Saturday, January 31, 2009

Maldives hotels



The Maldives has a very large choice of resorts. They are all "resort" hotels so you wont find any youth hostels or cheap hotels. Most resorts take up their own island ( any thing from 1500m by 1500m down to 500m by 500m) What this does mean that the ratio of beach to guest must be one of the best in the world and it is hard to imagine that you would ever have to struggle to find your own private piece of beach to relax on. The range and themes or the resorts is impressive, most people will find one they like. Starting from bed and breakfast 3* ( European stars) level which none the less benefit from the wonderful water beaches and scenery. All the way up to something like Soneva Gili (in North Male) with its completely water locked stilted bungalows with their personal rowing boat and oarsman to take you to and from dry land. Lots of the resorts have a no shoes policy and with such soft sands it is easy to love this idea. The resorts also vary enormously in distance from the airport on the island next to Male. (Soneva Gili is 10 mins boat ride by and velavaru is 45mins plane ride). Don't let that put you off as the further from Male you get generally the more peacefully the islands and the better the diving.

Nepal hotels

Budget accommodation in Nepal ranges from around 100 NPR to around 250 NPR for a double. Cheaper rooms usually do not have sheets, blankets, towels, or anything else besides a bed and a door. Most budget hotels and guesthouses have a wide range of rooms, so be sure to see what you are getting, even if you have stayed there before. Accommodations will often be the cheapest part of your budget in Nepal.

Myanmar hotels

Accommodation is readily available in many tourist locales throughout Myanmar. Hostels and cheap hotels are available throughout the country. World-class hotels are available in Yangon, Bagan, and Mandalay. World-class resorts are available in many resort cities along the coastline and in Inlay Lake.
Hotels often provide complimentary breakfast.
If you want to be a socially conscious traveler, avoid five star hotels. These are all joint ventures with the government, so you will be providing major monetary bonuses to the regime.

Thailand hotels


Thailand has a plethora of accommodation in every price bracket. Always take a look at the room (or better still several rooms) before agreeing a price.
Guesthouses are usually the cheapest option, costing under 200 baht per night (or less for a dorm bed). This gets you a room with a fan, a squat toilet (often shared) and not much else.
Thai hotels start around 200 baht and go up to around 800 baht. The upper end of this range will be air-conditioned, the lower end will not. The primary difference is that with a hotel room, your bathroom should be private, bed linen and towels should be provided, and there may be a hot shower.
Tourist hotels are generally around 1000 baht and offer the basics for a beach vacation: swimming pool, room service and colour TV.
Business and luxury hotels, 2000 baht and up, offer every modern amenity you can think of and are largely indistinguishable from hotels anywhere else in the world. Some, notably Bangkok's The Oriental and The Peninsula are among the world's best hotels. The most luxurious resorts also fall in this price category, with some of the very best and most private adding a zero to the price.

Malaysia hotels


The choice of accommodation in Malaysia runs the gamut, ranging from RM20 beds in tribal longhouses to Pavarotti's favorite, the US$1000+/night luxury resort of Pangkor Laut. Accommodation is often extremely good value for money, with even top-of-the-range five-star hotels available for as little as US$50 if you book in advance with the right discounts, which makes Malaysia a great place for a little splurge. In cities, avoid any hotels marked Rumah Tumpangan instead of Hotel, as there are typically dodgy boarding houses for foreign workers.

New Zealand hotels

New Zealand offers a wide range of accommodation.
International quality hotels can be found in the major cities. And New Zealanders seem to have perfected the art of the top-end homestay. Hosted luxury lodges are the top-end equivalent of the bed-and-breakfast market and New Zealand has upwards of 40 internationally recognised lodges. Per capita, that's probably the highest in the world. They tend to be situated away from cities, though some are right in the heart of the major centres, and can be difficult to get to. At the very top-end, helicopter transfers and private jets help the luxury traveller move between the lodges they've chosen for their visit.
Motels of a variety of standards from luxury to just adequate can be found on the approaches to most towns. There is a wide range of backpackers accommodation around the country, including a network of Youth Hostels that are members of the Youth Hostels Association (62 in 2004), as well as homestays, farmstays and similar lodgings—some in the most unlikely places. New Zealanders are also registered on hospitality exchange sites, such as CouchSurfing. The CouchSurfing organization has announced its plans to host a Collective in New Zealand for six months.

Hostel, motel and hotel accommodation is readily available in most Australian cities and tourist destinations. Smaller towns usually have a selection of motel rooms available at a number of venues. Accommodation rates are broadly comparable, if perhaps slightly less expensive than their equivalents in Europe or North America. often Pubs in small towns will offer an amount of rooms available
Hostels
Budget hostel-style accommodation with shared bathrooms and often with dormitories is approximately $20-$30 per person per night. Facilities usually include a fully equipped kitchen with adequate refrigeration and food storage areas which allow travellers to stay healthy and save money by cooking their own meals. All hostels also have living room areas equipped with couches, dining tables, and televisions to provide travelers with a cozy and relaxing environment. About 150 hostels are part of , a member of Hostelling International.
Hotels
All state capitals would have at least one major hotel up to 5 stars that is comparable to many other high profile hotels around the world. The majority of Australia's hotels are located in the Central Business Districts (CBD) of the capital city. Hotel services and hospitality are often excellent such as room cleaning services, free morning newspapers, meals to your door and a high-speed internet connection up to 24mb/s (but often with a premium fee twice the cost of the local internet).
All hotels would have a restaurant (or bistro, depending on the type of hotel you are staying in) on the ground floor next to the check in desk. The restaurant or bistro would often serve food that comparable to many other up-market restaurants outside the hotel. Also on the ground floor would normally be a fully equipped bar.

hotels in Singapore

Accommodation in Singapore is expensive by South-East Asian standards, although a recent government push for more hostels and low-priced hotels may alleviate the situation a little.
Budget
Backpackers' hostels can be found primarily in Little India, Bugis and East Coast. Around $20 for a dorm bed.
Cheap hotels are clustered in the Geylang and Balestier districts, where they service mostly the type of customer who rents rooms by the hour. Prices start as low as $15 for a "transit" of a few hours and $40 for a full night's stay.
Dragon Group. A group of seven budget hotels providing cheap lodgings in red-light districts. Double rooms for the night from $40 upwards.
Fragrance Hotel. Chain of 11 affordable hotels and one backpackers' hostel. Rooms from $58, discounts on weekends and for ISIC holders.
Hotel 81. A chain of cheap but sordid hotels that are not a bad option for backpackers willing to pay a small premium for privacy, with rates starting at $49 for two.
Mid-range
Much of Singapore's mid-range accommodation is in rather featureless but functional older hotels, with a notable cluster near the western end of the Singapore River. There has, however, been a recent surge of "boutique" hotels in renovated shophouses here and in Chinatown and these can be pretty good value, with rates starting from $100/night.
Splurge Raffles HotelSingapore has a wide selection of luxury accommodation, including the famed Raffles Hotel. You will generally be looking at upwards of $200 for a room in a five-star hotel, which is still a pretty good deal by most standards. The largest hotel clusters can be found by the riverside (good for sightseeing) and around Orchard Road (good for shopping).

hotels in India

Choices vary wildly depending on your budget and location. Cheap travellers' hotels are numerous in big cities where you can get a room for less than Rs 450 ($ 10). Rooms at guest-houses with a double bed (and often a bathroom) can be found in many touristic venues for Rs 150-200. Good budget hotels in India are hard to find, but Ginger Hotels [30] runs a nationwide chain of 7 hotels in different cities. A cross between a mid-range business hotel and a US motel, all the hotels offer unique facilities such as Self Check-In, Safe Zone, Dial-A-Meal, Smart Space, The Sq Meal Restaurant and Smart Space. At a mere 25 dollars per night, it's some of the best value-for-money accomodation you'll get in the country.
Midrange options are plentiful in the larger cities. The prices vary from $ 50 to $ 100 per night. Breakfast if often included. The international Country Inn chain is expanding its network at a rapid pace. As of December 2006, they have Country Inns and Suites at Bhimtal, Haridwar, Ludhiana and Jammu. Delhi-based Leisure Hotels offers a wide range of accomodation in Uttaranchal at around $ 100 per night. Alternatively, Neemrana offers resorts at Off-the-Beaten-Track locations. If your wallet allows it, you can try staying in former maharaja's residence in Udaipur or modern five-star hotels which are now found pretty much all over the country. The top-end of Indian luxury rests with the Oberoi, Taj, and Sheraton India hotel chains, who operate hotels in all the major cities and throughout Rajasthan. A number of international chains including Marriott and Hyatt also run major 5-star hotels in most Indian metropolises, but due to India's economic boom availability is tight and prices can be crazy: it's not uncommon to be quoted over US$300/night for what would elsewhere be a distinctly ordinary business hotel going for a third of the price. Also beware that some jurisdictions including Delhi and Bangalore charge stiff luxury taxes on the rack rate of the room, which can lead to nasty surprises at check-out time. Five-star hotels in India tend to be pricey, and $ 200 is considered cheap in a Taj or Sheraton. Suites are priced at multiples of 1000!!! dollars per night.
Two important factors to keep in mind when choosing a place to stay are 1) safety, and 2) cleanliness. Malaria is alive and well in certain areas of India - one of the best ways to combat malaria is to choose lodgings with air conditioning and sealed windows. An insect-repellent spray containing DEET will also help.
Dak bungalows exist in many areas. These were built by the British to accommodate travelling officials and are now used by the Indian and state governments for the same purpose. If they have room, most will take tourists at a moderate fee. They are plain - ceiling fans rather than air conditioning, shower but no tub, etc. - but clean, comfortable and usually in good locations. Typically the staff includes a pensioned-off soldier as night watchman and perhaps another as gardener; often the gardens are lovely. Sometimes there is a cook. You meet interesting Indian travellers this way: engineers building a bridge in the area, a team of doctors vaccinating the villagers, whatever.

Hotels in China


Sleeping accommodations for tourists are widely available and can vary in quality from shared dorm rooms to five-star luxury hotels. For the most part, laws in China restrict or ban foreigners from the cheapest hotels, forcing foreign tourist to book rooms in much more expensive accommodations than locals can get into, many of which are still state-run and haven't changed much since the Mao era. That being said, there's a dizzying number of sleeping options in most Chinese towns and despite language and law barriers you should be able to find something in your budget and comfort range.
Looking for a hotel upon first arriving in a Chinese city can be a daunting task: a mob of passengers are pushing to disembark from your train or bus, touts are tugging at your arm and screaming in your face to come with them, everything is in incomprehensible Chinese and you are just looking for a place to put down your bag. It doesn't get any better once you get in a cab because the driver doesn't speak any English and every hotel in your guide book is full or closed! This can be the experience for many travelers in China, but the pains of booking a hotel room can be avoided if you know where to look and what you're looking for.
If you're willing to pay $30 or more for a room, then you'll probably have little problem finding a room. But if you want a cheap yet comfortable room, you'll have to be armed with a bit more knowledge than what can be had in many guide books. The cheapest options include hostels, dorms and extra rooms called zhusu, and there are plenty of hotels charging ?150 and up available in every city. Sleeper trains and sleeper buses can also be a decent option; see the "Get Around" section of this page for more information. If you're in a town and you can't find a hotel try looking near the bus or train station, an area that typically has a larger selection of cheap hotels. Hotels that are not licensed to accept foreigners can be heavily fined if they are caught housing foreign occupants. But enforcement of this law appears spotty and many hotels unlicensed to accept foreigners will find you a room. In the cheapest range of hotels it is important to ask if there is 24 hours of hot water - and check if the shower, sink and toilet in fact work. It is also advisable that you avoid checking into a room next to a busy street as traffic may keep you up late and wake you up early. If you do plan on just showing up in town and looking for a place to sleep it is best that you arrive before 6-7:00 p.m. as the most popular places will be booked for the night.
One secret to keep in mind when booking a room in China is that prices are often negotiable. A sharp reduction from the price listed on the wall can be had by just asking "What's the lowest price?". Note this doesn't work during the busy Chinese holiday seasons, when prices skyrocket and rooms are hard to get.
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Hotels in Japan

In addition to the usual youth hostels and business hotels, you can find several kinds of uniquely Japanese accommodation, ranging from rarefied ryokan inns to strictly functional capsule hotels and utterly over-the-top love hotels.

When reserving any Japanese accommodations, bear in mind that many smaller operations may hesitate to accept foreigners, fearing language difficulties or other cultural misunderstandings. This is to some extent institutionalized: large travel agency databases note which (few) hotels are prepared to handle foreigners, and they may tell you that all lodgings are booked if only these are full! Instead of calling up in English, you may find it better to get a Japanese acquaintance or local tourist office to make the booking for you. Alternatively, for cheap Internet rates, Rakuten's English search tool is an invaluable utility.

When checking in to any type of accomodation, the Japanese are, by law, required to make a copy of your passport. It is a good idea, especially if you are travelling in groups, to present the clerk a photo copy of your passport to speed up check-in. Aside from this, remember that Japan is mostly a cash only country, and credit cards are usually not accepted in smaller forms of accomodation, including, but not limited to, small business hotels. Bring enough cash to be able to pay in advance.

One thing to beware in wintertime: traditional Japanese houses are designed to be cool in summer, which all too often means that they are freezing cold inside in winter. Bulk up on clothing and make good use of the bathing facilities to stay warm; fortunately, futon bedding is usually quite warm and getting a good night's sleep is rarely a problem.