When traveling, choosing the right hotel can be overwhelming AF. It can also make or break your entire trip sometimes. If your hotel sucks, you might feel you wasted your money and the trip was a letdown. But, if your hotel was everything you dreamed of, you feel like you just won the travel lottery and your social media game is about to light up.
You may be wondering (or maybe not, but I’ll tell you anyways) how I select hotels. There is a lot of criteria these days in picking a hotel. For me, the seven criteria below really help me narrow down my selection and pick the best one.
Boutique Hotel
This should come as no surprise, but I actively search for Boutique Hotels at whatever destination I am interested in. I may also consider the “boutique-centric” hotels that many of the major hotel chains have now. For example, The Thompson Hotels, which are owned by Hyatt, have a boutique atmosphere and feel. I also love supporting family-owned, smaller hotels and I appreciate the level of enhanced customer service that I typically get at these properties. Most of the time, I book my hotels through Booking because they have a great reward system and secret deals for their members. But if it’s a luxury hotel, I’ll usually book through my American Express Travel portal because I get additional benefits, not found on Booking or other travel sites.
Price
While I would love to stay at the most unique, boujeest properties around the world, I can’t do it all the time. Travel expenses (as of right now) come out of my own paycheck, so price is a factor when looking at properties. Every trip has its own budget, so hotel costs vary. Some of my favorite boutique hotels are only $150 a night.. Others are $1200 a night… it’s called balance and I’ll float that line as much as possible ha! And if I can leverage miles or points through my credit cards or status, I will.
Overall Design and Uniqueness
Besides price, this may be my top reason as to why I book certain properties over others. I love design… home & interior design, restaurant design and hotel design. I just LOVE cool fucking hotels. The vibe of being in a chic, well-designed hotel is just something else. I also gravitate towards properties that feature unique amenities (like a rooftop pool, or infinity soaking tub on your balcony). Often times, the more unique a property, the higher the cost. But like I mentioned, sometimes it’s worth it for the experience, the memories… and the photos.
Adults Only
I’ll be honest, this is important. My guess is about 75% of the hotels that I book are adults-only. As a 38-year old, when I am traveling, I would rather enjoy an adults-only property. Frankly, I don’t want to worry about wearing a revealing swimsuit that will piss off some parents, or a screaming baby sleeping next to my room. #sorrynotsorry
Social Media Content Potential
Does “do it for the gram” influence any of your decisions? For me, it totally does. Hello I’m an elder millennial. If I’m traveling, I want some FIRE pictures for social media. So before I book, I check the hotels Instagram, the photos they are tagged in and I look up their location in Places. After a little scrolling, I can quickly tell if this property is social media worthy or not.
Great Reviews

Reviews matter to me. Typically, I check Trip Advisor first and I will look at the overall mix of reviews as shown here. “Excellent” and “Very Good” are the majority here, which is promising. I read a lot of reviews and I also will read the “Terrible” ones. Now, I won’t let one or two reviews make or break my decision. I do take many of them with a grain of salt because as we all know, travel experiences can be so uniquely different. But if I see a consistent issue or concern being called out in the reviews, like safety and theft, I will do more research before booking. Often times though, I may nix that hotel from my consideration altogether.
Location Promixity
I would say I’m pretty flexible when it comes to location, but this also depends on the type of trip that I looking for. More times than not, if I am visiting a new city, I would love to be relatively close to town, restaurants & bars. I don’t love the idea of flying to a destination, then having to drive 4+ hours to my hotel. Not to say I wouldn’t do it from time to time, but if I can find a property that’s more convenient, I’ll pick it. I want to be on vacation sooner, with less time spending getting there. And that’s also why you’ll find a lot of west coast and Mexico travel featured on my blog. It’s just extremely convenient coming from California.
Alright, well.. that’s my quick and dirty list on how I choose hotels. Picking hotels can be stressful when they are SO many options out there. But, the seven criteria listed above really help me weed out what is, and what is not, on my hotel short-list.
Happy Hotel Hunting everyone!
Such great criteria! I always need to have a good destination! It doesn’t need to be the best location as thats usually pretty pricey but walkable at least!
Yes Anna I agree… walkability is great.. allows me to get some exercise between all the food and cocktails I am drinking haha
I usually stay in Airbnb’s but whenever I choose a hotel location is very important to me.
Wow Suvarna, gorgeous blog and I love all the Instagram posts! I need to look into AirBnB when I travel, I honestly have never done it!
I too like to support local and family run hotels. I’m not about the Gram but find them to be much more cozy and charming.
Karen, I couldn’t agree more. They are definitely more cozy and charming.. also more unique and cultured.
I have never stayed in a hostel but want to experience it once before am too old. Lol. Nice blog!
Correction, *Boutique Hotel*
I have not stayed in a hostel either. Not sure I could share a bathroom or room with strangers… we’ll see.. maybe some day! Haha
Definitely agree that the service is usually better in a boutique and I like them so i can give back to the local community more than a large US hotel chain
Yes I agree, giving back to the local community is great too. Many of the boutique hotels I have stayed at in the past are family owned and operated. Also, you have such a beautiful blog!