Where to find info on inexensive lodging?

[Lisa0825]

I have noticed in reading posts in the various travel forums that many of you have found local favorite inexpensive accomodations. These are places I have NOT come across when perusing sites like Orbitz. Is there any online resource that specifically includes these smaller, less expensive locally owned places? Or is it a matter of just popping in here when planning a trip to make an inquiry?

muchas gracias!:07:

 

[Louie]

Hello,

A lot of the mainstream accommodation booking sites concentrate on the major chain hotels or on the upmarket ones.

If you're looking for smaller lesser-known places (and sometimes, they're great little gems), you may luck out by looking in a Lonely Planet or a Rough Guide for the location you're heading to. Or even better, save the money and don't bother buying these bulky pieces of paper, look in their websites and discussion boards.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com
forums: http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com
http://www.roughguides.com

Alternatively, contact the tourist information board of the location you are planning on visiting and ask for some places meeting your specs (price, location, type of accommodation).

 

[diversteve]

You won't find those types of listings on Orbitz/Travelocity etc.

Where I usually start is to Google the destination I'm considering and follow any links there. Also a lot of the carribean destinations have SB-type forums for their location. An example would be bonairetalk.com, anything and everything is discussed there.

Another thing that works is that Google, Ask Jeeves etc. now can process natural language queries. Try typing "what are reasonably priced accommodations on Bonaire(or whatever your destination is) into the regular Google search box. Should get hundreds if not thousands of links to investigate.