10 Mistakes To Avoid When Booking Bucks Night Accommodation
If you’re thinking of a weekend long bender or just a night away with your closest mates for your best friend’s buck’s party, then you’re gonna want to listen up. We’ve got a few tips below to make sure you’re on top of everything, especially if you’re frazzled from having those dropped on you last minute. Remember to keep your cool, read the list, and do it all for the buck!
1.Booking Date
Remember to book as far in advance as you can. Sure some places offer a discount if you book the night of, but most prepare to have a bird in the hand early so more often you’ll get a discount the further ahead you book. Plans also change, however if you’ve had a booking for a while and you need to move it, the venue might let you keep the same prices, regardless of when you’re moving it to. Be prepared and mindful of weekends and public holidays, maybe even local events like music festivals as they can all drive the price up.
2.Location
Are you looking for something a little out of town so you can explore the countryside, just drive through, or thinking something more in the centre. If you’re thinking of hitting the bars and clubs, near the strip is preferable, nobody wants to stumble to the outside of town at 3am when the trains have stopped running. Proximity to food, like Maccas or a dirty kebab may also be important in this case. Otherwise, maybe staying outside of town is what you need if you’re looking to get out early to the beach, winery, or to beat the traffic on your road trip.
3.Usage
Put a little bit of thought in what you’re planning to do with the room. Is it going to be just a place to drink, or are we looking at something like pre-drinks? Alternatively, there may be one of the bigger events here, are you inviting strippers for a sexy bubble bath? BYO? Keep an eye on your venue as they might not be happy with one or all of your ideas, although a pre-drinks that doesn’t get too rowdy is usually okay. Be mindful if it’s a family venue as well, you’ll find the rules to be a little more strict, and you don’t want to be hit by a fee, or worse, kicked out on the same night.
4.Type
Think of what type of accommodation you’re looking for? There’s hotel rooms, motel rooms, entire AirBnB houses, caravan parks, and glamping tents, among others. Things to consider are what you’re going to get up to and how many people are going to get up to it. If you’re getting a way with a bunch of the lads, or trying to relive your schoolies experience then maybe something bigger is appropriate, on the other hand if you’re towing a caravan you’re probably not going to want a 5-star hotel room, but who are we to tell you what to do.
5.Booking Apps
It’s worth putting some consideration into how you’re going to book your accommodation. There’s plenty of apps like Booking.com that’ll help you out, and even offer rewards programs. On the other hand it’s perfectly feasible and can be a lot cheaper to book directly with the venue. If you’ve got a mate that works for Marriot or something then don’t be ashamed to ask for their discount code, as this can be a huge percentage. A third alternative, if you’re booking an activity package with a company, is to ask them to handle the accommodation as it might end up being cheaper overall or more bang for your buck, depending on their business connections.
6.Check In/Out Times
There’s a few people who forget that for the most part you actually can’t check in whenever you want into a place. Usually it’s about 3-4pm, once all the rooms are cleaned and everyone is out. Keep this in mind both when booking and when organising your travel plans. Most places are pretty good if you ask to leave your stuff behind the counter until check in time, so long as you actually have a booking with them. Otherwise you can ask to check in early and see if they’ll let you. On the other end of things, maybe consider that late check out if you’re getting hot and heavy with the sauce the night before and the boys are all catatonic come morning. Sometimes it can actually be cheaper to ask for a second night, rather than a late checkout, or you can just do it if you think it’ll be a big day of recovery.
7.Reviews
If you’re really struggling for a spot and there’s too much choice, checkout the reviews of the place. This can be through the app you booked on, google, or another review service. The majority of these reviews are honest and you can just mentally filter out the ones that you’re like “There’s such a bizarre and specific set of circumstances that have led to this negative review that I can probably ignore it”. It’s also helpful for other people like you to actually leave a review when you’re done with the place, we like the rule “Read a review, leave a review”, sort of a form of passing it forward to the next bloke scratching his head.
8.Transport Options, To and From
Tied in with location, you want to make sure you can get two and from where you need to go. You might be looking for somewhere where there'll be plenty of Ubers or public transports, or even walking distance. There's a sweet spot between paying a horrific amount for transport and paying a horrific amount for a room because it’s central. You;ll also want to look at parking depending on what you’re driving. A high end sports guy might look better in an underground garage than a motel car park, and a helicopter might look better on a designated pad than the front of the houseboat you’ve rented. Also look at the number of vehicles coming.
9.Deposits
These can range in size or can even be a percentage of the total costs. These are usually refundable once you’ve left the room and housekeeping has gone in. But if you’re thinking pres are going to get a bit rowdy then you can probably assume you won’t get that deposit back. Either way, keep some extra cash on hand just for incidentals, although we’re sure the venue will immediately ask for a credit card.
10.Room Size
This one differs a little from usage and type, instead, what kind of rooms are you looking for? Single beds, or are you happy sleeping two to a bed and one on the couch? You can get adjoining rooms, higher floors, lower floors, trundle beds, and even bunk beds. If you’re having a few people over, are they sleeping on the floor? Is there a table and some couches to have drinks on and around? You might even need a penthouse with more than one bathroom for getting ready to go out and trying to get it out of you.
Boom, bang, 10 things to consider when booking accom for your mate’s big day. Keep on the watch out, and remember the two biggest things outside your control are how the venue is going to react to you, and how other people staying will too. Otherwise go forth and conquer!
