These days most people seem to, at least, begin looking for a hotel room using the internet. More often than not, this involves the use of comparison websites which line up potential hotels in tables that can be filtered depending upon your requirements. The most common filter used is the price, so that potential customers can identify the cheaper hotels and then decide how far up the price ladder they intend to go by looking at what other services, facilities or standards are available.

However, basing a judgment on a hotel purely on price isn't necessarily the best way of obtaining good accommodation for the period of your stay. There are other aspects of the hotel which can be checked using the comparison sites. For example, star ratings, amenities and facilities that are available for residents, and location, particularly the proximity to local facilities or the town center.

There are also many aspects of a hotel which are not readily available at all on either these comparison sites or on the hotel's site itself. These include things such as cleanliness and level of service. Most hotels which have a website are unlikely to have produced it themselves, but instead will have contracted a fancy designer to create a good looking site, with photographs which show only the best aspects of the hotel, and wording written by a professional writer to ensure the right image is portrayed.

This tells you nothing about the staff who work there, their politeness and standards and the level of service you are likely to get. There are really three ways in which you can find out this information.

Either using friends or family who have already been there to offer their advice or recommendations. Alternatively, telephoning the hotel to discuss the rooms, arrangements, services and so forth, will give you a good idea of their manner, particularly if you then start discussing the price and attempt to barter on this, or obtain extra services included in the standard price. Whether they are prepared to go a little further for a customer will give you a good indication to the level of service and dedication that you are likely to experience. An office level standard response is not necessarily going to give you the personal level of service that you might find makes a considerable difference to the quality of your stay.

The third way of course is to visit the hotel yourself in person. Clearly this is not always possible, but where it is an option, it is well worth taking, since it will also provide you with an opportunity to see the lobby and restaurant for yourself, and not rely purely on the photographs, but also to have a look at one or two of the rooms, so you can identify for yourself what you will be getting for your money.

The price will change drastically depending on how close the hotel is to the local facilities - the beach, the town or other key aspects of the area. Whilst saving a little money might seem a good idea in principle, finding your hotel is miles away from where you want to visit each day will result in you having a lengthy delay at the beginning and end of each day, or an expensive journey by taxi or other means of transport which could result in you paying just as much, or more than, if you had booked a hotel that cost more, but was more centrally located.