Have done your home work and found clubs you would like to visit? You know and are going to concentrate on a specific region? Before you get started if your answer to the two questions is NO I suggest you go back to the drawing board and take a look at these articles first contacting coaching staff and Getting a tryout for basketball clubs in Europe. Or alternatively if you are new to the blog visit the Start Here page to get yourself up to speed.
If your answers are Yes to the two questions then here are the top 5 useful links for booking accommodation for your basketball trip.
5. Expedia
My experience with Expedia is limited because every time I look at booking anything Expedia is more expensive. As I do like to compare prices across various sites I always check as a rule check Expedia. Off the top of my head I think I have used this site to book two hotels and that’s about it.
URL: http://www.expedia.com.au/
Positives:
- Site has package deals and in one search you can find flights and hotels.
- There is a deal section on the site where you can pick up some cheap hotels.
- Positives of booking a hotel with security and privacy.
Negatives:
- Expedia for me has always been more expensive than other booking sites listed in this article.
4. Tripadvisor
I have used Tripadvisor a few times now and I am a massive contributor to their feedback program. Everywhere I go in the world I ensure good or bad I leave feed back on Tripadvisor to ensure anyone else booking their holidays will be able to benefit from my experience. If you are booking a trip you’d like to know if something is bad before you spend your money right!
URL: www.tripadvisor.com.au
Positive:
- Great review system for you to read reviews before putting your money down.
- Hotel rooms are fairly secure.
- Catalogue of venues such as hotels and private apartments are massive.
- Travellers Choice award determined by ratings from travellers. Much like the review system you know that you are booking something good if the accommodation has received this award.
Negatives:
- Fairly expensive compared to Airbnb and Hostelworld.
3. Booking.com
I have personally used Bookings.com to book a fair few hotels. Every hotel I have booked from this site has been great with the descriptions and photos exactly fitting. Bookings are fairly easy to do as the user experience is really good.
URL: www.booking.com
Positive:
- Easy to book hotel due to good user experience.
- Descriptions and photos fit with what you get.
- If you are lucky you can pick up good discounts for booking a week or longer. There are also discount awarded for multiple day booking, for example if you book a weekend (2 nights) and adding one more day (making it a total of 3 nights).
Negative:
Hotels can be expensive.- Most hotel rooms don’t have kitchen facilities so you will need to eat out for most of the meals. This can be expensive!
- Unlike hostels meeting people is much harder as you are only in a room.
2. Airbnb
Airbnb is a great site for booking rooms, apartments and whole houses. From what I have experienced in recent times Airbnb is a little more expensive than a private dorm room in a hostel and far cheaper than most hotel rooms. With Airbnb I have booked full apartments which comes with a full kitchen, living room, two bed rooms and much more. More than what you would get from a hotel room for the same price.
URL: www.airbnb.com
Positive:
- Privacy as you have your own room or even better house.
- Very secure as the number of people in the house, apartment and room is small and everyone coming and going is known.
- Airbnb hosts are from my experience very welcoming.
- Airbnb hosts are usually locals that know the ins and outs of the area you are in. Including cheap eats and forms of transport.
- Full laundry and kitchen in most cases will mean that you don’t need to go too far to cook or wash your clothes.
- Most cases the house is a lot cleaner than a hostel.
Negative:
- Not really meeting new people.
- Not as social as a Hostel where parties and activities get planned.
- More expensive than a hostel room.
1. Hostelworld
By far the cheapest option of the list if you want it to be. There are Hostels out there that charge more than Airbnb for private rooms and in some cases normal dorm rooms are only $10-15 less than private rooms on Airbnb. The tip here is do your research across multiple sites. If you do your research Hostelworld however can come up very cheap especially if you are travelling on a budget.
URL: www.hostelworld.com
Positive:
- Great atmosphere with loads of young travellers to meet.
- Most hostels organise activities such as guided tours, pub crawls and lunches/ dinners
Note: only do pub crawls if you have a few days off between training sessions. You are going over to tryout for basketball teams not get drunk and out of shape! Drink in moderation and ALWAYS remember not to be rowdy. You can be cut from a team for behavioural issues. - Accommodation is very cheap.
- Staff working at hostels are usually locals with plenty of knowledge. Most hostel staff will go out of their way to help you get directed around the area you are in.
Negatives:
- Privacy is an issue if you do not book a private room. I have been in dorms that sleep 12 people.
- Security in most hostels isn’t very good if you don’t have a private room.
- Some hostels you will share a toilet with a lot of people.
- Cleanliness in hostels, not all but some isn’t very good. To avoid any issues like this make sure you read the reviews on Hostelworld.com; use reviews as a guide before you book anything.
Just a note before you start booking your accommodation. Ensure that you have ans stick to a budget! You need to make sure you have enough money for food and travel otherwise your tryout are going to be a failure. You need your body performing at is optimum and skimming on food is going to make you tired and as a result your performance on court will suffer.
Travel is something that needs to be covered in your budget as more often than not team training venues are at least a few kilometres away. I have never ever in my career been at a central point where multiple team training venues are walking distance. You will need to take public transport so ensure that this is covered before you leave.
In closing, if it was up to me and I was to give advice to you. I would always explore the private apartment route through Airbnb. Having privacy, security and a kitchen is a big tick when you are on the road away from home. Creature comforts do make trying out for a team that much easier from my experience anyway.
Thanks for reading this article, I hope it has helped you in some way. Just in case, I like to let you know that I haven’t received anything for writing this article and this is not a plug as I am not affiliated with any of these sites.
If you know of better sites or agencies to book accomodation please share it by commenting below. I’m always up for a bargain when travelling.
