Most disappointing hotel stays are not caused by bad hotels. They are caused by a good hotel in the wrong place, or the cheapest room in a building where the cheapest room faces the extraction fan.

Location beats everything, and location means walking

Before booking, open a map and draw a fifteen-minute walking circle around the hotel. What is in it? If the answer is a motorway junction and a retail park, the star rating is irrelevant. If the answer is a bakery, a metro station and somewhere to eat on a Sunday, you have found the right hotel.

Be sceptical of “ten minutes from the centre”. Ten minutes by what, and at what time of night?

Read the three-star reviews

Five-star reviews tell you the hotel is nice. One-star reviews are usually about one bad night or one bad interaction. The three-star reviews are where people describe the actual trade-offs: the thin walls, the slow lift, the excellent breakfast, the ten-minute wait for a taxi.

Sort reviews by most recent, not most relevant. A hotel that changed management last year is a different hotel.

Room type is not a detail

  • Check the stated room size in square metres. It is the single most honest number on the page.
  • Ask for a high floor away from the lift and the street. It is free and it usually works.
  • If there is a bar or a club in the building, ask which floors are above it.
  • Confirm whether “double” means one bed or two, especially outside your own country.

The terms that cost money

Free cancellation is often worth ten to fifteen percent more than the non-refundable rate, and almost always worth it for a trip more than a month out. Check the cancellation deadline in local time. Check whether breakfast, city tax and resort fees are in the displayed price or added at the desk.

And book direct once you have chosen. The rate is usually matched, the cancellation terms are often better, and the person you speak to when something goes wrong actually works for the hotel.

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