FAQ

Priceoftravel.com is in the building phase as of early 2010 so everything here is new. But just to get things started, here…

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of Price of Travel?

Price of Travel is designed to help people decide where they might go and also when, all at a glance. With a quick scan of the page for the destination you are considering, you’ll know how much money you’ll likely need for each day spent there. Let’s face it, we all have limited funds, and some places cost much more than other places once you get there.

Where do those hotel and hostel prices come from?

The hotel and hostel prices are all researched and edited by hand. The idea is to give visitors the basic range in prices for each category. If you are coming during the high season then you might have trouble finding a room at the absolute bottom of the range we found, but the price ranges should be helpful when comparing one city with another.

Are these hotel prices for any hotel and at any time of year?

The hotel prices we’ve concentrated on are all hotels in the main tourist districts of each city, rather than near airports or in far-off suburbs. In some cases you can save money by staying away from the tourist district, but in order to properly compare prices we only use locations that most people consider desirable.

Most of these hotel prices are based on high season or shoulder season, but not for “peak season.” This means that if you are coming during the busiest month or two of the year you might not find prices as low as the bottom of our range, but also if you come during the off season you might find even better deals.

What do the star ratings mean for hotels?

The star ratings are based on local standards, so a “3-star hotel” in one city might not even be as nice as a “1-star hotel” in another city, but generally speaking they are a good measure of relative quality. In some cities (particularly in Europe) the ratings are based on rigid standards, like whether they have an elevator or not. In other cities the ratings don’t mean as much.

How can I find these super-cheap 1-star hotels, since they aren’t on most websites?

This is an interesting issue, which we’ve covered on a separate post about finding cheap 1-star hotel rooms. As long as you know what you are getting into, a 1-star hotel room can often be a great way to keep your expenses down while still having a good night’s sleep in a private room.

What do the prices mean for “budget” meals?

Obviously food prices in any given city will range wildly depending on where you go, so our goal was to find useful ranges of prices for each meal that basically compare to something similar in any other city. These prices are all for complete meals, without drinks, that are typical in that location. So, for example, breakfast prices in France or Italy might seem a little low, but that’s partly because breakfast in those countries is usually quite small.

If you are unsure how the price ranges fit into your own travel style, compare your destination city’s prices to prices in a city that you know well. You may discover that you are used to paying double or triple what we’ve listed, so you’ll likely have to pay double or triple for something similar in the destination city.

Why aren’t drink prices included with meal prices?

In order to make the meal price ranges more meaningful, we left drinks out altogether. Many people don’t buy a coffee or Coke or beer with every meal, so including them in every price range would make things confusing. We’ve listed beer prices for every city, plus coffee, wine, and soft drink prices where we could.

What is meant by the price ranges for beer in every city?

This is another tricky subject since in many cities you can find a beer for US$1 at one type of place, and a beer for US$12 for an import at a fancy hotel bar. Even when just comparing regular bars and pubs there can be a wide variation, so as a benchmark we have chosen to use typical prices for domestic beers at lower to mid-range bars and pub and restaurants. In other words, if you are in Vietnam and you want a Heineken instead of one of the similar local lagers, you might be above the price range we have given.

How can I add information that you are missing?

If you are interested in helping us build up our database then we’d love to hear from you. Check out our Tips page for details.