Posts Tagged ‘hotel reviews’

Finding Good Hotels in Torrevieja and the Costa Blanca

July 4th, 2011

Torrevieja is one of the most popular vacation spots on the Costa Blanca. The city if located about fifty kilometres from the Alicante airport. There are bus services from the airport to the city. Some of the more expensive Torrevieja hotels will pick you up from the airport.

Finding Torrevieja Hotels

There are several ways to find hotels in Torrevieja. Your travel agent may be a good source of information for hotels on the Costa Blanca. You may get a good deal when you book your airline tickets and hotel at the same time. Call your agent well in advance to get the best deal on the hotel you want.

The internet is another good source of information on hotels. All travel websites may not have the same hotels listed. They also may not have the same prices for each hotel. Comparing prices is a good idea. Search a few travel sites and compare rates to find the best deal.

If you know where you want to stay, you can contact the hotel directly. Call in advance, especially if you will be travelling in the summer. The popular hotels fill up quickly during this time of year. Waiting until the last minute can result in the hotel you want being full.

If you don’t know where you want to stay, spend some time reading hotel reviews. You can find these on the internet. Hotels are rated with a number of stars. Good, basic hotels generally have a three star rating. Luxury hotels are often given four or five stars. You will find descriptions and pictures of the hotels on some of these sites.

Read reviews that were written by former guests at each hotel. This will give you a good idea of the quality of the hotel from the point of view of people who have stayed there. These sites also give information about amenities at each hotel, such as pools, restaurants and other services.

Choices in Torrevieja Hotels

Luxury hotels are often given four or five stars in hotel reviews. These are often closer to attractions and beaches. Many have pools, spas, health clubs, dry cleaning service, babysitting service, restaurants and bars on the premises. Staying at one of these hotels is the more expensive option in hotel accommodations.

Smaller hotels are generally located a bit further from the beach and main attractions. These offer less in amenities and services. They are also less expensive than larger hotels. Although they don’t offer as much in amenities, these hotels are generally very nice. They offer good, basic accommodations at a reasonable rate.

Golf resorts are popular in this area. The weather is nice enough for golfing all year round. Some resorts offer hotel rooms, while others are built around apartments or villa style accommodations. These resorts offer pro shops, club houses, spas and golf instruction. If you plan to spend a lot of time on the course, you may want to consider this option.

Consider your budget when choosing a hotel for your vacation. How much are you willing to spend on your accommodations? Figure out your overall budget for your trip and how much of the total budget you can afford to spend on hotels.

How long will you be staying in Torrevieja? If you are staying for a short vacation, you may be willing to spend a bit more on your hotel. In this case, splurge a bit on the luxury hotel. If you are staying for a week or longer, you may be more limited in what you can spend.

Where will you be spending your time? Proximity to the beach may be important if you plan to spend most of your time soaking in the sun. Hotels that are located on the beach or close to the beach tend to be more expensive. Consider where you will be spending your time to choose the most convenient hotel in your price range.

‘Resort Interviews’ Puts Faces to Hotels

June 12th, 2011

There’s a new start-up website which is putting faces to hotels, and they are known as ResortInterviews.com. The site was began by the company’s Director, Bruce Alexander, an Australian who had a brain wave while on holiday with his family in Fiji. Why not set up a site where individuals can watch video interviews showing resorts firsthand? Thus, Resort Interviews was born.

Alexander was staying at the Octopus Resort when he began asking other guests he’d met if he could take some video of them talking about their experience at Octopus. Most of them agreed, offering tidbits of information and opinions of the location based on their experiences at Octopus.

The site promises that their resort reviews are greater than the standard hotel reviews you come across online because they are more interactive and provide the chance to really see and hear the surroundings of the resort, rather than just reading about them on paper.

For instance, presently up on the website are several videos of the Octopus Resort (one of only two resorts featured on the site so far) that depict beach-goers in bikinis lounging in hammocks or sitting on sun-bathed grass, reveling in their Fiji escapes. Alexander has also added much better edited videos that portray some of the nightlife and activities around the resort, which is supposed to give viewers a greater general thought of what it really is like to stay at the Octopus Resort.

For me, the videos are undoubtedly a aid in deciding on whether or not or not I’d like to stay somewhere, and especially simply because these videos are presented by regular folks who are just average guests at the places they’re reviewing, you get a nice sense of what the location is really like. There is also no question of whether the reviews are spam or fakes, since you can see and hear the reviewers proper in front of you on camera.

Alexander has also expanded his web site to contain a membership region that offers users the chance to upload their travel videos to monthly competitions to win prizes. He hopes to produce a fully-featured social network of travelers who can someday avail of wonderful discounts at the resorts featured on the web site.

To discover fault, Resort Interviews has a lengthy way to go prior to the internet site is fully filled out. With only two resorts on supply presently, it will take some time along with a lot of effort before it is a functional internet site helpful to the average traveler (unless they want to go to Fiji!). By the sounds of it, Alexander and his team are slowly working toward expanding the site with more resort reviews that they will personally produce and film.

Furthermore, it seems to me that there is possible for the internet site to grow to be nothing much more than an advertorial, but if Alexander keeps up his commitment to offering honest, user-based reviews, then Resort Interviews will most likely grow to be a genuinely useful travel tool.