This is another post for my Top 5′s series this month. I wrote the Top 5 tips to book cheap accommodation for your travel before. After booking my hostels and apartments for Europe tour this coming May, I found out there are more ways you can save on your accommodations in Europe travel especially when you didn’t manage to book well in advance. Off course, the biggest saving you can get from hotel booking is still when you book it way ahead of your departure to Europe. However, a lot of cases are, you decided to fly only a couple of months before that. Moreover, if your travel period is so short (mine is only 14 days) and you have to plan really hard to maximize your time in sight seeing and other travel activities, your itinerary could only be finalized in the last minutes. With another month or so before you are actually flying, everything booking online seem to be more expensive (in fact they are a lot more expensive).

Don’t worry. There are still ways to save some costs on your Europe tour accommodation. Here are another 5 last minutes tips for you to book cheaper accommodation in Europe:

1. Compare rates of hotel and hostel before booking. Don’t be misled. Hotels aren’t always a lot more expensive than hostel or B&B especially when last minutes and you are looking for private rooms for 2 persons. Some lower star-rated hotels are even cheaper than popular B&B in Europe! Hotels in Dublin for example is cheap even in the city center. Some budget hotels are not much more expensive than hostel even though their facilities in hotel and rooms are much more better! If money is your only concern, go ahead and book your bed in 8 or 16 person dorm. They are still the cheapest accommodation you can get in Europe. If not and you need more privacy, then check the hotel rates at your preferred location together with B&B and hostel or guesthouse. You may surprise to the results.
2. To book through your affiliate account. This option is for travel bloggers. Most of the travel bloggers have affiliates accounts with one of the hotel booking agents out there. They will get some commissions when their blog readers click the link in their travel blog and book hotels through it subsequently. In this case, you can book hotels through your own link (as long as your affiliate contract allows that) and get your own some commission. In other words, you have just saved as high as 20% of your accommodation cost.
3. Do check on last minute deals on hotels. check online for super saver last minute rates on hotels exactly 1  month before your departure. There are many online agents offer last minute rate on hotel booking and the rates could be knocked down over 70% from the published rate. Why exactly one month? This is to make sure most rooms are still available. Hot deals sell fast!
4. Book local package tour to Europe countries. This is another last option you could have if your flight is just around the corner. Check online also for local package tour to include your preferred  destinations or countries in Europe. The package normally would include transportation to and from your starting country or city as well as accommodations, with some discount! It might be even cheaper than booking it individually online last minute!
5. To see it yourself with your own eyes before you book. If none of the above has been done or is preferred by you, no problem. You can just do nothing until your departure. Fly over to your first European country, transfer to the town center, walk around and look for hostel or B&B, see it yourself, check the rate, check in immediately! Don’t worry. There are a lot more hotels or hostel than you could ever imagine or find online. A lot of them don’t have any websites nor linked with online agents. You may still find good deals if not the best. The only problem is you need to spend some times to look for accommodation when you arrive at the city. The worst possibility is during peak seasons where you may not be able to find any London hotels or beds unless paying double or triple or more! However, this is always the last option.

Lastly, booking online do give you another advantage or I would say it as peace of mind. Why? It give you less hassle when arriving to any of the European countries at the immigration counter. Some officers would ask you which hotels you are going to stay in your travel period before they allow you in, to make sure you won’t overstay! Anyway,  happy travel to Europe. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog.