Accommodations Can Make Or Break A Trip

Your lodging isn’t just where you sleep. It sets the tone for your entire trip, your daily schedule, and sometimes even your sense of safety. We’re Jim and Rita Santos, and we’ve learned the hard way that accommodations are one of the easiest parts of travel to get wrong, even when the listing looks perfect and the reviews seem solid. From sweltering nights in a gorgeous Krakow apartment with no air conditioning to walking away from a “stinker” in Glasgow, we break down what actually happens when reality doesn’t match the photos. 

We share practical travel tips for booking hotels and Airbnbs with fewer surprises: how to read reviews for patterns, why “trusted hosts” can matter, and why sticking with one booking platform can help you get better support, discounts, and smoother problem resolution. We also dig into location research using Google Maps, Google Earth, and Street View, especially when short-term rental apps only show an approximate address. That small step can save you from booking a beautiful place that’s miles from groceries, transit, or anything you need without a car. 

We also cover the questions we now ask before we book: elevators, heating and cooling, refund policies, and the hidden fees that can blow up your travel budget. Plus, we talk about cash-only check-ins in places like the Galapagos, ATM limits, and why documenting issues with photos and screenshots right when you arrive can protect you later. Above all, we come back to the travel mindset that keeps trips fun: stay calm, stay flexible, and be willing to pivot when the best move is simply finding a better place. 

If you like real-world travel advice that helps you travel longer and travel better, follow the podcast, share this with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find us.

And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. You can search for it on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook, or just use the link on our podcast page.
If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at jim@jimsantosbooks.com.

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Transcript

Why Lodging Goes Sideways Fast

Jim 0:00

Accommodations are one of the biggest parts of travel, and they're also one of the areas where things can go sideways the fastest. Welcome to Wherever We May Roam, the new face of Travel to Jim and Rita. This podcast is about discovering your own travel style to explore the world. I'm Jim Santos, and along with my wife Rita, we've spent more than 16 years traveling. Sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes a whole lot longer. And what we've learned is this: there's no right or wrong way to travel. Some people take extended getaways, some roam part-time, some work from the road, and some make travel a full-time lifestyle. This podcast is about helping you figure out what works for you and how to make it happen in the real world. So whether you're planning your next trip or thinking about something bigger, we're glad you're here. Let's get started. Hello and welcome once again to Wherever We May Roam Travels with Jim and Rita. I'm Jim Santos, joined by my lovely wife Rita, and today's topic is something we hear people talk about all the time. As Rita and I have both stressed on this show, no matter how well you plan a trip, at some point something is going to go wrong. And a lot of times it's with where you're staying. I mean, on paper, everything can look great. Nice photos, good reviews, perfect location, but when you arrive, it's not always what you'd expect. Now, Rita, I think we both agree that accommodations can really make or break your travel, especially your budget.

Rita 1:36

Aaron Powell It can, especially if you're arriving late at night and you're going into something that isn't quite totally acceptable, but maybe with tweaking it you can make it work.

Jim 1:49

Aaron Powell It's not just important for your comfort, it also is going to affect your schedule, uh how long it takes to get there, how close you are to things you actually want to see and experience. If you're not comfortable in the place that you're in, it's going to affect your overall experience, I think.

Rita 2:03

Right.

Jim 2:04

It really doesn't take much either to to really affect your experience. Like for instance, I think about when we say it in Krakow, the apartment itself was just fine. Uh it had a nice little kitchen, had a separate bedroom,

When A Great Place Still Fails

Jim 2:16

but it really was just too hot.

Rita 2:18

It was. There was no way to get cross ventilation. It did have a fan.

Jim 2:23

It had a fan, but it was kind of rickety. It didn't really sit up right.

Rita 2:27

It didn't have air conditioning.

Jim 2:28

Yeah, there was no air conditioning, and all the windows were on the south side of the building.

Rita 2:32

Yeah. It was ninety-some degrees. And and you had to have the window open or you would have been dying in there. But it was a beautiful apartment.

Jim 2:41

Yeah, and we were right over top one of those little spar convenience stores.

Rita 2:44

Right. Very convenient. We could walk to old the the old city.

Jim 2:49

Tram lines went right by there too.

Rita 2:51

Right. And tons of markets. Yeah. It was good location.

Jim 2:55

Yeah. But like I say, we would have enjoyed that much more if it had just been a little bit more comfortable temperature-wise. I remember some pretty hot nights.

Rita 3:03

Yeah. And and you know, I think that you actually had asked about that if there was air conditioning, and they said no, that there wasn't, but that it never gets hot enough.

Jim 3:13

Yeah, you'd be fine.

Rita 3:14

It's like, whoa, well, I don't know. 96 is pretty hot.

unknown 3:18

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 3:19

Even when everything goes right, things can still be a little bit wrong. Like the place isn't as described. We've run into some issues with cleanliness in a couple of places. And one of the problems with Airbnb is when you are looking at the location, you don't really know exactly where it is until you've booked it. They'll show you on a map the approximate location.

Rita 3:40

Right. You don't have the exact address.

Jim 3:42

Aaron Powell But a lot of times the difference between a good neighborhood and a bad neighborhood is just a couple of blocks.

Rita 3:47

Aaron Ross Powell Right, or just stepping off the curb.

Jim 3:49

Yeah. And sometimes it just doesn't feel right. There's something about it that just doesn't feel right. That place in Glasgow that we backed out of, it kind of hit all of those.

Rita 3:58

It did.

Jim 3:59

It wasn't clean, it didn't feel right, it wasn't in a great location.

Rita 4:03

No.

Jim 4:03

But that's really not something that we've run into an awful lot.

Rita 4:06

Aaron Ross Powell No, I'm I mean I I would say on that trip we were gone ten to twelve weeks. In Ireland we were in eight different Airbnbs or hotels, and I don't know how many in the British Isles, but a a lot. And that was really the only real stinker.

Jim 4:24

Aaron Powell Yeah, there were a few things that you know weren't quite what we expected. The place in Oranmore near Galway, uh one of the reasons we chose it was they advertised that they had a washer.

Rita 4:35

Right.

Jim 4:35

And when we got there, he told us, no, we decided a dishwasher worked better. And you can just leave your things in a wee bag outside the door and my wife will clean them.

Rita 4:44

And we were like, well, I mean, we were really nice about it. And we said, no, we'll we'll find a laundromat and take care of our own needs. But that was a bummer because we wouldn't have rented that had it not had Right, we would have kept looking for it. Yeah, we would have looked for something else. But he was a very nice guy. The the place was immaculate and it was in a great location. And hey, we we went to Tesco and used a

Red Flags In Listings And Neighborhoods

Rita 5:12

laundromat.

Jim 5:13

Yeah, the problem can be too that once you're in a location, if it's not ideal, you can have some difficulty sometimes finding something else on short notice.

Rita 5:22

That's true.

Jim 5:22

Now we got pretty lucky in Glasgow while I was still on hold with the Airbnb. I found another Airbnb that was near the city center that was available and we could move to it right away.

Rita 5:33

Aaron Powell And you booked it?

Jim 5:34

And I booked it. Yeah. I booked it right away as soon as I confirmed that we could get there, could get inside right away. And that turned out to be very nice. It was a very comfortable place with a washer and in a nice, secure, high-rise building in a great location.

Rita 5:45

It yeah. It was it was perfect for what we needed for, I don't know, three or four days. Yeah, it worked out.

Jim 5:52

Yeah, we talked about our AC problems uh staying on the uh the beach in Panama. And we also mentioned I think our Dublin Airbnb when we arrived, we were told the person who was renting the place was violating his lease.

Rita 6:03

He was subletting.

Jim 6:07

Panama is a situation where we just kind of lived with it. I guess we could have left early and gone back to Panama City and have some nice air conditioning and back to that mercado and the fresh fresh and everything. But I think we felt like we had so much money invested in it that we wanted to to make sure that we got everything out of that trip.

Rita 6:24

Yeah, yeah, and and honestly, it was a beautiful another another beautiful condo. It had swimming pools and all that you possibly want, but it just was not maintained.

Jim 6:37

Yeah, it was as advertised, it just needed some work.

Rita 6:40

It did. And we had to be in the unit while they were fixing the air conditioners, which was several days.

Jim 6:47

Yeah. And in Dublin, we were also fortunate that we were able to find a place immediately while we were sitting out on the steps. We were able to find a place that we could go to. Now it was a hotel and it cost twice what our Airbnb had cost.

Rita 6:59

Right.

Jim 6:59

But it did include a nice breakfast buffet. And since it was closer to what we wanted to see in Dublin, it also meant that we didn't have to pay as much for ride sharing or public transportation or anything.

Rita 7:09

Yeah, it was very convenient. And actually we both enjoyed it. It was our and it was our last day before going home, so it was a nice send-off.

Jim 7:18

Yeah, we had a local pub and there was a little laundromat too.

Rita 7:22

Right around the corner.

Jim 7:24

So the idea is that you need to stay flexible whenever you're traveling and you run into these little things because they're going to happen. Now there are some things you can do when you're looking at the places and making your arrangements that can make a big difference. The first thing I recommend is that whichever aggregate you're using, whether it's booking.com, Expedia, uh Travago, Airbnb, or VRBO, pick the one you like and stick with it and use it all the time. You develop not only points and bonuses sometimes by doing this, but you also build up a reputation of your own.

Rita 7:57

You do. And they are more willing to work with you if there is a problem, if you've been a long-term client.

Jim 8:06

You also need to read the reviews very carefully before you book, not just the rating, not just how many stars it might have. But read the reviews carefully, especially if you're booking hotels in foreign countries. You can't just assume that you're going to have your own bathroom, that it's not going to be a room in somebody's house or a room with multiple beds in it that you're sharing in somebody's house.

Rita 8:27

And not on the sixth floor without an elevator.

Jim 8:30

Right. You can't, especially in Europe and South America, just because it's on the fifth floor, don't assume that there's an elevator.

Rita 8:36

Right.

Jim 8:37

You need to definitely ask about those kind of things. Especially, you know, you're over 65, you've got a lot of luggage. You're not going to want to be dealing with stairs, dragging everything up and down stairs all the time. Now if there are complaints about a unit, look for patterns in it, because somebody is always upset about something.

unknown 8:54

Right.

Jim 8:54

That's true. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: It doesn't matter how nice the place is. You know, the beach was on the left side and I wanted it on the right, you know, something like that. I didn't like the color. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 9:02

And we're we're pretty easy going. If if it's clean, we can usually make do.

Jim 9:08

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: But if there's a pattern, if you see that multiple people are saying it was difficult to reach the host in case of an emergency, or it was difficult to get a taxi in that area.

Rita 9:16

Yeah.

Jim 9:17

Then that's something to look out for. Now on Airbnb and VRBO, there are people called trusted hosts. These are people who have been consistently getting good reviews and have been on the system for a while. So you should definitely look for those when you're booking as well.

Rita 9:32

Aaron Powell That seems to be their full-time job too. It's like a business.

Jim 9:36

Right. It's not the person who's got a room in their house usually, it's somebody who has a unit that's dedicated to travelers. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 9:43

And and many units, lots of times.

Jim 9:45

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah, now do pay attention to location details. As I mentioned, with Airbnb and VRBO, you don't see exactly where it is until you book the place. But something I've done often and has really helped out is use Google Maps and Google Earth to kind of look around at the area first. For instance, one place we were looking at in Panama on the beach, I'd heard a lot of people mention what a great beach it was, but when I looked on Google Earth at the places that were on that beach, it was a good five, ten miles before you got to any kind of like convenience store or any kind of shop at all. So if you're in a place without a car, that's not really a great situation. With Google Earth and Google Maps on Street View, we've actually previewed the streets on the places uh where we're going to so we can get an idea of what it looks like. And that really helped in Istanbul because our our driver wasn't finding the place.

When You Must Rebook Mid-Trip

Rita 10:38

Yeah, he had no idea, even with the address, if we were even close.

Jim 10:42

Yeah, but I recognized one of the signs from Google Street View. Yeah. They were able to tell him, Oh, yeah, this is the place.

Rita 10:47

That's it. Yeah.

Jim 10:48

The other thing to ask about before you book, uh we mentioned uh elevators. Check to make sure it has heating and or cooling.

Rita 10:54

Yeah, surprisingly, there are that we have run across in Europe where uh there isn't heating because they're it's not a priority. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 11:04

Especially in England and Ireland.

Rita 11:06

Right.

Jim 11:06

I think the idea was, oh, it's not that cold.

Rita 11:08

Aaron Ross Powell Right. But they will bring you a wee heater in Ireland if you ask.

Jim 11:15

Yeah, and you do need to ask. If there's anything that you're not sure about or that isn't spelled out directly, always ask before you book. That's going to be much easier than trying to work it out once you get there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 11:25

It is.

Jim 11:26

Also make sure you understand the uh payment and refund policies before you book. Some places are fairly liberal about their refunds, as long as you let them know, you know, like a week or two ahead of time, they'll give you most of the money back. Others have a more complicated formula where you can get 80% back by this date and 50% back by this date. But make sure you understand what you're getting into and that you're seeing the full price. We've had uh one of our daughters recently took a trip of I think it was to Norway. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 11:54

Right. She was in Norway.

Jim 11:56

And the Airbnb they went to told them that the heating was a separate charge.

Rita 12:00

Yeah.

Jim 12:01

So they wanted them to pay extra for the heating, and there were quite other things that you're trying to get them to pay extra for.

Rita 12:06

Aaron Ross Powell And the cleaning wasn't showing on the site when she rented it as well.

Jim 12:11

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, I think she said they also didn't have like the bedding materials weren't there.

Rita 12:15

Right.

Jim 12:15

When they checked in. So uh these are all things that after a while you learn you need to ask specifically up front. You know, do you have heating? Is that included in the price? Yeah, those are good questions to ask.

Rita 12:29

Aaron Ross Powell Really when and the other thing that I've thought about that is always and you're excellent at it, is that when there is a problem, small or large, you stay calm.

Jim 12:40

Yeah, there's there's and organized. There's no sense getting upset and yelling and alienating the people who you're hoping are going to help you.

Rita 12:48

No.

Jim 12:48

One uh last thing to check, especially we've run into this in uh South America and Central America. Even if a place is on booking and and they says that you can reserve it with a credit card, doesn't necessarily mean they're going to accept a credit card once you get there.

Rita 13:04

No.

Jim 13:06

That happens a lot. We were really surprised in the Galapagos, for instance, just about everybody wanted cash. Now they say they reserve it with a credit card, but once you get there, they want cash when you get the room.

Rita 13:17

Right. So ATM becomes your best friend.

Jim 13:20

Yeah, and that's something you definitely need to know in advance because for instance in the Galapagos, a lot of the ATMs had limits on the amount of cash you could get. Or they didn't have any cash because they only filled them up once every uh week or so.

Rita 13:33

I think it was $200 limit.

Jim 13:35

Yeah, $200 limit on that. Yeah.

Rita 13:37

Now the restaurants, they they took our visa.

Jim 13:41

Yeah, if the restaurant was associated with one of the more expensive tourist hotels, then they took uh credit cards. But a lot of the smaller places that we went to, they had signs up that said uh cash only.

Rita 13:53

Well, you know, actually South America is pretty cash only. You know?

Jim 13:57

Yeah.

Rita 13:58

It really is.

Jim 13:59

Now when you do arrive in your location, make sure you check everything right away. And if something is off, document it, take pictures of it, and you're doing your communication with Airbnb mostly over their app. So you can always do screenshots of things to back up your claims if you have any problems in the future. We've reported things to the host immediately, like in

Booking Smarter With Reviews And Loyalty

Jim 14:20

Seville. When we opened the refrigerator, one of the plastic shelves was cracked.

Rita 14:24

Yeah.

Jim 14:25

So I just took a picture and sent it to him and said, Hey, this was cracked when we got here. The place in Oranmore, the stovetop, had a crack in it. And we pointed that out to the the host when he was showing us around. Only because I wanted him to know that we didn't crack it.

Rita 14:39

Exactly.

Jim 14:40

But when we got back from a a trip into Galway, he had replaced it already.

unknown 14:44

I know.

Rita 14:45

I know. He replaced the entire sur hard surface cooktop.

Jim 14:49

So sometimes the problems are a surprise.

Rita 14:52

Yeah. Yeah, but you know, when you go in, we've not had any issues, really. I mean, they've been minor when you consider the number of Airbnbs and bookings that we have done over the years. But it really doesn't hurt to take pictures when you go in of anything that you see that might not that you know, that they might come back and say, Hey, did you do this?

Jim 15:20

Right. And just let them know right away. That it really helps if you do run into a problem later on. But like Rita said, you really need to stay calm. You know, that that matters more than you might think. Because for one thing, like we said, they're not gonna be as willing to help you if you're screaming at them. But also you're trying to enjoy yourself.

Rita 15:39

Right.

Jim 15:39

And getting yourself worked up about something like uh where you're staying, especially if you're only going to be there for a few days or a few weeks, i it's just not a healthy thing to do.

Rita 15:48

No, no. It's more important if you're gonna be there for weeks, I think.

Jim 15:53

Yeah.

Rita 15:53

Yeah, you'd like to straighten out the issues right away.

Jim 15:57

Aaron Powell Right, but definitely know what your options are and be willing to adjust because sometimes the best move is to just move on, just find another place and go.

Rita 16:06

Yeah, we had no problems with that in Dublin. That was our last stay, and we were really looking forward to Dublin, and so it all works out. We found a hotel.

Jim 16:15

Aaron Powell Yeah, although I have to say that hotel was like our stay in London. We thought, well, you know, we're paying a lot of money, but at least this is a four-star hotel or five-star hotel. It's just going to be really nice, a luxury room. And we got in there, and again, it was one of these.

Rita 16:29

The bed took up the entire room.

Jim 16:30

Yeah, the bed took up half the room and was touching the three walls. It did have two drawers under it.

Rita 16:36

Yeah, it did. And I have to say that they're really smart because when you do do rent one of these closets, the bathrooms are always really nice.

Jim 16:46

It was very nice.

Rita 16:47

Or we have seen that, at least for us, the bathrooms are more than adequate.

Jim 16:51

And the hotel itself was very upscale, and the the breakfast buffet was just huge.

Rita 16:56

It was included with the meals.

Jim 16:58

So we really had no complaints about the stay. And again, because we use booking all the time.

Rita 17:04

Got a 30% discount.

Jim 17:05

We got a discount on the room.

Rita 17:06

Right.

Jim 17:07

Yeah, 30% discount on the room. And we also got free transportation to the airport.

Rita 17:12

That and that's huge.

Jim 17:13

Yeah, it's huge. That's it's like uh $75 savings right there.

Rita 17:17

Euro. Yeah.

Jim 17:18

So remember your goal isn't to avoid every problem, because really that's not going to happen.

Rita 17:24

No, it isn't. Travels travel can be messy.

Jim 17:27

Yeah, the it the goal is to handle those problems without letting them ruin your trip. So and when you're traveling longer, like we do, when you're staying out of the country longer, it becomes even more important because you know we're staying in more places. You might have had a long day, you know, six hours on a bus or twelve hours dealing with airplanes. Or on a train for all day or you're really relying on those accommodations as a place to get to and relax.

Rita 17:51

You are.

Jim 17:52

And you're eventually going to run into these issues that we're talking about. And when you do, that flexibility is really your biggest asset.

Rita 18:00

It is. Yeah. You have to you have to learn how to pivot and and most things can be resolved quickly.

Jim 18:08

Yeah, and really these days that's easier than ever. I mean, this isn't like even just ten years ago, if you got to a place and your room wasn't available or wasn't ready or you got kicked out of it for whatever reason, you'd have a really difficult time trying to find a place.

Rita 18:23

Yeah.

Jim 18:23

You might be cabbing from place to place trying to find out if they have rooms available. But now with with the internet, with uh ESIMs making it so easy to communicate when you're in other countries, it becomes very easy to find alternatives whenever you need them.

Rita 18:37

Yeah, I think about the trip when we were in Florence years ago, 2011, I think. And I think we might have gotten it on Craigslist or something.

Jim 18:48

Yeah, we found uh two apartments on Craigslist.

Rita 18:50

And it wasn't it was a realtor, and she was to meet us to let us in this beautiful apartment, and we were excited to get it. But when we get there, it was complicated to finally get a key to get in there.

Jim 19:04

Yeah, I think we ended up using a uh a phone in the airport.

Rita 19:08

I think so.

Jim 19:09

Trying to find uh coins that we could use in that country. No, I think I used a calling card. That was those days when you had the uh calling card where you punched in like 15 numbers and then can make a phone call.

Rita 19:21

Yeah. But it's it's so simple now. Everybody has cell phones, everything can be done on your phone pretty much. Aaron Powell Right.

Jim 19:29

And a lot of people around the world are using WhatsApp. Yes. If you have that on your phone, it becomes very easy to communicate with people and find out information very quickly. So people often think that travel is about having perfect plans and perfect places and perfect

Location Checks With Maps And Street View

Jim 19:45

locations, but in reality, it's about adapting when things don't go as planned.

Rita 19:49

Aaron Powell It is.

Jim 19:50

And often what seemed like a negative thing at first can turn out to really be one of the high points of your trip.

Rita 19:57

Right.

Jim 19:57

Yeah, like the place in Glasgow where we ended up was actually a much better place for us to stay.

Rita 20:02

Oh, it was. And it was the same price practically, wasn't it? Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

Jim 20:06

Yeah, it was the same price when we got a refund from the other one.

Rita 20:11

And it was so much more convenient. We were closer to the train station, the the metros to get around the city. Just all in all, it ended up being a plus.

Jim 20:21

Yeah, when we left, I think we actually walked to the bus station. And then the bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh, I think, was like six dollars each. Yeah.

Rita 20:28

So it was a bus. Okay.

Jim 20:30

But again, flexibility is really important here.

Rita 20:33

It is.

Jim 20:34

Now, if you want any practical real-world advice on how to handle these situations, that's exactly what we cover in Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style, which is available in Amazon and on Audible as a audiobook. Now, next episode we'll be talking about something that's often overlooked by the casual traveler. That's packing strategies and tools, the travel apps that we use, and the day-to-day logistics that can make travel easier. So until next time, remember, we travel not to escape life, but so that life does not escape us. If you've been thinking about traveling longer or just traveling better, we hope this episode gave you a few more ideas. Remember, there's no right or wrong way to explore the world. Only the way that works for you. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow the podcast, and if you have a moment, leave a quick review. It really helps more people find us. And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. You can search for it on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook, or just use the link on our podcast page. If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at Jim at jimsantosbooks.com. Thanks for listening, and as always, see you. Safe travels wherever you may roam.