How to book air tickets. How do you book hotels? How does the booking work?

Why provide information to the hotel? bank card and how do you book a hotel?

Many people have at least sometime booking hotel rooms, faced a similar problem. We are talking about providing hotel managers during the booking procedure not only with your personal and address information, but also with your bank card number. Why do this? After all, it would be much easier to agree with the hotel manager that the tourist will arrive, for example, on September 1 and stay in a room on the 2nd floor with a view of the beautiful seascape, etc.

Of course, such reasoning is quite logical, but hotel representatives should also be understood, because before the guests arrive, they need to prepare, stock up on all the necessary products, prepare the room, etc. And after all the preparations, they will be waiting at the hotel for the person who booked the room, but he changed his mind about coming on September 1 and decided to come on September 2.

What happens? The hotel is waiting for him, turning away other people who want to rent a room, but he doesn’t show up at all and doesn’t warn him that he’s changed his mind. It was for this purpose that rules were established, according to which a person must not only say what date and time he will arrive, but also confirm his intentions with the data of his bank card. And in order not to get into an unpleasant situation, tourists and vacationers booking rooms should know the following rules, which operate in almost all countries.

1. Full payment for services(booking, accommodation, meals) is made only after these services have been provided (some hotels operate on a pre-payment basis, but this nuance is always indicated in the description of the room itself).
2. The client has the right to refuse the booked room. He can do this almost before the day of the booking date, specifically 1-2 days before check-in (without penalties). Information about the cancellation period can always be found in the booking conditions for a specific room.
3. In case of untimely cancellation of the reservation According to the law, the hotel has every right to demand payment from you for 1 night of accommodation or another amount established by law.

How are such actions on the part of the hotel justified? First of all, the fact that during your booking you take on certain obligations: to arrive at the specified time and move in. And if for any reason you are unable to do this, then you must, in accordance with the rules, report this within the allotted time frame. Otherwise, you will have to pay the hotel for at least 1 night's stay.

Therefore, according to current international rules in hotel business, the client is obliged to provide his bank card details when booking a room. Without this procedure, the hotel will refuse to book your room. This scheme is usually called - a scheme of financial obligations between a tourist (vacationer) and a hotel. It operates all over the world, so it must be understood and taken for granted. If you decide to become an independent traveler, you must accept all the rules in force in the tourism industry.

How can I save up to 20% on hotels?

It’s very simple - look not only on booking. I prefer the search engine RoomGuru. He searches for discounts on Booking and 70 other booking sites simultaneously.

What is early booking and does it really help you save? What are the pros and cons of early booking? Who benefits from it? In this article I will tell you everything in detail and give advice.

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age

Have you already turned 18?

Early booking tourist packages are gaining more and more popularity every year. Travel agencies offer tourists to book in winter summer tour, and in the summer book a trip to New Year and promise huge discounts. Everyone wants to have a good vacation, but no one wants to overpay for their vacation, and this is quite logical.

What is early booking and who benefits from it?

Early booking is booking a tour at least 21 days before departure (usually this is not particularly popular destinations). This is a special offer with an attractive price and the opportunity to pay for the tour in several stages. In the tourism business, like any other, everything depends on demand: high demand - high price, low demand — low price. The “winter season” is considered a “low season” in tourism; after the “New Year’s boom,” the tourism market freezes. Of course, tourists are relaxing all year round, many go to warm up, others go skiing or fly to sales in Europe. But still, February and March are months when there is no huge tourist flow. What should be done to “invigorate” the tourism market?

Let's first remember what a tourist package (tour) consists of. The cost of the tour consists of the cost of the accommodation facility (the main part of the tour), air travel, transfer and medical insurance. Many Mediterranean hotels operate in the red in winter, and, naturally, they need funds. Where can I get them? It's simple: hoteliers give good discounts tourism operators, subject to receipt Money Here and now. Accordingly, the tour operator has the opportunity to reduce the price, the tourist will book a tour and pay part of it now at a “low » season. Everything is quite simple.

Everyone benefits from early booking, starting with hoteliers who can “survive” the winter: in any case, they will not work at a loss, because there is a “high season” ahead, during which they will earn very good money. The tourism operator is also satisfied; even during the low season, he has the opportunity to earn money and be confident that there will be income. And the tourist gets his discount.

And now about the most important thing: is it really worth running to a travel agency or tour operator in February-March and booking a tour for the summer? Below are the pros and disadvantages of early booking for tourists.

Advantages of early booking

1. Choosing a convenient flight.During the “high season”, there are often several flights per day to the most popular destinations. By booking a tour in advance, you can choose a flight and departure airport that is convenient for you (in most cases you will have to pay extra to specify the flight). But during the season they fly mostly charter flights, which means that even if you have specified the flight, the flight may be postponed.

Advice! If you are dependent on departure times, book tickets for regular flights - this will help avoid unpleasant surprises. But regular flights are always more expensive than charter flights.

2. Wide selection of accommodation facilities.By booking your tour in advance, you have the opportunity to choose exactly the hotel you need. This is the main advantage, because the choice is huge, you can choose among thousands of hotels, apartments and villas. You can choose the required room category - this is important when vacationing in a large group or with children. Some tourists prefer to vacation in the same hotel year after year. If choosing an accommodation is a priority for you, then early booking is for you. After all, during the “high season” there may simply not be room in the hotel.

3. Tour cost and tour payment.The cost of early booking is lower than in the season (of course, last minute tours “nobody canceled, but they may or may not be, and remember that a “last minute tour” is almost always leftovers that could not be sold). The cost of an early booking tour is fixed in currency (dollar, euro) and is paid at the tour operator’s rate on the day of payment. This means that the cost of the tour will change only depending on changes in exchange rates. Tour operators pay for the tour in different ways, but most often you first need to pay 50% of the tour cost, then you can pay in installments, and 2 weeks before the start of the tour, payment must be 100%

4. Planning.Many tourists like to plan everything in advance and know that they will fly on vacation on a certain day, to a certain hotel. We booked a tour in February and relaxed until August. During this time, you can plan, for example, excursions of interest. Or if you are flying with the same company, but from different cities, then it is very important that the whole company rests in one place at the same time. Many vacations take place on fixed dates, and if you don’t take care of the tour in advance, then there may simply be no seats on the flight that day.

Disadvantages of early booking

1. Cancellation.Many tour operators apply very strict penalties for tour cancellations. And some even fine you for making changes to the application, for example, changing your last name. Or, let’s say, you decide to remove/add a tourist to your application. Although every year tourist operators are becoming more loyal. In any case, carefully read the service agreement, especially the clause with the terms of fines.

2. Last Minute Tours. TO As I wrote above, this is most often what is left, for example, a plane flies, and 70 seats are purchased from tour operators, and 68 are sold, money is paid for the seats, and the tour operator gives it back at “cost”, accordingly, the price is reduced. The same goes for rooms in accommodation facilities. But good tours sometimes they also burn, but again, this is a matter of luck.

3. Exchange Rates. The question is ambiguous. The cost of the tour is fixed in foreign currency, and the exchange rate is not always stable. For example, tourists who booked tours for the New Year in the summer of 2014 did not save money, but rather overpaid, because the exchange rate more than doubled in the fall of 2014. This happens infrequently, but nevertheless we are not immune from it. In any case, most often the tourist immediately pays 30-50% of the tour cost, and recalculation is carried out for the remaining amount.

1.Tourism is a business, and no one will engage in charity and “give” vacations to the detriment of their business. Therefore, when you are promised discounts of up to 50%, this is nothing more than a marketing ploy. Yes, you can really save money by booking early, but not much.

2.Buy early booking tours only from a trusted travel agency.

3.Check the tour operator, go to the Rostourism website, make sure that the tour operator really exists and conducts tourism activities. In principle, good travel agencies do not work with unreliable tour operators. Alas, not a single tourist operator is immune from bankruptcy, and we have clearly seen this over the past few years.

4.Carefully, no, very carefully read the terms of the contract.

5.Keep the contract for the provision of tourist services and all payment documents until you return to your home country, so that in case of unpleasant situations, for example, checking into the wrong room, you will have evidence in court.

In any case, it is up to you to decide what is best for you. Early booking is really beneficial, but is it really reliable in today's economy? We need to rest in any case, because traveling helps us take a break from everyday life, see the world and get incredible emotions.

Updated: 2019-5-13

Oleg Lazhechnikov

In connection with questions regarding AirBnb service, I decided to write instructions for use. I have already described mine, it is positive and I personally am satisfied with everything. I booked accommodation without reviews about the owners, and from unverified people, so far there have been no problems. But nevertheless, not everyone is lucky, be careful. You can also read about the negative experiences of other people using the link above.

As far as I understand, not everyone understands what the service is, why all these difficulties with verification are needed, how Airbnb differs from hotel booking. Let's figure it out together.

• Register using the link and get access to apartments all over the world. Valid for the first reservation, the reservation must be from $70, you can use it within a year after registration. Register now before bonuses are cancelled! Airbnb has done this before.
• After registering and logging in, you need to verify your account (online and offline verification), which means you need to confirm that you are a real person. If you registered through a social network, then you will have fewer verification steps. Just follow the instructions of the service. You will need:

  — Fill out your profile.
  — Upload a photo with your face.
  — Specify an existing account social network, if you did not register and log in through it. And if you don’t have an account, you will need to record a mini-video (on a webcam or smartphone).
  — Send a scan of your passport, which will be checked against your video/photo.

• After all confirmations, you can use the service. Yes, you may not complete all the steps (by confirming only your phone and email), but if any problems arise, it may be more difficult for you to get your money back. Also, bookings from unconfirmed users may be rejected by AirBnb for reasons other than their own, mistaking them for dubious transactions.

Remember the rule: 1 account = 1 person, otherwise you will be banned. You also cannot register accounts for other people from your own computer; they may be blocked, as this is also checked. Therefore, if necessary, make accounts for relatives, through a proxy and another browser.

Why verify your profile?

The fact is that AirBnb works with individuals privately, that is, they do not have any legally binding agreements with apartment owners, these are not hotels. Thus, if the owner cheats you in any way, then you will not be able to influence it in any way; you can only rely on AirBnb technical support, which, although famous for its responsiveness, does not always cooperate, especially if your account is unverified.

Thus, AirBnb acts as an intermediary, transferring your money to the host, which can be both a plus and a minus for you. Plus - the intermediary can somehow help you, minus - by doing everything through the intermediary, you do not see what the owner is like.

Verification is a kind of guarantee that you and the owner of the apartment are real people. Therefore, it is better to rent housing from owners with verified accounts, and it is advisable for you to confirm your profile, it is not so difficult.

How to Book on Airbnb

Booking process and nuances

As you can see, everything is similar to booking a hotel through a regular reservation system (), only you need to pay more attention to assessing the trustworthiness of the owner, I’ll tell you why below.

At long term rental(week, month) there may be a discount (indicated directly on the housing page), but not all owners offer it. As an option, first stop by for a couple of days, see if everything suits you, and then directly agree with the owner about long term. However, you need to take into account that if the housing is popular, then it may be occupied on the days you need.

By the way, some embassies accept Airbnb reservations for visas; for example, I provided such a reservation for a visa to Poland.

Airbnb commission and housing costs

Since Airbnb also needs to eat something, they take a commission. Thus, the total cost of housing will be the sum of the owner’s price + service commission. There may also be a cleaning fee, which is set by the owner. It is usually around $10-30 regardless of the length of your stay.

Most often, housing is designed for a certain number of people and the price is set at the same price for the entire house or apartment, and it doesn’t matter how many of you there are. However, there is another approach when you need to pay for each additional guest after a certain number. For example, for three people in an apartment there is one price, but if there are four or five of you, then you have to pay more. Naturally, the maximum number of people is also indicated on the housing page.

There is also such a thing as a deposit for the safety of property. Some owners use it, some don't. But no money will be debited from you at the time of booking. Only after your departure can the owner send you a request through the service to pay for damage to anything in the apartment. If you refuse, your account will be banned. But it can also be disputed. And keep in mind that the deposit should not be taken on the spot in cash, this is prohibited by the rules of the service (there should be no cash payments at all), and you can even complain to the owner if he tries to ask for money outside the service. Or you don’t have to complain, the decision is yours.

Why are these complications necessary?

In fact, there are no difficulties, just do it once and everything will be clear. But there is a risk with AirBnb. But it exists in the case of hotels too. I personally found myself in such a situation that the hotel did not at all correspond to what was in the photographs, and also once it happened that instead of two beds, there was only one (we were two men traveling, we needed separate beds), although I ordered clearly with two. And the hotels refused to resolve these issues, and there was no talk of returning money. So any one is no better.

Life hack 2 - how to find a hotel 20% cheaper

Thanks for reading

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