No doubt when making your bookings you will visit different websites when making your reservations.  May website consolidate the results of different hotels sites allowing you to shop in one location and compare the prices.  As good as these sites are, there are still situations where you may have to contact a hotel directly to make your reservation as described below under Specialty Hotels.

We always Travel Lite and are budget minded, but on each trip, we try to include some special and unique.  This may include a special meal, paying a little more for a nice view from our hotel room or even staying in a castle or some other unique location.  It will more than likely coast a little more than what you would normally pay for a hotel or meal, but we have found that if you can afford it, it makes for great memories and really enhances your overall trip experience.

See our pages on Bed & Breakfast and Hostels for other possible alternatives.

Specialty Hotels

Consider looking around an area where you are staying for other possibilities you may not find on hotel booking websites.  Search things like 'Castle Hotels' or other special accommodations you may be interest in.

Some family owned hotels may not be listed on other internet booking sites to avoid paying listing fees or a percentage on the booking.  When you find a hotel, you may have to contact them directly to request your dates through email.  The entire process consists of a back and forth email exchange where they may also ask for credit card information to hold your room.  These hotels may also only accept cash on arrival or departure to avoid credit card fees.  Some family owned hotels may require that you contact them directly.  It's at your own discretion if you want to send credit card information through email; we don't recommend it.  Try to work with them to reserve the reservation without giving your credit card information through email.

Liebenstein Castle Hotel

We highly recommend this hotel, although it is more expensive than your typical hotel, but it's well worth the additional cost.  Not only is this one of our favorite places to stay, their special candle light meal for two is one of our favorites.  The castle is an authentic medieval castle, along with all the decorations and has wonderful views of the Rhine River.  Staying at the castle with dinner was one of the highlights of a trip we took through Germany's Rhine and Mosel River Valleys.

Liebenstein Castel (Hotel) - Rhine Valley
Castle Website

Glengarry Castle Hotel

We really enjoyed our stay at this castle.  It is located in the country on the shores of Loch Oich, which lies between Loch Ness and Loch Lochy at the heart of the Great Glen in the Highlands of Scotland. In addition to the castle, the ruins of Invergarry Castle lies within the hotel grounds, just a short walk away.

Our room included breakfast and we reserved dinner at the hotel as well.  Both meals were absolutely delicious, and we recommend doing both.  The hotel grounds are large, next to the Loch with several hiking trails.  Another highlight was hearing an elusive cuckoo somewhere in the forest as we were out wondering around.

Glengarry Castel (Hotel)
Castle Website

Splurging on a view or other amenities

It may be worth spending a little more for a room with a view or some other amenity.  Staying at the Tschuggen Hotel in Grindelwald Switzerland, we paid a little extra for a room with a view of the Eiger.  From our room balcony, we sat outside and enjoyed a bottle of wine while enjoying the view.

Tschuggan Hotel - Grindelwald Switzerland

Passports

There’s a long tradition throughout Europe of statutes requiring hotels to collect information on guests—including name, nationality, and ID number—enabling law enforcement to cross-check for wanted individuals, criminals, or missing persons. The European Union has since made such data collection a requirement for hotels in member states. Most of this information is simply stored to be made available to authorities upon request, though in certain areas, it is regularly collected. In the past, some hotels would hold guests’ passports for hours or even overnight to manually complete the registration process. Today, you usually just have to show it at check-in.