Choosing the perfect hotel!

The 2nd most difficult part about our travels, is choosing the perfect hotel for our family. It can be tricky, because we want to be near parks and open space for Olivia to run and play, but also be in a busy area with easy access to all the attractions and fun since we don't rent cars and rely on our feet or public transit. Sometimes these 2 things don't go well together in big cities, but if ye seek then ye shall find! It takes a lot of searching and seeking before finding what we hope is the perfect hotel for our familia, but it's worth it!

Here's my formula to finding the PERFECT HOTEL:

Step 1 - Find the website for that city and a map with all the regions on it. All big cities are broken down into regions/vicinities (If you already have a region your are set on, skip to Step 3). Note where the attractions you want to be close to are.

Step 2 - Access the forums on www.lonelyplanet.com and ask other travellers which region do they think is best for your particular set of needs and desires.

Step 3 - I use www.expedia.ca to search hotels and pricing in the region suggested (expedia is always well priced and has great customer service support, plus you can pull up your account on your iPhone at any time) and pay careful attention to the reviews and review star rating from other travellers on this site.

Step 4 - Check with www.tripadvisor.com for the traveller reviews and rating. We never stay anywhere that doesn't have 4/5 or better on trip advisor. It's never led us astray. The review rating is not the star rating of the hotel, it's the rating of the quality/satisfaction of the hotel.

Step 5 - Access the hotel's personal website. Check out all the photos, amenities and styles of rooms to be sure it's what you want. Choose a style of room. Compare their online pricing to that of Expedia.ca and choose the cheapest!

Step 6 - BOOK IT! Paying careful to the cancellation policy. Many popular hotels have a no cancellation no refund rate which is cheaper pricing for the exact same room BUT you cannot cancel for any reason. We always pay the little bit extra to allow room for cancellation. We do this for obvious reasons of trip cancellation but also because if we stay the 1st night and hate it, we are not locked in to the 4 nights we booked! Clever eh? This way you secured yourself a place to stay but have flexibility to leave a crummy hotel after the 1st night! As long as you inform the hotel the day OF your original check-in by 6 pm (you've seen the place and hate it but are stuck for 1 night) that you will not be spending the next nights, you are good to cancel. Basically 24 hours notice of cancellation.

Phew, okay....after all that being said, here's where we are staying in the South Pacific at all our stops. Only the Great Barrier Island, NZ and L.A. on the way home are yet to be determined.

Hong Kong, China (4 nights) - Staying in an apartment owned by a friend! YAY!

Melbourne, Australia (5 nights) - Staying in the guest home of our friends in Melbourne - YAY AGAIN!

Auckland, New Zealand (2 nights) - Staying at the CityLife Hotel, Auckland. An apartment style room in great area near the harbour and shopping, attractions etc.

Great Barrier Island, New Zealand (3 nights) - T.B.A. A beautiful place on the beach I'm sure.

Sydney, Australia (4 nights) - Novotel Sydney Manly Pacific - on the beach!

Los Angeles, USA (2 nights) - T.B.A. Hopefully near Rodeo Dr. again!

So there you have it, the 3 Travel Bugs method to choosing the perfect hotel. We have never been to a place we chose and did not love it, so far so great!