Do you use tourist offices for finding hotels?
 

The first trip my sister and I took, which was to France, we didn't do the meticulous planning of our later trips. We reserved our Paris hotel (Ibis) and then used tourist offices as we came to new cities.

This was a last-minute trip in 2000, and it was incredibly cheap. We traveled for 12 days for $1600 apiece, including airfare. We drove a little Peugeot that was so cheap the windows didn't roll down.

Most of the hotels we found were a bit quirky, and all of them comfortable and cheap. I think we did find our Honfleur hotel in a Rick Steves guide, but aside from that little hotel and the Ibis in Paris.

Occasionally I have used tourist offices in the train station at Munich, but nowadays I reserve on the internet.

How about you? Do you make hotel reservations at home on the internet or is there some element of winging it in your travel?

One day I may become adventurous enough not to know where I'll lay my head on any given day, but for now, I recognize my aversion to feeling "homeless" and always button down our hotels long before leaving home. It is just me. I'm sure lots of other people wing it and maybe someday I'll be brave enough to really get out of my comfort zone and try that.

I am REALLY interested that the OP did that as recently as 2000. I had asked on some thread if there were tourist offices at train stations any more. We took our family of 5 to Europe for 3 weeks before the internet and just got hotels each night at the tourist office. There were a couple of "squeakers" (aka, we should have spent a little more on the pension), but it worked out pretty well and we lived to tell the tale..

This summer we used the tourist office quite a bit in Germany: Würzburg, Bamberg, Leipzig, Görlitz. We did it on our own outside Meissen.

Yes. We usually wing it. Sometimes we look online before leaving a hotel to find the next one, but often we have no idea where we'll stay the following night, so then we use a tourist office, or just see if a hotel has a room.
We do this in the U.S. as well as in Europe.

Sadly, not much element of winging it in our recent travels. For many years, we would travel in Europe with few reservations and very flexible plans. We frequently found lodgings through tourist offices and many were memorable. I kind of miss those days, but now I'm not sure I have the energy to travel like that. But, I could probably be persuaded to try winging it off-season from time to time in less busy areas of France.

I find that tourist office sites usually carry a comprehensive listing of all accommodations with pricing and often some grading criteria - many will also book them for you. So just to see everything that is available I start there and then either contact the hotel myself or book thru them (my style hotels don't show up on Priceline, Hotels.com, etc.

For dependably good hotels at a good price yes I will peruse Accor hotels - www.accorhotels.com - perhaps Europe's largest hotel chain with Ibis, Novotel, Sofitel, ETAP and rock-bottom Formul 1 hotels all over Europe but especially in France.

We used to travel that way all of the time. Not so much anymore. It is more work as we age. Now if we have an open night we are inclined to ask the hotel owner for a rec. or go on the internet. But, we have had some really nice places from the TI. Recently we used them in Nova Scotia. The result was not so good but filled up as the TI kept sending people. Still not a good accommendation but full.

I'm sorry, but with websites like booking.com, using the tourist office for hotels is so 60's or 70's.

when we were just a couple we travelled round France, Italy and Spain on the fly; in 3 weeks in Italy we only booked our first 4 nights - and that was in Venice in July so we thought that was probably a good idea, but otherwise it was all found on the hoof, even in Florence.

but that was 25+ years ago. when our kids were little we took them on typical family holidays in the UK or to resorts abroad, and it wasn't until they were about 10 that we thought about touring holiday again, but it just didn't work so well. they just didn't like not knowing where they were going to be laying their heads, and after one memorable afternoon when we were stuck in Versailles in a strike with no bed at all, and DD having a panic attack thinking she'd have to sleep in the car, we decided it wasn't such a good idea.

however, when it's just the two of us again, I'm sure we'll revert to the touring and using the TI to find accommodation again, except in high season and in big cities.

<i>I'm sorry, but with websites like booking.com, using the tourist office for hotels is so 60's or 70's.</i>

To me this comment reflects a fear of not being <i>à la page</i>. For those of us who choose not to be tied umbilically to the internet, tourist offices are very useful and allow a measure of flexibility that disappears with pre-booking.

I used to use tourist offices to find some accommodations but gave up winging it 10 to 15 years ago. It's too much work trying to find the TI and giving up sightseeing or cafe time to find accommodations at the last minute, especially if I was tired after a long day of sightseeing or driving.

There are so many more people traveling now that you run the risk of paying more for accommodations if you wait until you arrive in a town.

I would not say that I would never again use a TI but it would have to be off season and not in cities.

We always book in advanced. I review on tripadvisor. I love to know other peoples experience and make my decision. This works for us. If someone recommends a hotel I'll check the price and location then I view what others say. For me this is a fun way to travel.

<<<Most of the hotels we found were a bit quirky>>>

that would be a vast overstatement for the hotel we found through the tourist office in Paris in the summer of 1972. I'm sure it was the cheapest hotel they could find -- after all, 10 weeks in Europe, including airfare and Eurail passes, cost us $800.00 each -- but really, they could have at least picked up the cigar butts and half-empty beer bottles.

I never use tourist offices for accommodations. Not saying they are not useful, but I would rather make my own mistakes.
So many recourses on-line as previously mentioned, booking.com being one of them.
I use the tourist office for local maps and any other insightful information.

We've done both, Internet and tourist office. I do prefer internet as I can find out a lot more about the room, see pictures, check reviews, etc. That's part of the trip planning and I love to do it. We sometimes use tourist offices when we rent a car and are not sure where we will end up and sometimes that's good but usually I like to know where I'm sleeping that night and what it's going to cost.

Never. We always book in advance - since we are quite paricular what we want (some might say high maintenance, but we work hard for our money) and as much value as possible. Will pay high prices if it's the only way to get what we want, but prefer a discount.

I lied. I did once - in London - when the hotel I reserved had screwed up the reservation and was VERY unhelpful - and it was late afternoon by then. They found us a boring cookie cutter place near the gloucester rd tube stop - liked neither the area nor the hotel (too big and a staff that barely spoke english).

I like to do that, my husband doesn't. So it depends upon the freedom of the trip and what time of year it is.

Never the night of arrival or departure.
Rarely in large cities.
Often in villages and rural areas.
Less so if we return to known areas, where we have a favorite.
When we do, we start at the most expensive offerings and work down, rather than vice versa.

If we hadn't, we probably wouldn't have stumbled on:
the apartment on Isle St. Louis; the chocolatier in Provence; the retired sales manager in Perigeux; the chateau in Tabor; the gentleman farmer in Normandy; the goose farm in Dordogne; or the delicious (gross understatement) farm cooking on the duck farm near Sarlat.

I'm in the winging it camp.