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Should you make all your hotel
reservations in advance
of your trip to Turkey?
It's
a common question.
There's no simple answer, but
here are points to consider:
1. Reserve Your First Night
It's a good idea to reserve
at least the first night or two of
your stay in Turkey. The day you
arrive
will be
confusing
and time-consuming
enough without having to look at several
hotels to find the room you want at
a price you want to pay. If the hotel
you've chosen in advance is not exactly
what you want, you can always find
another
one—but you won't have to search
for it that first night, tired,
perhaps jet-lagged, and totally unfamiliar
with Turkey.
2. Make "Rolling Reservations"
You
can make "rolling reservations:" reserve
your
first few
nights in Turkey
in advance, before leaving home. As
soon as you arrive in Turkey, ask your
hotel clerk or a travel
agency to help
you make a reservation for your next
destination(s).
Have the
names and phone
numbers of a few hotels in each place
you want to visit. This will help the
clerk or travel
agent to get started.
If a chosen hotel is full, that hotel
may recommend a similar
hotel nearby.
3. Reserve Special Hotels
If there
is a particular hotel or
class of hotel that you really want
to stay
in, reserve
your room as far in advance as
possible. The most popular hotels may
fill up
at
any time of year, summer or winter,
particularly on weekends and holidays
(both Islamic and
non-Islamic). Click here to find hotels in any Turkish city.
4. Reserve at Peak Times
Each year is different in Turkish tourism.
2007 and 2008 were
boom years so busy that some unlucky
travelers spent nights
sleeping in chairs in hotel lobbies
because they had no advance reservation
and all rooms were full. 2006 and
2009 were a lot
calmer, with most hotels having extra
rooms available at most times of
year. Watch TurkeyTravelPlanner.com for
bulletins of how busy a
year is shaping up to be, and plan
accordingly.
Spring (late April,
May and
early June)
and autumn (September and October)
are the busiest times for independent
non-beach travel in Turkey.
Many of the best boutique hotels are
heavily booked in these months, so
you should reserve your rooms in advance.
High
summer (mid-June,
July, August,
and early September)
is the busiest time for beach resorts
in Turkey. Cities are not as heavily
booked as in spring and autumn. Weekends,
special
events and holidays can
fill hotels in certain places at
any time of year.
5. Get to Your Next Destination
Early
If you want to be a vagabond and
find hotels when you arrive in a
place, at least travel early
in the day. This often works
fine in Turkey if it's not a boom
year
or one of the busiest months. Get
an early start on the road and plan
to reach your destination by mid-afternoon—late
afternoon at the latest!—to
give yourself time to find the hotel
you want. You will get the vacant
room, while those who arrive in the
evening or at night may be out of
luck. Most hotels know by 10:00 am
or 11:00 am if they will have rooms
available for that night.
6. If All Else Fails...
If you find yourself in a new place
in the evening and the hotels seem
full, ask any hotelier to
help you find a room. Turks
are hospitable and if the hotelier
has the time
and ability to help you, s/he probably
will. But there may be little s/he
can do if everything's full. You
may end up paying more than
you want, or staying farther
away from
the center, or in a hotel below
your preferred standard.
In summary, there's no clear,
consistent answer to the question "Should I reserve
my hotel rooms in advance?" It depends
on a number of factors. You must
decide, guided by the tips above.
You can check room rates and
availability on Booking.com.
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