I receive a lot of offers for discount travel deals. This is due in part to the fact that I’ve signed up with some of my favorite websites to receive special offers. It’s also due to the fact that I’ve taken advantage of special offers so the hotels and airlines I’ve done so with are prone to sending me new offers. And I’ve noticed that the number of offers I’ve gotten has increased since starting this blog so I guess that it’s also due to my writing about budget travel.

I enjoy receiving special offers for several reasons. First of all, it inspires my daydreams about travel. Second, it offers me a chance to regularly compare travel prices so I know what’s actually a good deal and what isn’t. And third, of course, it can save me money when traveling. I’ve noticed, however, that some offers are truly good and others are a waste of time. I’ve specifically noticed this about hotel specials which are the most common type of deals that I receive.

Here are five signs that indicate to me that a special offer for a hotel is worth taking:

1. It is for a hotel that I already know I like. If I’ve stayed at the hotel or with the chain before and know that I like it then it’s usually worth it to take advantage of the deal.
2. It’s for a hotel or destination that I’ve been longing to go to. I keep a mental file (as well as a journal) of the places that I want to visit one day. When I see a hotel special for a place that is on my list, I definitely think it’s worth looking into it to see if I can take advantage of the offer.
3. The fine print is clear and seems fair. The first thing I do when I see an offer that looks appealing is skip straight to the fine print. That’s the easiest way to find out about hidden charges, inconvenient restrictions and other things that would make the deal not worth it.
4. Research indicates that it’s a good deal. Ultimately, the only way to know if hotel specials are good deals is if you take the time to research them. The simplest way to do this is to check out both the hotel website and a couple of travel booking sites to see what a standard rate for the room is. Then read some online reviews to get an idea of whether or not the hotel is a good one. A hotel that has positive reviews and is offering a deal lower than their normal pricing is usually a good choice.
5. The rest of the trip is within my travel budget. Even if I find a great hotel deal, I don’t take it if I can’t afford the rest of the trip. A realistic look at how much getting there and spending time there will cost in addition to the cost of the hotel is necessary before accepting a travel deal.

How do you decide if a travel deal is a good one to take advantage of?

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I understand that not everyone is into budget travel. In fact, although I definitely love to travel frugally, I am not necessarily into the kind of extreme frugal travel that others are into. So I can respect people who would choose to pay more for their hotels or flights than I would because I realize that not everyone travels the same. Nevertheless, I have to say that I was a little bit appalled when I found out the price of the new Barbie-themed hotel rooms in Paris.

The Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, France has recently transformed two of its rooms into Barbie suites. They are designed with pink decor and special touches to recreate the feeling that you are living in a Barbie dream house. It’s certainly a little girl’s dream. And at approximately $2000 per night for the kids’ room (the parents’ suite is next door and costs even more for the night) you would think it would be a parents’ nightmare. After all, who pays that kind of money to indulge their children with a special hotel room?

This isn’t the first time that expensive hotels have had Barbie theme rooms. Several Hiltons around the world have also hosted short-term theme rooms for the famous doll and there’s a Barbie-themed hotel room at The Palms in Las Vegas. The rooms have such features as a hair-and-makeup bar, unique Barbie furniture and lots of kid-friendly entertainment. I don’t deny that this might be a fun experience for a child. I just can’t imagine spending that type of money on a hotel room for my kids. And although the room is set up to be suitable for teens, it’s really geared towards younger girls including girls as young as 3!

I am willing to spend some money on travel for my kids. I want them to see the world, experience other cultures and get to know types of terrain that aren’t available in our own backyard. However, what I want them to remember is the experience of those new places. I want them to remember the things we discovered on our walks, the local foods we ate, the museums we saw, the people we met. I don’t want them to simply remember the hotels we stayed in. In fact, I don’t want much of our travel time to even be spent in our hotel room!

What do you think of this kind of spending on a hotel room for a child?

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Here are some of the hotel safety rules that I do think are very important for families to follow:

• Always go to the pool with the kids and make sure to watch them carefully. If you take a look at the signs around a hotel pool you will almost always immediately see one that says “no lifeguard on duty”. This should be a reminder that nobody is watching your kids carefully at a hotel pool. It may seem safe since so many people are around but kids can drown quickly so never let your eyes off of them when playing at a hotel pool.
• Don’t let the kids stay in the hotel room alone. Hotel rooms are generally very safe. However, that doesn’t mean that you should leave your kids in them alone. If you don’t leave the children at home alone then don’t leave them alone in hotels either.
• Don’t let the kids run around the hotel alone. Use the same common sense that you use at home when it comes to letting your children out of your sight for too long.
• Bring a first aid kit. Most hotels are going to have everything that you need if your children do get hurt at a hotel. However, you shouldn’t count on someone else to have the supplies that you need in case of an emergency. Always bring a first aid kit with you just in case.
• Learn the fire safety plan when you arrive. You don’t want to find yourself lost in a hotel during an emergency. It only takes a minute to study the fire safety plan (which is generally posted on the inside of your hotel room door). Take the time to do that so that you feel confident in taking care of your family in case something happens.

You don’t need to be excessively vigilant about children’s safety on vacation. However, you shouldn’t be excessively lax either. Use common sense to protect your family.

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Rules that I break are:

• Staying off of the bed. The bed of a hotel room is supposedly not very hygienic compared to the rest of the room. Many people say that you should pack your own sheets, wear long pajamas and stay off the bed as much as possible. This helps to keep you clean and germ-free. I don’t care; I trust the hotels I stay in enough to chance it.
• Check the bed for bedbugs. Maybe I’ll start following this rule if I ever become a victim of bedbugs at my hotel. I’ve heard it’s an awful experience. But it’s never happened to me and I’ve traveled quite a bit so I never bother checking. Do you?
• Wear flip flops in the shower and around the pool. It’s true that it’s easy to catch fungal infections when you’re going barefoot around common areas that are wet like this. I’ve also never had this problem, though. And I like to go barefoot on vacation!
• Avoid the hot tub. Yes, I know, it’s filled with germs. I don’t care. I love the way that it feels. I only get to enjoy it on vacation. I’m going for it!
• Get a room on a higher floor. Your room is supposed to be more prone to break-ins if it’s on the first or second floor of a hotel. I don’t always follow this rule, though. Sometimes it’s convenient to stay on the same floor as the hotel lobby!

I do, however, follow common sense about staying healthy and safe during any hotel stay. What do you do in this area?

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I love it when I get to upgrade to a nice hotel room at a low cost. However, nice rooms come with their drawbacks. One of my pet peeves when it comes to nice hotel rooms is that they often come with mini bars. There are two reasons that I don’t like this:

1. I’m tempted to waste my money on the snacks here. Even if I don’t want to touch the alcohol, there are always appealing little snacks that are way over-priced. And they aren’t good for me. And yet, when they are placed right there in my room, I’m tempted by them. I don’t want to walk to the vending machine anymore. I become lazy. And although I can usually stop myself from spending the money, I always feel torn.
2. The automatic sensor payment system drives me nuts. We had a big ordeal once when we stayed in a hotel room in Vegas that had a mini bar. The kids wanted to check out the goodies. We told them that they had to put everything back, of course. However, it was too late. The room was charged for many of the exorbitantly priced items. That’s when I found out that there are automatic sensors in the mini bar that tell the front desk if you’ve removed items from the area. You get charged for them even if you put them back. We did end up working out that particular bill with the hotel but boy was it a hassle!

For these reasons, I always check to make sure that the room I am getting doesn’t come with a mini bar. It’s nice to upgrade to a better room when you get a bargain-priced opportunity to do so. However, I tend to think that it’s not worth it if the mini bar is in the room. Has anyone else had bad experiences with this?

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There are a few reasons why I don’t like hotel alternatives:

• Some are more expensive than hotels. Renting out an apartment can end up being pricier than staying in a hotel, for example. I don’t want to spend more money than I have to on accommodations. I want to spend that money on enjoying attractions at my destination!
• The cheaper ones aren’t as comfortable. Staying in a youth hostel or on someone’s fold out couch in their extra room or at a campsite might save you a little bit of money when you are traveling. However, it usually equates to a lot less comfort in terms of sleeping arrangements. I’d rather pay the price of a cheap hotel and be comfortable during my trip.
• The experience isn’t as familiar. I admit it; I like a little bit of familiarity when I travel. I don’t like the idea of showing up to a stranger’s house in the middle of the day and having to make small talk while learning their home and finding out where my room is within it. I do think that this can be a neat experience. However I generally prefer the standard issue format of just renting a hotel room.
• It doesn’t seem as safe as a hotel. Some of the hotel alternatives just don’t seem as safe as cheap hotels are. They require shared rooms so your stuff isn’t necessarily locked up. And you’re staying with people you don’t know in rooms that aren’t locked. This is something I’ve gotten more concerned about since having kids.

What do you think about hotel alternatives when compared to budget hotels?

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After I wrote my recent post about ghost towns, I started thinking a little bit about ghosts. There are a lot of places in the country that are supposed to be haunted. There are also a lot of people who choose to visit these haunted locations. In fact, a lot of people like to stay at hotels that are supposed to be haunted.

I did some research and discovered the top ten haunted hotels according to Haunted America. They are as follows:

1. Hotel Provincial in New Orleans. New Orleans is a destination that many people believe is filled with ghostly spirits. This isn’t the only hotel in the city that is supposedly haunted.
2. Le Pavilion in New Orleans. That’s right; this creepy city has more than one haunted hotel on the list!
3. Hotel Del Coronado near San Diego. This one sounds spooky. I’ll stick to my favorite San Diego budget hotels instead, thanks!
4. Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO. This hotel was creepy enough to inspire Stephen King to write The Shining.
5. Heathman Hotel in Portland. I don’t usually think of Portland as a place where ghosts might be present but apparently I might be wrong.
6. Carolina Inn in North Carolina. All of Chapel Hill is said to be haunted so why should this hotel there be any exception?
7. Sagamore Hotel, NY. This seems like a beautiful historic hotel but if it’s true that there’s a little boy’s ghost haunting the place then I want no part of visiting it.
8. Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, AR. I can’t think of too many reasons I’d visit Eureka Springs. A haunted hotel isn’t one of them.
9. Ramada Plaza Hotel in Fond du Lac, WI. A long time ago, gangsters used underground tunnels to conduct illegal business. One of those tunnels ended in the basement of this hotel. The gangsters may be gone but spirits supposedly linger on.
10. Queen Mary Hotel in Long Beach, CA. This is probably one of the most famous haunted hotels. You can tour it if you’re interested.

Do you believe in haunted hotels? Would you stay in one? I think I’ll pass!

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Last month I wrote a post about 5 super-cool hotel types that I would like to try staying at some day. (For example, I’d love to find an affordable underwater hotel to stay at for a night!) However I am not one of those adventurous people who wants to try staying at all of the different types of hotels that exist. In fact, there are quite a few popular niche hotels that just don’t interest me at all.

5 types of hotels I wouldn’t ever want to stay at:

1. Prison Hotels. There are several old prisons around the world that have been converted into hotels. Some are nice hotels in old prisons. Others actually give you a prison-like experience complete with bread and water for dinner. Creepy.
2. Haunted Hotels. There are a lot of people who love to stay in hotels that are supposedly haunted. They want to see if they can get up close and personal with the ghosts. I’ll let them be, thanks. Besides, the popularity of these types of hotels makes them really pricey and I always try to travel on a budget.
3. Crane Hotels. Yes, people actually get into hotels that are hoisted into the air on huge cranes. I think I’ll pass on that experience. Treetop hotels are high enough for me!
4. Moving Hotels (like Exploranter). There is definitely something appealing about basically staying in an RV that someone else is driving. Still I don’t think that this is actually a hotel experience I’d really like.
5. Grain Silo Hotels. I’m glad that there are people who are interested in staying in a grain silo that has been converted into a hotel. It’s great because it makes use of a building that otherwise would just sit there unused. Nevertheless, I’m not the kind of person who wants to stay in a grain silo. I’d rather camp out.

What type of hotels would you have absolutely no desire to stay in? Are there weird hotels that you’ve stayed in at some point during the past that you would never want to stay at again?

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I’m still working on my list of travel goals and aspirations for 2010. I think I’ve decided that I also want to try to stay in a really unusual hotel. I’m not sure how to do this in an affordable way since niche hotels are usually pricy. I’m going to look into it though because there must be a way to visit these neat places frugally.

What kind of places am I talking about? Five examples of really neat niche hotels are:

1. Underwater hotels. There are a few places in the world where they have actually built hotels partially or entirely underwater. I’m sure that staying in one of these places gives you an experience that you’ve never experienced at normal hotels.
2. Hotels in the trees. There are a surprising number of treehouse hotels in various parts of the world. The rooms are actually elaborate rooms that are built in gorgeous trees. You use ladders or ziplines to get to them. The kids would love it if we stayed in one of these!
3. Pod hotels. These are uber-tiny minimalist hotels. I’d have to leave the kids home if I went to one of these. I think I’d leave my husband home as well and just check this one out on my own.
4. Art hotel. I’ve been doing a lot of research into art hotels lately. These are hotels where each room has been designed by a creative artist. There are a lot of optical illusions and neat designs in these places. I’d love to check one of these out in person!
5. Ice hotels. These are those places where the building or a part of the building is actually made from ice. I’ve always wanted to visit Iceland and see the Northern lights. If I did that then I would definitely stay in a hotel like this.

Is there a really strange type of hotel that you’d like to stay in. Do you have any tips for staying in them at a bargain price?!

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