As a college student, you are probably expecting to have a rest during your spring break after you submit all your assignments and finish your half-semester intensive education in college. As a final-year student who studies in Ireland, you may choose to take Ryanair or Aer Lingers with your family or friends to taste the delicious food or explore other cultures in Europe. From my own perspective, traveling is immensely important for everyone due to its substantial benefits, such as expand your social networks, improve your understanding of cultural diversity, promote you to get out of your comfort zone and so on. However, it is necessary and complicated to book the flight tickets and decide on your travel accommodations because you need to compare and choose the lowest prices and the prices always fluctuated. Therefore, I will provide you with some tips on the types of travel accommodations and the strategies of how to book your travel accommodations when you travel in Europe through this blog and my own travelling experience.

1. How to book the best accommodation deals in Europe (the hotel-booking apps):

Nowadays, more and more travelers prefer to book their accommodations on their mobile phones. First of all, I will recommend you some websites and apps to help you book your accommodations when you travel in Europe. From my own travel experience, I always book my accommodations in Booking.com, Ctrip (the Chinese Traveling App), StudentUniverse and Airbnb. If you're a student, do not forget about getting student discounts or student coupons.

What's more, you also can bundle your accommodations and flight booking, as it always leads to some special offers and discounts for that. Therefore, I will provide you with some suggestions (tips) on how to choose a comfortable and economical hotel.

1) Compare prices on different Apps or Websites:

When you decide on which hotel you would like to book, it is necessary for you to compare the prices on different hotel-booking apps, such as Booking.com, Hotels.com and so on. After comparing the prices, you will find some websites provide some discounts or special offers, such as limited-time deal or secret deal. For example, I would like to spend my holidays in Hamburg from March 11 to March 12 and my preferred hotel is H4 Hotel Hamburg - Bergedorf. From the images below, you can know the importance of comparing prices in different apps, as there is €22 price difference per night.

You can purchase coupons from the websites like Coupons.com and use coupon codes, or you can refer your friends to get the discounts as well. Moreover, signing up to get alerts on price drops is another tip to save money on travel accommodations. If you sign up or turn on your notifications, you can get emails on the price drops so that you can book the cheapest hotels immediately. Therefore, do not stick to the single hotel-booking website is my primary tip to save money on your travel accommodations.

2) Use the filters to select your hotel or apartment:

For most of the hotel-booking Apps, they provide the filter tools which can promote you to select your favorite hotel, such as your budget, star rating, property type, facilities, distance from city center and so on. Moreover, you also can use the advanced filters to get the special services from the hotels. As for me, I always book the hotels which offer free cancellation services because it is free to cancel it if I change my travel routes or schedules.

Also, if you have any preferences on meals, bed preference, room facilities and landmarks, you can use the advanced filters as well. Therefore, using the filters can promote you to select your favorite hotels or accommodations.

3) Read the reviews to select your favorite hotel or apartment:

After using the filters to select the hotels, it is also necessary to read the positive or poor reviews of the selected hotels on TripAdvisor or online-booking Apps. Through reading the reviews from previous customers, you can know the issues of this hotel, such as booking complaints, cleanliness problems or Wifi connectivity issues as well as the advantages of this hotel. 

In conclusion, you can use these three tips to help you book the best accommodation deals in Europe and I hope you will find these tips are useful for you.

2. Type of accommodations you can choose from:

Secondly, I will introduce the types of travel accommodations in Europe so that you can gain a basic understanding of choosing your favorite accommodation type.

1). Youth Hostels (Cheap travel accommodations): For students and backpackers

Nowadays, more and more students and backpackers are familiar with staying at hostels or inns. Normally, students and backpackers stick to a certain budget and make more friends. Therefore, staying in youth hostels is the best choice for them to enjoy the international community and explore the city secrets. If you travel in Europe, you also can consider free options such as Couchsurfing or WorkExchange in order to get the free beds which can help you save money. However, you need to consider privacy, safety, noise and cleanliness as well when you select your acc

From my own experience, I have stayed in hostels when I travelled in Morocco, China and Tunisia. Being honest, I indeed enjoyed my time in hostel as it is an opportunity to make international friends or share the travel plans with your roomates.ommodations. For example, it's not 100% safe and private if you stay in a hostel by yourself because you need to share the room with other travelers. Therefore, although hostels are much cheaper than hotels or Airbnb, it is still inevitable to ignore its disadvantages.

2). Hotels: For business travel or holidays

Generally, many people will still choose to stay in a hotel when they go for business travel or holidays. First of all, there are so many types of hotels to suit all budgets and quality levels, from 5 star boutiques to 2 star hotels. Therefore, there are so many options for you to consider when you choose your favorite accommodation. Secondly, hotels always provide convenience to their customers. Normally, hotels are always situated in the city center or major transport links, such as airport or train stations. Thirdly, you can have an amazing experience if you choose a comfortable hotel, as they provide the cozy beds and pleasant services.

From my own experience, I have stayed in hostels and 5 star boutique hotels. To be honest, these two different kinds of hotels will absolutely  bring you the different feelings. When I stayed in the 5 star boutique in Bali, they provided the spa services and other superior services so that my family really enjoyed that. 

3). Airbnb: For young people or travel with your family

For most of the young people, they would like to stay in Airbnb to explore the local cultures and save their money. Being honest, there are many advantages of airbnb, such as customizable searches, cheaper price compared to hotels, protections for guests and hosts and so on. Also, it is an opportunity for you to talk with your host family and gain a deeper understanding of the local lifestyles. However, you also need to consider the added fees of airbnb, such as guest service fee and taxes.

Moreover, Airbnb is not legal everywhere. As an international traveler, you need to have the visa if you want to enter this country, so that it is necessary to book your accommodations in advance. However, it is not valid if you show your booking appointment of Airbnb. Therefore, you need to consider the pros and cons when you want to book your accommodations in Airbnb.

Now, you may have already gained the basic understanding of travel accommodations in Europe and I hope this blog will be helpful for you when you travel in Europe.