It’s always felt a little ‘chicken and egg’ to me: booking flights and hotels. Which should you book first? And do both really have to feel like such a chore? Sound advice says it’s best to book flights first and early to get the best deals. Once you have your travel dates confirmed, you can begin your hotel search in earnest.
The onus on getting in early to get the best deal is greatly reduced with hotel bookings. Although you can often find early bird discounts, you’re equally as likely to get even better last minute deals. If you’re flexible enough to not worry whether some places may be sold out, rolling the dice last minute could net you serious savings.
Hotels vary wildly in both quality and price. To cut through the endless choice you’ll inevitably be confronted with, planning is essential. Using the right platform – KAYAK.com hotels, obviously – and knowing exactly what you want will save you time, money and hassle.
It’s important to be informed not only when choosing your hotel but also deciding when and where to book it. This is, after all, your home for your trip and has the potential to make it magical or miserable. Here I’ll show you how to use KAYAK to make your hotel search simpler. And take you through the tricks I’ve learnt over many years of staying in great (and terrible) hotels.
Where should I start my hotel search?
Preparation is key. Before you start your hotel search, get a clear picture of what you want from your stay. That may sound obvious, but it can be easy to get sidetracked by pretty pictures, special offers and other marketing tricks.
You can set your parameters and customize your search using the KAYAK Filter. There are a few core areas you should define first, which I’ve listed below. Once you’ve checked those boxes, you can consider other factors that may be important to you, such as sustainability.
Define your priorities
Prefer a little boutique hotel where the staff know your name? Then don’t get carried away by the facilities of a big brand resort. Do you like modern and minimalist or traditional and storied? Is a pool essential or is parking more important? Having a clear vision of the kind of place you want to stay will make your search much easier.
Set your budget
The most obvious thing to think about is your budget. Alongside filtering to define your price range, you can also set up a KAYAK Price Alert. Select the hotel you’ve got your eye on and get notified if its price changes – simple.
I always take the time to check exactly what each hotel includes for its stated price. Many include airport transfers, parking, breakfasts, use of amenities and equipment like bikes and kayaks that may otherwise cost you money. You can treat these as a saving or use them to increase your hotel budget. Or take yourself out for a slap up meal, which is what I usually do.
Be exact on location
While you no doubt know roughly where you want to stay, attention to detail can pay dividends. Heading off for a weekend city break? Then a super central location close to the big sights and restaurants and with easy transport links is essential.
What is a meta search engine?
KAYAK is a meta search engine, also known as a search aggregator. This means it collates the results you see by searching and collecting data online. By using lots of sources to collect its travel data, KAYAK can provide more detailed, more accurate information.
Travel data can come from other search engines, online travel agencies (OTAs), discount suppliers or a hotel’s own website. KAYAK scours hundreds of websites to bring you the most up to date and detailed information and prices. Hotels and flights, car rental and other transport – it covers them all. Putting all this information together and making it easy to understand, navigate and book is what KAYAK does.
Is KAYAK a legit hotel search engine?
KAYAK may be named after a boat, but that doesn’t mean it sells them. In fact, KAYAK doesn’t actually sell anything. It is, as the question implies, a search engine specifically made for travelers. That’s it – no hidden fees, no preferential treatment, just search, pure and simple.
Because KAYAK doesn’t sell anything, it’s not like most travel sites. You’re not booking your hotel with KAYAK, you’re just using it to find the best deals in the easiest way. You can even use it to compare prices from different providers in case you prefer one over another.
This also means KAYAK doesn’t have any control over hotel prices and availability. And it doesn’t deal with bookings or offer customer support for them. For that you’ll need to speak to the agency or hotel you book with directly.
Five tips and tricks that make hotel search easy
KAYAK features several smart tools and creative features to help you find the right hotel with the minimum of fuss. While low prices and great deals are important, it’s not all about the money. Location and amenities are vital to a great stay, as is suitability based on your specific needs.
Filter like you mean it
When it comes to narrowing down search results, filtering is your best friend. A simple way to eliminate hotels that don’t meet your criteria, filters make an overwhelming list of options manageable. Now’s your chance to really go for it and find your perfect place to stay. If your results aren’t perfect first time round, you can always remove the filters that are less important to you.
On KAYAK, the filter options live on the left-hand side of the hotel results page. Enter your destination and travel dates in the KAYAK hotel search and your filter options will appear alongside your results. You can refine the results in lots of ways. Here are the filters I find most useful:
- Hotel class. Traveling on a budget or only interested in luxury stays? Here you can select the minimum number of stars you’re happy with.
- Price. Use the sliding scale to set your upper and lower price brackets. The bar graph gives you a quick overview of how many hotels there are at different price points. Super useful.
- Freebies. The magic word! Most of us expect some amenities to be included in the price, but that’s not always the case. Here you can filter out stays that don’t include free breakfast, parking, internet, cancellation or airport shuttle.
- Amenities. Here’s where you can refine the details that make all the difference to your stay. From air-conditioned to adults only, beachfront to business center, parking to a pool (or two). KAYAK gives you 23 amenity filters to really narrow down your hotel search.
- Style. Are you all about the beachy, breezy look and feel? Or are you after trendy or traditional? Here you can set the style of your stay.
- Type of stay. KAYAK doesn’t just do hotel searches. If you’d rather stay in a villa rental, quirky cottage, castle or campground, you can filter for that too.
Save time and money with a KAYAK Price Alert
KAYAK may not have any say in setting hotel prices, but it can help you get a great price. The best tool for that is the KAYAK Price Alert.
Don’t waste your time repeatedly checking a hotel or locations to see if prices have gone down. Instead, let KAYAK do the hard work for you. Set a price alert and KAYAK will use its data to predict prices over the coming days. That could be for a specific hotel or an entire city. You’ll then get email alerts when the price drops – simple and convenient.
To set a price alert for a location, just switch the Track prices toggle under Price Alerts on the top left-hand side of your hotel search results page. To set a price alert for a hotel, just tap the heart icon next to the hotel's name.
Aim high with amenities
There are some basic amenities and services that you may naturally take for granted as included in a stay. Free WiFi is a classic example because yes, there are still hotels that charge to use WiFi! In America, air-conditioning is commonplace even in budget hotels. That’s often not the case in many other countries, including much of Europe.
With the basic amenities taken care of, now is your chance to go wild and aim high. Want an adults-only spa hotel with a rooftop hot tub? All you have to do is filter. I always start by adding all the filters I’d like, even if they’re not a deal breaker to my stay. If the results don’t sing to me, I just deselect the least important and work backwards from there.
Read independent hotel reviews and ratings
There are millions of verified customer reviews and ratings on KAYAK – independent and full of insight. Collated from multiple sites, they’re rated on a scale from one to ten. There’s even the option to see ratings based on traveler type – business, solo, couples and the like. Use them to filter out hotels by their score.
Ratings alone don’t always tell the whole story, though. If that ‘Wonderful’ rating came from lots of great reviews five years ago, things may be very different now. The real insight lies in the reviews. There’s nowhere better to get up to date, honest (and sometimes hilarious) views on what a hotel is really like.
If you do dive into them, pay more attention to recent rather than old reviews. The more you read, the more likely you are to spot trends and patterns – good and bad. One-off complaints are likely just that; one offs and not worth ruling out a hotel over. But lots of complaints that the room’s fridge is too loud (my personal bugbear), for example, may mean it’s a regular problem. Check out this KAYAK guide on how to interpret hotel reviews to use them to best effect.
Check for renovations
Hotels have high traffic and high wear, and a hotel’s star rating isn’t always a true reflection of its condition. Indeed, many rely on extensive amenities or even their brand name to keep their luxe status. I’ve stayed in plenty of grand old five-star hotels where tired decor was palmed off as ‘faded grandeur’!
Before you book, try and find out when the hotel was last renovated. And don’t always believe the photos and descriptions on a website, which may be years old.
Generally speaking, if it’s less than five years since the last update, things should be in decent condition. Over five years and you can expect noticeable wear. Over eight years and your alarm bells should be on high alert – especially in the rooms. The last thing you want is a moldy bathroom or sagging mattress ruining your stay.
Hotel search should be simple
Searching for a hotel doesn’t have to be a chore, but is worth taking the time over to do properly. All the tips and tricks in this article will help make your search easier, but for me there are two approaches that rule the roost.
First, pay attention to the details. Be as specific on location as you can be, down to the street and its surroundings. Noise and neighborhoods can make or ruin your stay. Don’t be afraid to speak to the hotel and find out its condition. Ask about mattresses and what the WiFi is like so you’re confident you’ll sleep and surf well. You’re the guest and you’re paying for it, so have every right to know!
Second, aim high. The filters are there to help make your search easier, so make the most of them. Start out looking for your dream hotel in your dream location with your dream amenities because… Who knows? You may luck into an amazing deal or find a great off season price. And if nothing comes of it, you’ve lost nothing for trying.
Depending on how long you’re away for, your hotel is likely the most expensive cost of your entire trip. Find one that matches your needs. That is clean and comfy. And even that surprises you with some unexpected extras. It’s the best way to make your stay will be one to remember.
