Accomodation online

The travel supplement of leading national dailies is full of packages and deals for outbound tourists, especially to the European countries and hot spots like Mauritius and South East Asian nations. Some of them offer really attractive rates, but no one really mentions about hidden costs. The general perception for a trip abroad is to take a package tour, unless you know someone close living there, who will help you in getting local travel assistance in a foreign country. Accommodation abroad is a big apprehension. The evolution of travel sites in India has helped people in a big way in making travel decisions, tickets and hotel bookings etc. We are not really aware of such Travel sites aboard.

I had come across one such site for tourists bound for UK and some other European nations. A site named ‘Cheaper than Hotels’ offers you the choice of several types of accommodation. In fact the site offers accommodation for a wide range of places, including India. I had tried the site and was surprised to find hotels for Delhi, India as well. I choose the option of 3 star and below. Names of the hotels that pop up for Delhi are not seen even in Indian travel sites. This is because Indian sites offers only big star hotels which are beyond the budget of most people. But ‘Cheaper than Hotels’ search included some 1 star hotels. Only problem I had observed with the site was that the prices are not in INR. But anyway it is a good site. I wish some of the Indian travel site also starts offering budget accommodation.