Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations

Why Guidebooks Still Trump the Web

When I did the Trip Coach session for Budget Travel the other day, one question was about how to find clean, nice, inexpensive hotels in Venice. In short I told them to go get a good Venice guidebook, after either checking out a few different ones from the library to compare, or browsing through a few in a bookstore and picking the one they liked best. In many cases, people have come to rely on the Internet for all their planning research, but good ole print on paper is less chaotic and time-consuming.

Right now I’m in the midst of planning a 3-week trip to Argentina and am even more convinced that guidebooks are far more useful and half as frustrating when compared to researching places to stay via the web. Not if you’re going first class all the way, mind you, but if you’re an average traveler with a low to mid-range budget. Yes, you can go to VirtualTourist, TripAdvisor, and IgoUgo to see what other people have to say about a place, but it’s pretty time consuming, especially after you discount all the rants from people who got a bad room and the raves from people who sound like they were paid by the hotel to post something extra flattering. In some cities there’s a local web site that offers unbiased reviews, but more often they’re just dressed up booking engines that only list the properties who advertise.

Guidebook writers mess up, of course, but they usually catch plenty of flak when they do. So if a guidebook is in its third or fourth edition, the lousy places have gotten weeded out. The great finds from readers have been added. I still advise checking several different books to get a feel, when that’s possible. I’m doing a guidebook comparison article right now based on five Argentina ones and have to tell you that they don’t exactly see eye-to-eye sometimes. One man’s “historic charm” is another man’s “badly needs refurbishment.”

Ideally, you figure out where to stay as you go, especially if you’re a long-term traveler staying at budget hotels, hostels, and guesthouses. Book ahead if it’s high season or festival time. Reserve the first night or two makes sense if you’re arriving late at night. Otherwise figure it out as you go along, based on recommendations and what you see with your own eyes. You’ll save money and be happier with your room.

The web is constantly evolving though and companies are offering some nice planning guides to at least get you to first base in a place. This snap guide for Buenos Aires is pretty cool, and Moon’s site has some nice pre-planning features, like this one for Argentina.