Staycations are a great way of seeing the beautiful county that we live in
And because they're so easy to arrange online it's often easy to make these 5 staycation mistakes and spoil their time away.
1. On line travel agents (OTA’s)
Not all accommodation providers use OTA’s, or only give the restricted dates and rooms. if this is the only place you look you may miss out on the best places to stay.
The room rates are higher on the OTA’s than if you booked them direct with the accommodation. This is due to the high levels of commission charge and accommodation inflating their prices to cover it. Did you know the accommodation may be shown to you in order of the most commission paid, which could be as high as 40%? Most people believe they are seeing the most popular/ best fit accommodation first.
Some accommodation offer perks for direct bookings e.g. earlier/later check in/check out, chocolate etc.
You may feel more secure booking through an OTA, but speaking to an independent accommodation provider with your requirements ensures you of the best deal for you. They will tell you their cancellation policies and are likely to be more lenient if plans change. OTA’s have no authority in the policies of individual properties, which all have differing policies.
2. Check the accommodation is where you want it to be
We have all done it. We search and scroll and by the time we have booked somewhere it is out of town when we wanted somewhere close to town. Now you have to pay for taxis when you wanted to walk. Or you have booked in town and it is too noisy to sleep. Maybe you have booked in at a venue that has live music all night and you wanted to have an early start next morning.
3. Make sure you find out what there is to see and do in the area
When you speak to your friends after your stay and they tell you their favourite place in the whole world is there and you didn’t know it existed. Or at breakfast everyone is singing songs by your favourite artist, only to find out you could have gone to see them in concert the night before.
4. Check the Policies of where you are staying
If check in time is 4pm and you arrive at 1pm without letting them know. It may be that there is no one about to let you in or give you a parking permit. Not the best start to your holiday. Is the accommodation pet free/adult only? It is your responsibility to check. If you turn up to an adult only B&B with a child, they can turn you away and charge you the full amount of your stay.
5. Enjoy your stay :)
If you have taken care of 1-4 you should be well on the way to enjoying your stay.
If there is something is not working in your room or you need to ask a question, please ask.
Accommodation providers rely on reviews for their business. Give them chance to solve the problem, then you are able to have a better stay, and people after you, as the accommodation provider is probably unaware of the issue. It could be it just works different to what you are used to, you need to put that switch on, you need this extra cable to plug that in etc. If you mention it in a review the accommodation provider will probably thank you for letting them know, but ask why you didn’t you tell them at the time and it would have been solved.
