Finding a Safe Hotel

The only thing more important than hotel price is hotel safety.  This is especially true if you’re traveling abroad to a strange land where you don’t know the language, customs, or neighborhoods.  Below are some general tips we’ve compiled to help you find hotels that can provide you with safety and security. 

Go with Trusted Names

If you are a first-time traveler or someone who likes to take as many precautions as possible, your best bet is to go with trusted names in the larger hospitality industry.  Most of the bigger hotel chains have branches in major medical tourism destinations, so finding familiar names shouldn’t be a big problem.  There are a few things worth considering, however: 

• You often pay a premium for brand recognition.  Independent youth hostels can typically offer better rates than larger multinational hotel chains can.

• You lose some of the local flavor.  While Hilton, Marriott, and Sheraton can offer you many amenities, they somewhat shield you from the exotic sights, sounds, and experiences that often make travel so exciting.

• Even multinational hotel chains can’t control the quality in all places at all times.  Unless you’re paying for an ultra-luxury suite in a five-star hotel, you’re still taking a gamble.  Don’t expect your hotel stay while abroad to mirror past hotel experiences in your home country.

Only Use Hotels with Web Sites

This is a pretty obvious tip, but one worth mentioning all the same.  Any hotel that claims to cater to foreign travelers should have a functional Web site.  If it doesn't, it's a hotel worth avoiding.  Web sites are so easy to design these days… which brings us to our next point. 

Check Reviews Online

Just because a hotel has an excellent Web site doesn’t mean that it’s good.  Anyone can build a Web site.  Before you fill out the reservation form, try Googling the name of the hotel to see what others have to say about this particular facility.  You can also use search engine sites like Kayak to read user reviews. 

You can also use this technique to find photos of the rooms and facilities.  If you ever see a room that you really really want, ask for its availability and make sure that the room you ultimately receive is the rooms that matches the picture you saw online.

Only Use Responsive Hotels

Before booking hotel rooms, we recommend calling or e-mailing ahead to ask questions, find better rates, and gauge their responsiveness.  If no one answers the phone, returns your messages, or writes back, move onto the next hotel.  If a facility can’t handle potential customers, just imagine how unresponsive it’ll be once it already has your money. 

Don’t Put Too Much Stock in Star Rating Systems

Just because a hotel claims that it’s five-star quality doesn’t necessarily make it so.  Most medical tourism destinations have strict rating systems in place, but that doesn’t stop certain hotels from “fudging” the numbers and making themselves look good on paper.  Again, make sure that you read user reviews and conduct thorough Internet research on any facility before pulling out your credit card. 

Make Sure You Know the Neighborhood

It’s always a good idea to research the neighborhood before making reservations.  You don’t want to be miles from the hospital or major tourist sites.  You also don’t want to be in a dangerous section of town either. 

You can check out the neighbor a number of ways: 

• Google Earth & Google Maps -  although satellite imagery won’t necessarily tell you crime levels and relative safety, it can tell you how far you are from major tourist attractions, bus stations, police precincts, downtown centers, and other points of interest. And besides, these two tools are fun to play with (and 100% free).

• Travel Guidebooks – most of the more reputable travel guidebooks separate their hotels by neighborhood and/or price.  If you know the name of the neighborhood in which your hotel is located, be sure to research it using travel guidebooks, online travel sites, and Google.

• Ask the Hotel – be sure to ask the hotel how far it is from the places you intend to visit during your stay.  And you should also ask about the relative safety of the neighborhood.  Keep in mind, however, that very few hotels will tell you that the neighborhood is unsafe, so take everything with a grain of salt.

If You Need to Make a Deposit, Use a Credit Card

If the hotel requires an upfront deposit, make sure you use a credit card.  Money orders, traveler’s checks, cashier’s checks, and electronic payments are difficult to track and even more difficult to refund if you have to change or cancel your hotel reservation. 

Not all credit cards offer traveler’s insurance or buyer protection, but you’ll be in a much better position to get your money back if the hotel makes a mistake or provides you with inferior service. 

If the hotel can’t or won’t take credit cards, you’re probably better off going with a different hotel altogether.  Notable exceptions include youth hostels, many of which are cash-only businesses.  But with youth hostels, you won’t be losing a whole lot of money.

Double Booking Hotels

Although we don’t necessarily recommend the following, it has proven extremely useful for certain travelers.  When you double book hotels, you essentially make two overlapping reservations at two different facilities.  If the first one doesn’t work out, you can always fall back on the second one 

Let’s say you’re flying to Mumbai for surgery in March.  Your travel dates extend from March 1st to March 15th.  When you double book your hotels, you set up one reservation for Hotel A from March 1st to March 15^th, and then you set up a second reservation with Hotel B from March 2nd to March 15th.  That way, if Hotel A doesn’t work out, you can always move your belongings to Hotel B. 

For extra security, you can even triple book or quadruple book hotels with staggered dates so that you can always move at a moment’s notice.  However, as a general courtesy, be sure to cancel any hotel reservations that you don’t use.  And of course, this practice doesn’t work for hotels that require upfront deposits (and many of them do). 

Ask the Right Types of Questions

Lastly, you can increase the overall safety of your stay by simply asking the right types of questions and getting answers in writing.  Below are just a few of our favorites: 

• Is there a room safe that I can use?

• What is the policy for late check-ins?

• What is the policy for cancellations?

• What time is check-in and check-out?

• How much is the room tax?

• Is the front desk staffed 24 hours a day?