Top 10 Tips for Booking Hotels in India
Updated: Feb 3
After 8 trips to India encompassing 2 years of travelling in all areas of the country, this year I still managed to fall for a hotel scam...
It happens to the best of us, so consider this blog post a public service announcement for booking hotels in India. In this guide, you'll find tips for finding accommodation in India, scams to look out for, insider knowledge, common practices, and homestay etiquette.
India is a HUGE country with endless cultural variety, so these tips may not apply everywhere. For example, you are very unlikely to be scammed in a tribal village in the mountains, but in hotels surrounding New Delhi Airport, you will need to have your guard up.
So here is everything you need to know to book hotels and other accommodations in India, squished into these top 10 tips!
RELATED POST: A Pre-Departure Checklist for Travelling to India |
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Top 10 Tips for Booking Hotels in India
1. Make reservations for your hotel ahead of time
I have heard time and time again that 'just showing up' means you can secure cheaper rates for accommodation by negotiating in person rather than booking online, but in my experience in India, this is simply not true. It sounds romantic to spontaneously turn up to a new, exotic place and wander around until you find a place to rest your head, but Indian cities are not that forgiving. While it is true that you may get a cheaper rate by booking directly with the accommodation as you save them the hefty commission to the booking platform, it is still wise to book ahead - you can do this by Whatsapp message pretty much everywhere in India these days.
Do you really want to be traipsing around a confusing and dusty Indian city with a heavy bag, a walking target for scammers, only to find out that a local cricket fixture means all the nearby hotels are full, so you spend two hours on the streets being constantly misdirected and pestered only to stay in a super expensive and crappy hotel because your patience had hit zero? Doesn't sound fun, right? So yeah - book ahead and save yourself a heap of hassle.
2. Make sure you look at the room before you agree to stay there
It is not common practice in India (except for big hotel chains) to pay for your hotel room ahead of your stay. There are too many scam hotels out there and this is never a good idea.
Not only that, but in my experience if a hotel asks you to pay for the room upon check-in - they have something to hide. When you arrive at your accommodation, ask to see the room first, check the sheets are clean and the shower works etc. If you are happy with everything, you can agree to stay there and pay upon check out.
RELATED POST: Is India Safe for Women? |
3. Homestays rule!
In India, homestays are SO much better than hotels. Not only do you stay in well-kept accommodation (it's their home, so they take pride in caring for it) but you normally get so much more than a place to rest your head.
I have had homestay owners go above and beyond to make sure I enjoy my time in their part of India, from arranging activities and drivers to helping me secure documents for onward travel, driving me to the bus station, etc - and normally for no extra cost.
Staying in a homestay means you get a personal touch from local people who actually care about your experience, rather than service from inexperienced hospitality staff imported from other parts of India - as is the case in many hotels.
I always choose homestays as my first option, followed by guesthouses, then hotels. It is worth noting homestay etiquette - you are in someone's home so you cannot get conveniences on demand, e.g. room service, you are expected to be flexible and fit into the routine of the home. Many Indian domestic tourists do not grasp this, which is why many homestays I know of only accept foreign tourists!
Your guesthouse owner is your hero, in the past mine have protected me from angry goondas and scam artists, sourced me bikes and motorbikes to rent, and arranged awesome and unusual activities.
As a plus, it is normal practice for homestays in India to let you check in early or out late if the room is free, at no extra costs - a courtesy not readily found in the west!
4. Do not leave valuables lying out in your room
I am not saying everyone in India is a criminal, but there is a lot of wealth disparity and I just encourage you to remove temptation from someone who may be in your room for cleaning, let's say.
If the hotel is not secure, take everything of value with you when you leave your room, but if you are in a place you trust, just keep money and electronics out of sight. Tampons are a good hiding place for cash.
*Preparing for a trip to India*
For travel insurance for India, I have put my trust in Safety Wing, and I use their 4-week rolling policy as it is affordable and covers almost every country. They have been great so far!
Here is a checklist of everything you need to cover when planning a trip to India. For more detail on each of these steps head over to my article A Pre-departure Checklist for Travelling India.
Visa: Most countries can apply for an eVisa for 1 month, 1 year, or 5 years. These are multiple-entry visas, but you can only stay in India for 180 days a year. The visa starts the day it is issued, not when you enter, so don't apply too early. Here is the official eVisa website.
Money: Bring cash in GPB, EUR USD or similar and change a small amount at the airport when you arrive, then the rest at the little tourist shops where you're staying. The airport charges a 12% government tax for currency exchange, most other places do not.
SIM: This is a pain in the ass, as India has recently banned many eSims (like Airalo and Holafly) and they have changed the laws several times this year on how tourists can buy physical Sims when they arrive. As of August 2024 though, you should now be able to buy an Airtel Sim at the airport when landing.
VPN: TikTok and anything Pakistan-related is banned - and let's say you're a TikToker or you're applying for a Pakistan visa for onward travel, you won't be able to do either of those things in India without a VPN.
Immigration: You'll need to fill out a tourist card when you land with your first hotel/hosts address on it, if you do not know this you could get stuck for a while. Immigration officials can be a bit sticky so just be polite and sweet as pie. I have never been asked for proof of onward travel or insurance at immigration.
Language: Many people speak English, as well as their state language, and sometimes a third language like Hindi. A polite greeting is to put your hands together in a prayer position, this is especially true for male-female interactions, touching each other with a handshake, for example, is not normal.
For female-specific advice, please have a read of my article: Is India Safe for Female Travellers?
5. A lot of reviews are fake
If you book your accommodation in a rush, you could quickly fall prey to the art of the fake review, as I did recently. It is easier than you think to post fake reviews, even on platforms like booking.com.
Before booking a hotel, check the reviews across as many platforms as possible, and if you start to notice a pattern in the positive review wording then you can guess they are probably fake. "Beautiful and best hotel" written more than once in a review? Fake fake fake! Nobody writes that. Read the more detailed and articulate reviews to get a clearer picture of what the hotel is actually like. The same goes for the photos, as these days they can be easily edited - so instead look at guest photos!
6. Some hotels only allow gender mixing in the rooms if you can prove you are married
If you are travelling with friends of the opposite gender, or you are an unmarried heterosexual couple, sharing a hotel room may cause an issue, particularly in guesthouses in Muslim neighbourhoods. I have only been turned away from a hotel once for not being able to prove I was married (in Kolkata) - so although it is rare, it does happen and is something to be aware of.
7. Airport hotels often change their location on Google Maps
This is a very common tactic for hotels to show up on the first page when you use the 'distance from airport' filter on booking platforms. You book it, it looks super close, then you realise it actually takes 45 minutes to get there only when you're in a taxi and can't turn back.
Luckily most major Indian cities have Uber now so you can check the journey length from the airport terminal to the hotel address on the app before you book - but do be aware there is also room for error here too.
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8. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
You can normally secure a clean, quality, double room for 2000rs per night, anywhere. The only place I have found this to be difficult is anywhere near the major airports of the biggest cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata.
If it is a lot cheaper than this and the photos look amazing - it is most likely too good to be true.
I recently booked an airport hotel for 1500rs, the place looked amazing and I thought I was getting a fantastic deal - the reviews were all amazing too. It is only when I arrived at the hotel I saw how dilapidated it was, but I was too tired to change location so I just paid for my room and went to bed. For the next two hours I tried to ignore the prolific cockroaches, cigarette burns and brown stains on the sheets and the rancid smell, but being electrocuted in the shower was the final straw. I ran out of the hotel and later learned all the reviews were fake, as you can imagine my surprise when I saw that I MYSELF had left a fantastic review for the hotel that almost killed me - yes they hacked me too.
9. Travel with a pillowcase
I have stayed in some scarily dirty places in India and other parts of the world, normally just to shave a few bucks off the room price, and in those times of fear and loathing, I sure have been thankful to have a clean pillowcase with me - so at least my face was on a clean piece of fabric.
10. Dinners can be awkward
I love travelling solo, there is no one to compromise with and I can do whatever I want whenever I want.
That being said, dinners at homestays and hotels in India can be awkward. The style of service in Indian hospitality is to just hover near the guests in case they need anything, and the same is reciprocated in that in Indian culture bossing your server about in a restaurant is kind of normal.
I have had MANY an awkward dinner at homestays in India where I am eating alone, and the server is just standing next to the table perching over me in case I should need anything. It can be pretty awkward, so I either engage in conversation if I'm feeling social, or say "I don't need anything else, you can go and relax" if I'm not!
Thank you for reading my post: Top 10 Tips for Booking Hotels in India
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Happy Travels
xx
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