Bloody Booking.Com

[OnHellas]

Booking.com is your friend. I swear by it, and the very occasional hip-up just adds to the adventure. I too only ever now book an outbound ferry, never too sure which route back I'll take, or how long I'll stay away. Being retired I can do that. As for the wedding, about 6 years back my mate and I rocked up to a hotel just outside Milan, on spec, enroute to the Stelvio pass. The reception were very accommodating, informing us there were two wedding receptions at the hotel that night, and put us in a room furthest from the festivities, and suggested which restaurant of theirs would be best for dinner. We had a great night.

The no return to the UK travel being booked before you go is great.
However, a lot of travel insurance policies are not valid if there isn't a return booked.
It's very easy to get around, just book a changeable or refundable ticket. Then change to suit as you go. (thumbs)

[SomersetJohn]

We turned up a few years ago at a hotel in Romania with a big wedding in full swing, it was one of the most impromptu messy nights I've had for a while. Just get in their and join them you'll have a great time. :cheer:

[gbags]

Bloody Booking.com?

Bloody Adventurebikerider.com!

I'm trying to read this overseas and it's taking bloody ages to load. I've been on twenty other sites as well as email and iMessage and only ABR.com is slow. I have three bars and reception is fast.

[AndyB]

We spend hours planning our holiday while it's miserable weather at home so that's a bonus but the biggest reason is that my wife likes to know roughly where she's going and how long we'll be there for. It's a lot easier for me to persuade her that something is a good idea in advance otherwise we end up in expensive hotels in larger towns where she knows she'll get a good nights sleep and plenty of choices regarding where to eat and drink.

If it's just me on a bike or if I'm away with a couple of mates we usually book things on the run unless we're planning to travel by different routes and meet somewhere. When we went to Scandinavia earlier this year we booked all our hotels from motorway services at about 4pm and ended up with pretty good places.

[3BsBiking]

If using booking.com and staying in smaller Ie owner managed establishments, it is always worth contacting the accomodation direct for a better price. They have to give about 15% of your booking to booking.com and are not allowed (by booking.com) to advertise a lower price on their own website to allow for that.
Just a tip for those bargain hunters out there....

[ChasF]

Cancellation terms vary depending on the establishments contract with booking.com. My son has had a few dodgy dealings with some hotels where they've suggested he phones them to cancel his booking then come back in half an hour and save 10%!

I've never had a problem with them and sound some really quirky places through them. We've been back to some places, booking directly and saving a few quid.

I think the OPs hotel is just being polite and warning him that it might be a noisy do, givng him the opportunity to cancel if he wishes.

I have to say I usually book about 2 hours before I arrive never booked anything 3 months in advance.

[Ali in Austria]

We are signed up to Booking.com.

In the event of a Booking error the terms and conditions require us to source suitable accommodation for the guest and cover any price difference.

[AndyB]

The thing I can never quite understand is that because I use booking.com so frequently I get better rates which are quite often in the region of 10-15% off their normal rate. Do they then reduce the fee they charge the hotel or is the hotel expected to just take less for the room? I'm expecting it to be that booking.com take the hit but they're a big company and can make their own rules.

I've also tried phoning a hotel direct and going to their own websites and the websites never have a lower rate than booking.com but sometimes they'll price match if you phone. I normally still book through booking.com but if I return at a later date I'll phone in advance and see what they'll offer me.

[-Ralph-]

Nowt wrong with planning routes and accomodation in advance. For a lot of people they spend as many hours doing that and get as much enjoyment out of that, as they do on the trip itself, especially if time is limited for the trip. It often means that those people have a better experience on the trip as thye've researched the best roads or tracks to ride, and they don't end up riding past something that's a must see, because they didn't do the research and didn't realise it was there. Piss poor planning results in is piss poor performance!

It's getting better as time moves on, the membership of the forum widens, and people get more tolerant to the way others do things and live and let live, but there's still too much on here of "if you don't do it my way you're not on an adventure". Adventure means different things to different people.

vRSG60 - Hope you get your hotel booking sorted and have a great trip.

[AndyB]

The other advantage of having hotels pre-booked is that if you have a breakdown and have full recovery insurance they'll pay for your hotel usually for up to 5 days. No hotel booked, no payment though you normally get a hire car in that case.

Not that anyone on an adventure bike would ever break down of course :pinch: