7 Tips on How to Compare Hotels + FREE Comparison Tool

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Are you currently planning a solo trip and have no idea what hotel to choose?

I find that when I’m putting an itinerary together, it’s often difficult to choose the “perfect” hotel. I mostly visit urban tourist destinations and, if you didn’t know, there are always about thousand options. With so many to choose from, it almost feels paralyzing.

Your hotel is arguably the most important factor of a successful solo trip. It’s where you spend some of your leisure time, eat some expensive room service food, and lay your head every night.

You need to choose somewhere safe, budget-friendly and comfortable. While though that criteria might seem to make the decision easier, it, in reality, can make it much more challenging.

That, friend, is what I’m here to help you with.

If you’re scrolling on Expedia or Hotels.com for what feels like hours and slowly losing hope with each scroll, you’re now in the right place. I’m going to give you my exact step-by-step guide for picking the perfect hotel.

By the end of this post, I hope you will know exactly what to do to choose the hotel that’s right for you.

One where you know your safety is in good hands, a hole isn’t burnt in your pocket and you don’t feel like you’re resorting to a rock for your nightly slumber.

As promised in the title, I created a freebie in the TSS Freebie Library to complement this comparison guide. Be sure to check it out when you get a chance!

Ready, friend? Let’s go!

THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT HOW TO COMPARE HOTELS.

GET THE FREE GOOGLE SHEET COMPARISON TOOL

I always want to make the trip planning process easier for you so you can spend less hours researching everything and spend more time enjoying your trip. So, I created this Google Sheet that allows you to compare hotels.

This is actually one of my favorite freebies to offer because it’s super practical and I use it almost every time I’m comparing different properties for a trip.

Simply click the button below to access the comparison tool in the TSS Freebie Library.

WHY IS PICKING THE RIGHT HOTEL SUCH A BIG DEAL? ISN’T IT JUST A PLACE TO SLEEP?

No, it most certainly IS NOT just a place to sleep at night.

You want to put a great deal of consideration, time and effort into picking a good hotel because it can truly make or break your travel experience.

Your hotel is more than just somewhere to lay your head after a long day of sightseeing, eating local foods, and taking in some gorgeous views; it’s the place you call home on a trip.

BEFORE YOU START COMPARING HOTELS

SET YOUR BUDGET AND KEEP IT FLEXIBLE

Before you even start looking at hotels, you need to make a budget.

And a budget is, in the simplest terms, a plan for your money. When adding a hotel to the equation, you need to think about your price floor and price ceiling.

If you don’t know what I mean, don’t worry. Let me walk you through it.

Your price floor is the absolute smallest amount that you’re willing to pay at a property. Of course, it’d be nice if you didn’t have to pay anything. But that usually isn’t an option unless you have enough points for a free night.

So when I talk about the price floor, I’m essentially telling you to ask yourself the following question:

How little, within reason, should I expect to pay for a hotel?

You can think of this in terms of nightly rates or the total for the stay, as it still equates to the same amount either way.

There are many different factors that should support this question: the location of the hotel, the chain of the hotel, and the type of booking you choose.

Then you want to think about your price ceiling, which is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for the hotel. This one is a little more self-explanatory, so I’m going to leave this here.

Let’s use Chicago (my favorite city) as an example. If you’re planning a 5-day trip to Chicago in June, your price floor can be around $200 per night, give or take.

Your price ceiling, on the other hand, can be closer to $350.

Taking this into consideration, you need to make your budget as flexible as possible. It’s better to start big and gradually shrink.

For my Chicago example, I’d go into the search with a $250 nightly budget and likely end up increasing it by $30. Of course, you can stand firm on your budget (especially as a budget traveler), but the more flexible it is, the more options you’ll have.

MAKE A LIST OF NECESSITIES

One more thing before you begin your search: make a list of things you need in a hotel. For me, that list looks a little something like this:

• The hotel has to be on the more modern side: I don’t like those old hotels, so whenever possible, I’d prefer something more up-to-date. It doesn’t have to be brand spankin’ new, but ideally nothing from the early 2000s, either.
• The hotel has to have an inviting feeling: I wouldn’t really know this by looking at photos or reading descriptions of the property, so I usually read reviews and watch videos about the hotel. If the hotel feels cold and unwelcoming, I don’t want to spend my time or money there.
• The hotel has to fit my budget: I can’t stay there if I can’t afford to get through the door!
• The bathroom has to look nice: while this isn’t a complete essential, I do like to get ready in a nice bathroom. If the bathroom isn’t nicer than mine at home, I don’t want it! I know that sounds a little dramatic, but seriously, I love an aesthetic bathroom.
• The hotel has to be in a central location: I like to organize my itineraries my geographical area, so it’s crucial that my hotel allows for this.

One thing I don’t really care about is the size of the room. I know other people consider this a requirement when looking at the guest rooms, but I’m a solo traveler and don’t need much space.

As long as I have somewhere to store my belongings and am not constantly running into things, I tend to focus on other aspects of the hotel (like the ones I mentioned above).

This is why it’s important to know your travel persona. The more established it is, the better decisions you can make for your trips — and that 100% applies to your hotel stays.

PRIORITIZE BEING CENTRAL

This is likely going to be based on your activities, which is one reason I’m so adamant about planning activities and thensearching for hotels. But it also works the other way, so I’ll talk about that, too.

If you already know what you’re doing, you can ask Reddit or ChatGPT to suggest you some locations that allow you to walk or take public transit to the places on your itinerary.

I personally like to use ChatGPT since it’s quicker, but I admit using Reddit can get you some much more curated answers from actual humans. To each is their own, though!

Regardless of who/where you get your information from, make sure you use Google Maps or Apple Maps to confirm the places are actually within a reasonable distance.

I deem reasonable anything within a 40-minute walk, 25-minute train ride, 20-minute bus ride, or 20-minute Uber/Lyft ride.

If you don’t already know what you’re doing, however, you can research some areas that are widely agreed to be central.

For example, Chicago has some visit-worthy restaurants and activities in many of its neighborhoods like Lincoln Park, River North, and Streeterville. If you’re planning a trip there and don’t quite know what you want to do, you can stay in a central neighborhood like the Loop or South Loop.

Many of Chicago’s touristy areas are easily accessible via foot, train, or bus, so you won’t have to spend too much money or time getting anywhere during your trip.

PRIORITIZE SAFETY

The safety of the neighborhood you choose is just as important as the centrality of the area.

Once again, if you already have your activities planned, this step is a bit easier since you’ve narrowed down your options. If you don’t know what you’re doing yet, you can still search for a more general safe neighborhood to stay in.

Many major tourist cities have distinct neighborhoods you can stay in — and some are safer than others.

Often times, downtown areas are pretty safe because they’re big and popular. They’ve always got tons of events going on and people going to their jobs.

But other times, the downtown areas aren’t really the safest neighborhoods, and it might be better to stay somewhere else.

As long as you do your research (asking people on Reddit, messaging locals, and reading travel guides online), you’ll surely find a neighborhood you feel safe in. So don’t drive yourself crazy trying to ensure your safety!

DO SOME COMPETITOR RESEARCH

You don’t want to just generally look at multiple hotels; you need to search with intention and purpose.

As you’re searching Hotels.com or Expedia, make sure you’re paying attention to these details:

• What does X hotel have that Y hotel doesn’t?
• What’s the price of X hotel compared to Y hotel?
• Is X hotel or Y hotel better solo travelers?
• Does X hotel or Y hotel have better amenities?
• Does X hotel or Y hotel have a nicer interior?

During this process, you should make a few quick notes to revisit once you’ve narrowed down your options. You can do this in your head, on your phone, or on a sheet of paper.

READ REVIEWS

Don’t you dare book a hotel without reading at least a few reviews — even if it’s a brand you stay at pretty often.

Any time I plan a trip and look for hotels, I think about citizenM hotels first because they’re perfect for someone like me: a solo + budget-conscious traveler.

The rooms are compact, but the rates are almost always unbeatable and the properties are always in the best, most central areas.

That said, I’m essentially booking the same same hotel but in a different location at a different price point. But that certainly doesn’t mean I’m staying at the exact same property.

You see, even if you stay at a hotel in the same chain, your experience at each individual property can look vastly different.

For example, when I stayed at citizenM Chicago Downtown, I was greeted by an employee who helped me with the check-in process. However, when I stayed at citizenM Miami Worldcenter, I completed the entire process on my own.

I don’t usually write reviews, but that definitely would’ve been something to include if I did write one. And that experience could give someone some insight on what to expect.

The thing with reading reviews is that you want to use them as a point of awareness. By this, I mean that you need to read reviews to get a general idea of what the property is like.

You shouldn’t make a decision based on one entirely negative experience, or even one entirely positive experience. Instead, you should read a healthy mix of both to see the bigger picture.

You can find reviews in a number of places, but I usually stick with Google and Reddit. The people on these sites often seem quite blunt and aren’t reluctant to share their real, raw opinions on their stay.

You can also find reviews on third party sites or even the hotel’s websites, but I find that those aren’t as useful because they’re often written by paid reviewers.

And not to say they aren’t honest, but I feel more comfortable reading a review from someone who spent their own money for their stay.

I’m writing a post dedicated to showing you how to read hotel reviews, so I recommend reading that if you need some help deciphering what you see. I’ll update this post once that one goes live.

LOOK AT LOTS OF PHOTOS & VIDEOS

Before I officially book a hotel, I’ll look at an unhealthy number of photos and videos of the property to get a better idea of what it looks like. I’ll look at photos from reviews and on Pinterest, and videos on TikTok and YouTube.

HOW TO COMPARE HOTELS

Up until now, I’ve given you some more general tips on how to choose a hotel.

I hope by now you’ve got some good properties in mind, so now it’s time to throw them in the ringer and figure out which one you’re going to choose for your trip.

There are millions of hotels out there, and even with some fairly strict criteria, you’ll probably end up with at least a handful of options.

And if you have trouble making decisions, you’re not alone. I usually spend a great deal comparing different properties to find the perfect one. Allow me to show you my exact process to do just that!

WHICH HOTEL HAS THE BETTER LOCATION?

I mean this in terms of safety AND centrality, not one or the other.

You’ll want to pick a hotel that’s both safe and in a neighborhood that allows you to easily get to the places on your itinerary.

Nothing’s worse than spending hours on trains or in cars because you didn’t pick a more central hotel. And you obviously don’t want to go to bed every night fearing for your safety.

WHICH HOTEL HAS BETTER RATES?

Although you may not exactly be a budget traveler, I’m sure you want to keep your budget in mind.

This question is quite easy to ask because you simply compare the rates to find the best one. I’m not necessarily saying you should choose the cheapest one because it might be the cheapest for a reason.

You need to discover the one sounds right for you personally — and whether that happens to be the cheapest or most expensive on the list greatly depends on your travel persona [LINK POST HERE].

OF WHICH HOTEL AM I A LOYALTY MEMBER?

Just like your loyalty airline, you probably have a hotel brand that you stay loyal to.

I personally don’t have one because I’m still testing different properties, so this question wouldn’t really help me in this process just yet.

However, I’ve been impressed with all the Marriott properties I’ve stayed at. So thinking ahead, I’d probably lean more toward Marriott hotels.

All that aside, you should choose the hotel that is part of your loyalty brand because the more often you stay at one of their properties, the more points you can build toward upgrades and free stays.

WHICH HOTEL WOULD EARN ME MORE POINTS FROM MY STAY?

Don’t confuse this with the previous question.

With this one, you need to think a bit bigger and ask yourself which hotel in general would give you most points.

Sometimes that happens to be your loyalty brand, and other times it doesn’t.

If you’re like me and don’t have a loyalty brand yet, it doesn’t hurt to accumulate some points across all brands so you’ll have a good starting point for when you do establish yours.

WHICH HOTEL IS UNDER-21-FRIENDLY?

This question is a bit more specific and only applies to you if you’re, well, under 21.

If you’re like me and started traveling at a relatively early age, you’re probably concerned about which properties are under-21-friendly.

The answer to this question could very easily help you choose the best hotel because one property’s minimum age requirement may be 18 years old while the other’s is 21.

So, in this case, you already know the answer: pick the one that allows you to check in as an 18-year-old (or however old you are).

WHICH HOTEL HAS LOWER FEES?

You know those sneaky fees that hotels like to charge every night?

Yeah, make sure you look into those and see which hotel has the lower fees. One hotel may only charge $30 per night while the other might charge $100.

Obviously, you’ll want to choose the one that’s cheaper unless the other one is just really appealing.

WHICH HOTEL IS MORE AESTHETIC?

You shouldn’t solely choose a hotel based on how it looks, which is why this question is pretty far in the post.

But, I mean, it doesn’t hurt if the hotel looks nice! If you’ve already answered all the questions above and still need guidance, perhaps this question will help you make that final decision.

FINAL THOUGHTS: HOW TO COMPARE HOTELS

In this post, I gave you my exact strategy for comparing hotels. Some travelers simply treat hotels as a place to rest their heads, but I think they’re more than that.

They’re the place you temporarily call home and find comfort in. I think it’s important that you put a decent amount of time into looking for the “perfect” one for your trip. I hope this guide helped you do just that!

Now, friend, it’s your turn. I’m opening the floor for you to start a conversation in the comments. Here are some discussion topics:

• What do you think about hotels? Do you just think of them as a place to rest or do they mean more than that?
• What’s your strategy for comparing two hotels?
• What can I do strengthen this post?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! If you feel more comfortable chatting with me directly, shoot me a DM on Instagram or email me at demarcus@thesolosolstice.com.

ABOUT DEMARCUS

DeMarcus is a Midwest-based travel content creator and the founder of the solo travel blog, The Solo Solstice. He began his solo travel journey in December 2025 and since has been creating practical, in-depth travel guides for a like-minded community of first-time solo adventurers.

Visit the About Page to learn more about DeMarcus, and visit the Ethical & Responsible Tourism Page to learn more about his efforts to promote responsible tourism.