[Craig T]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

Otherwise how do you know the hotels are any good unless you have been there before?

Easy. Read the reviews on TripAdvisor, yelp, and travel blogs like Rick Steve's and a plethora of others. Use Google Earth and mapping sites to confirm its in a nice area, close proximity to town center, or the area and attrations you like. With a little Internet diligence, you can find photos of anything.

For us, unless we're taking our daughter and her friends to a resort, we never stay in one hotel more than a couple days anyway. Half the fun of Europe and Asia is moving around and seeing different places. A sub-par hotel for a night is half the adventure...as long as it's in a safe area.