Gypsy8

Does anyone have a website to recommend for accommodations in these countries? When we were in Portugal/Spain we stayed mainly in vineyard hotels, pensions, and quirky hotels. Everything I have looked at online so far shows American style hotel chains, which I am not at all interested in.
We have a midline budget per night.

Travel_Nerd

It would be helpful if you provide actual rate range, cities, and times of year you are interested in.

I'm curious that you say you're only finding "American-style chains" in these countries aince those really are a rarity unless by an airport....

How are you doing your research may impact as well. I find booking.com to be pretty comprehensive with multiple styles of lodging offered, especially for the Balkan area.

Gypsy8

Travel_nerd, I see a lot of Sheraton. Westin, Best Western in sites such as booking.com, Trip Advisor, etc. What I was asking for was a general site that would show many different styles of accommodation. Time of travel is irrelevant but we would be going September and October.

rialtogrl

Booking.com is what most people use. American chains are indeed not very common. You find a lot of apartment accommodation, sometimes with the owners on site, sometimes not.

Travel_Nerd

But where are you going? What towns? And what filters are you possibly using in your search? That can thwart the results.

As someone who has been to each of these countries, a few of them multiple times, I have rarely seen those types of hotels. Not saying they don't exist - but the only Sheraton I ever saw in Croatia was near Zagreb Airport, for instance.

Booking.com *does* offer hotels (also boutique independent hotels) but also apartment options, sobe/guest rooms, Bed & Breakfasts/gites, etc. I used Booking.com for ALL of my lodging on my recent 4-week trip to that very region and never once stayed in a "chain" hotel.

Trying to help here....

Edit: I did a random search in Zagreb and so see more "chains" than I recall. But I have not been to Zagreb since 2015 and honestly, do not care to return. The hotel I stayed at either got bought out or is not listed anymore. I did not see this is Ljubljana. Perhaps Zagreb has more industry that draws that.

Is Zagreb where you are searching? Any particular draw to the city? It was not my particular favorite, but it's not my trip. I did see a few boutique hotels that looked nice, such as Garden Hotel. But not sure if that is what you consider as a "midline" budget (BTW, vague terms like that make it difficult for other posters to help or suggest because midline to you might be high end to someone else.)

KarenWoo

We did not stay in nor see American chain hotels in Croatia and Slovenia. We use booking.com all the time. We actually liked Zagreb very, very much. It reminded me of a smaller and less crowded Prague. And it is very different from Dubrovnik and Split so you add some diversity to your itinerary.

hetismij2

https://www.slovenia.info/en is the official site of the Slovenian tourist board. It may also help with your husbands cycling plans. https://www.slovenia.info/en/things-...on-road-biking

The other countries all have official tourist sites as well, with links to towns and cities and hotels and other accommodation. Probably to cycling as well.
https://croatia.hr/en-gb
https://www.tourismbih.com/
https://www.visit-montenegro.com/

They make a good place to start your search. If you are ticking air conditioning as a requirement you are more likely to end up with chain hotels.

Good news is that Croatia is now a Schengen and a euro country.

coral22

In Croatia, we stayed in apartments. I looked at Booking.com, and they have quite a few available in Dubrovnik, for instance. You have to use the filter for apartments. We loved those accommodations because we could have breakfast in, snacks, and would sometimes pack a lunch. They also had laundry and a terrace and were very affordable.

Gypsy8

Travel_Nerd; thankyou for all of the information. I did check out the Garden Hotel and that fits our budget of about $200 CAD/ night. We also used booking.com while in other European countries. Zagreb is only because that is where we would fly into, and we like to spend 2 nights upon arrival to get our interior clock set. Do you have a trip report for Croatia at all? Or blog? Have you been to other bordering countries as well, with advice to offer?

Hetismij2; I have been adding A/C to my search, so thankyou for that tip. Also for the links

Coral22 and KarenWoo; thankyou for your input as well

bilboburgler

Best Western isn't really a chain, just a group of hotels who market together

KarenWoo

Gypsy8, I have a trip report if you are interested for Croatia, Slovenia and a day trip to Montenegro. You can click on my name to search for it. We were there in September 2019.

rialtogrl

I stayed in the Hotel Astoria in Zagreb last month, a Best Western property. Normally I use apartments but Zagreb was very full due to their advent festival. It was a fine hotel, nothing glamorous in the rooms but a really fantastic breakfast. The location is fab. Only downside was the bar was not nearly big enough to compete for seats with the British visitors.

Worth checking, if it fits the budget.