Hostels, hotels and everything in between

The old hierarchy — hostel, guesthouse, hotel by star rating — no longer describes what is available. The useful distinctions are different.

The categories as they now exist

Hostels, which have changed substantially.

Many now offer private rooms alongside dormitories, at prices competitive with budget hotels, with the advantage of communal space and organised activities.

The proposition is social rather than merely cheap, which suits solo travellers particularly.

Dormitory quality varies enormously, and the features worth checking are bed size, whether beds have curtains and individual lights and power outlets, locker size, and the ratio of bathrooms to beds.

Guesthouses, pensions and bed and breakfasts, generally family-run, generally including breakfast, and generally the best value in many countries.

These are under-represented on the largest booking platforms in some regions, and searching locally or through regional platforms finds more of them.

Hotels, from budget chains to full-service, with the star rating systems varying by country and meaning different things.

Short-term rentals, which suit longer stays, families and self-catering, and which have specific drawbacks discussed below.

Aparthotels, combining a kitchen with hotel services, which have grown substantially and suit stays of a week or more.

Home stays and exchanges, which trade convenience for a different kind of experience.

Matching type to trip

The useful question is what the accommodation needs to do.

A base for a city visit needs location above everything, because transport time compounds daily.

A cheaper room forty minutes from where you want to be is generally a false economy once transport cost and time are counted.

A stopover needs proximity to the transport connection and nothing else.

A longer stay benefits from a kitchen, laundry access and space to spread out, which shifts the calculation toward rentals and aparthotels.

Solo travel benefits from places with communal space, since the alternative is a great deal of time alone.

Travel with children benefits from space, a kitchen and flexibility, and from ground floor or lift access.

The rental question

Worth setting out honestly, since it has become contested.

Short-term rentals offer space, kitchens and frequently better value for groups.

They also have documented effects on housing availability and rents in cities with high concentrations, which has led a number of cities to restrict or license them.

Which means checking whether the listing is legal in the city concerned, since enforcement has resulted in cancelled bookings.

Practical drawbacks: no reception, variable cleanliness standards, cleaning fees that change the effective price substantially, self-check-in that can go wrong, and no recourse if the property is not as described beyond the platform's process.

Reading reviews usefully

The most under-used skill in booking.

Ignore the aggregate score and read the most recent reviews, since properties change hands and standards drift.

Read the negative reviews specifically, and look for recurring complaints rather than individual grievances.

Note what reviewers were there for, since a business traveller and a family have different requirements.

Pay attention to comments about noise, which is the most common source of a bad stay and the hardest to assess from photographs.

And treat reviews that mention the same phrase repeatedly with suspicion.

Booking direct or through a platform

A genuine question.

Platforms provide comparison, a review corpus and a dispute process.

Direct booking frequently produces a better rate, since the property saves the commission, and generally produces better treatment on room allocation and flexibility.

The practical approach many people use: find the property on a platform, then check its own site and, for smaller places, contact them directly.

What to check before confirming

The cancellation terms, which vary enormously and are where the real cost of flexibility sits.

Whether taxes and fees are included in the displayed price.

The check-in and check-out times, and whether early or late is possible.

Whether there is a lift, which matters more than people expect in older European buildings.

And the actual location on a map rather than the described neighbourhood, since descriptions are generous.