The Remarkables Queenstown NZLike most people, I just love to travel and spend as much time as I can on the road or in the air.

Finding cheap flights online is the easy part; it’s finding a hotel at a reasonable cost, in the right location with the right facilities that can sometimes be a challenge.

Fortunately there are some excellent sites available to help you to choose the right hotel at the right price.

In October we are planning to travel to Auckland in New Zealand and then driving down to Queenstown in the South Island.

I intend to book only accommodation in both places and book as we go once we are there for the rest of the journey.

This is how Paula and I traveled around the West Coast of America just recently and found booking as we went to be a huge success as we weren’t locked into leaving an area if we wanted to stay on longer to enjoy the sights. Traveling like this also allowed us to take advantage of specials, such as the great deal we found to San Fransico through Priceline

And it is so easy nowadays to book online, I had a laptop so it was only a matter of going to Expedia.com or Hotels.com to check out the availability and costs of the various hotels. And I have now found another excellent website, Hotels Combined.com that allows me to check the prices of my chosen hotel with a number of travel websites, all at the same time. So that also saves me some time.

I am a bit of a fan of Holiday Inn Hotels as they are always comfortable, generally have free internet, complimentary breakfast and a laundry, which I find necessary when traveling light.

So the first step in planning my trip is to decide what I want to see. Well Auckland will be mainly spent visiting relatives, but I am also taking my granddaughter and as I want to show her around the many attraction in Auckland, I want to stay somewhere central.

I have previously stayed in the CityLife Hotel , because of its great location right in the heart of Auckland. It is close to the shopping in Queens Street, the Skywalk Tower, Kelly Tarltons Aquarium, the Casino, Museum, a great selection of restaurants on The Quay and the hotel itself is very comfortable with large rooms and all the facilities to make your stay enjoyable.

The rates  varied  from $150-$190 per night, quite a difference really. I actually found that going through Hotels Combined.com I  I could get a cheaper rate than going directly to some of the other travel sites. So keep that in mind when you are looking and be sure to check out all your options.

So now I am going to look for a hotel in Queenstown using the same process of checking each of my favorite travel websites plus my new found search partner, Hotels Combined.

Well I have finished my search on Expedia, Hotels Combined and Hotels.com and have decided on the Comfort Inn Melbourne Mtr Ldge as apart from being close to restaurants, shops and activities it is also reasonably priced at around $103 per night. It has all the amenities I am looking for and the reviews are positive.  Always make sure you read the reviews from people who have stayed in a hotel previously. But keep an open mind as some people are hard to please and find fault with any little thing. So read reviews objectively.

So there you are. I am all set with my accommodation and it took no time at all.

Filed under: Auckland • New Zealand • Reviews

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!