How to Choose A Hotel in Snowdonia

While of course everyone knows how to book a hotel, it can be daunting to book a high quality hotel in a desirable place, and also save money. There are all manner of tips and tricks that can be employed in order to get your dream stay in a unique and gorgeous Snowdonia hotel, and our guide can help you get the break you want for less, without begging, lying, borrowing, cheating or stealing. (Or so the expression goes!) There are quite a few tips to help you get the very most of your money, without jumping through hoops in order to get a good deal.

If anything, the only thing which is required to get a great deal on a stay that we’re certain you’ll remember for years and years to come is a short exercise into the mind of a hotel owner.

The best (and perhaps most surprising!) way to save money on your holiday in Snowdonia is to ditch OTAs. What exactly is an OTA, you ask? Essentially, an OTA, or Online Travel Agent, is a booking.com, laterooms kind of company which offers you a selection of rooms for what is promised as the best rate around. At first glance, yes – this rate indeed looks absolutely phenomenal, so you click the link, book the thing, and you’re up, up and away – looking forward to a great holiday and praying that you don’t fall foul of any problems between the hotel and the OTA.

No problem, right? You’ve got yourself the room you wanted, for a few pennies less than everywhere else. Well, there’s the problem. An OTA takes an aggressive stance toward the men and women that run and own hotels, and essentially charges them -25% of the room price, simply because your order was made through them. That amazing room that you’ve booked for £100? Only £85 of that is going to the hotel owner, but the hotel owner bears all of the costs of your stay.

Hence the problem for the hotel owner, and a way to save money for you. A scenario like this absolutely isn’t fair to the hotel owner, so they’ll more often than not attempt to entice direct bookings through their website rather than be forced to pay 25% commission to companies which aren’t even based in the UK, simply for the fact that they are complicit.

Hotel owners will often use their own websites to match the booking price of the OTA, therefore they will freely take the hit but see the 25% loss as something which may make you come back. Repeat business is highly important for hotels up and down the UK, and Wales is no exception. You’d be surprised at how many hotels in Snowdonia will also throw in special offers giving you more and more for the sake of booking online, too.