Travel insurance can protect you from all sorts of trouble. It can help you recover the cost of a ticket if you have to cancel, or it can help you to pay to replace luggage. What it can’t do, however, is pick a good hotel for you. It’s up to you to pick the right hotel to stay in. if you don’t you can very easily wind up in a hotel nightmare.

The good news is that there are some things you can do to reduce your risk:

• Check the ratings. Hotel ratings don’t always guarantee that your stay will be pleasant, but you should check them anyways. USA Today has ratings charts, as does Orbitz,  Mobil, AAA and Zagat.
• Read the hotel’s website. A hotel’s website tells many things about the hotel, but it’s what it doesn’t say that you’re most interested in. The hotel description, for example, might talk about how close it is to local golf courses, how many dining opportunities are in the area or some other such nonsense. While those things might matter to you, you’re more interested in the hotel’s priorities in terms of how it treats guests.
• Don’t believe your eyes. The pictures on the hotel’s website or brochure were probably taken in the weeks after the hotel was built. The hotel may not look anything like that today, especially if it’s been around for a dozen years or more.
• Name doesn’t always mean anything. Any hotel can use the words “Ritz” or “Plaza” in their name to sound exciting and luxurious. These kinds of names are meant to sound like other more well-known hotels. That doesn’t mean the hotel isn’t a good one, it just means that the hotel owners know a thing or two about marketing.
• Read the reviews. Most hotels will have a few reviews on the online travel sites. Don’t believe one or two reviews (either positive or negative). Instead, focus on overall ratings and satisfaction. You can also check http://www.tripadvisor.com which gives you forums for specific cities. You can go there and see what folks have said about the hotels in a given city.
• Remember that you get what you pay for. Cheap rooms usually mean a cheap hotel. True, not every expensive hotel is a good one, but you can almost always be sure that a discount hotel is discount for a reason. Somewhere, they’re leaving something out.

Photo via jonrawlinson