One of the bigger costs in any trip to San Francisco is your lodging. Of course you can hope for that deal on Priceline or Hotwire, but if those fall through, you will need to come up with another plan. Finding a good budget hotel is quite easy if you know where to look.
Instructions
1. Are you budget hotel material? This may seem like a silly question, but this really is something you need to consider. You can find decent, clean, and perfectly suitable budget hotels with wrong with them. That being said, there usually isn’t room service , a pool, a weight room or more than basic cable. If you can live without those items, budget hotels might be for you.
2. Learn the San Francisco neighborhoods. Learn where neighborhoods are located and what is in each neighborhood. There are some places that are not tourist friendly, and many of their budget hotels are really transient hotels. For example, there are areas around the civic center that aren’t so great. The Tenderloin is just a few blocks from Union Square, but that is not the greatest neighborhood. You may want to not go much further than Geary and Jones and stay in north of O’Farrell. Know what areas are okay and which ones you want to avoid.
3. Where do you want to stay? Now that you know about the neighborhoods, where do you want to stay? Tourists usually stay in the Union Square or Fisherman’s Wharf areas. They are both near tourist attractions and public transit lines. Pick a general area where you want to stay.
4. Look on bigger sites like Expedia or Orbitz first to get names, locations and prices. Check your big travel site of choice. This will give you a list of names, locations and prices. Compile a list of potential hotels, addresses and prices.
5. Research the hotels further online. Use a search engine to search for more information on your chosen hotels. Look for official websites and reviews. Look on the official sites for better prices. Some hotels will have exclusive deals on their own website only. Please pay close attention to customer reviews. Yes, some people will be cranky because they really wanted a four star hotel, and some people can’t be pleased. Other people will give pretty honest reviews. Give each thing you read a critical read. Do no always trust the official website of the hotels. Pretty pictures and well written copy can suck you in and give you booker’s remorse later. Ask the road warriors and hit the boards and travel forums. Do some searches first just to make sure your question has not already been asked. If not, ask away.
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