if you're hitting a dead end.

4) See sites that specialize in smaller hotels. Like the EuroCHEAPO site we profiled recently, there are a few web sites that aren't focused on big chain hotels. We especially like Unusual Hotels of the World and Historic Hotels of Europe.

The photo here is of Rumi Punku in Cusco, Peru--goes for $40-$55 double per night, including breakfast.

Related Stories:
· EuroCHEAPO Digs Up Bargain Hotels in European Cities [HotelChatter]

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