Bookings in larger cities

[Anniesantiago]

I notice there are nearly NO hotels available for 2022 in Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, or Astorga on booking.com.
Does anyone (who lives in Spain) know if these are closed or if I need to try a different booking company?

 

[RemysMimi]

I notice there are nearly NO hotels available for 2022 in Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, or Astorga on booking.com.
Does anyone (who lives in Spain) know if these are closed or if I need to try a different booking company?

I was checking this also. I was thinking that maybe I was looking to far out? I think in some cases you can go directly to the hotel and are able to do it.

 

[trecile]

I notice there are nearly NO hotels available for 2022 in Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, or Astorga on booking.com.
Does anyone (who lives in Spain) know if these are closed or if I need to try a different booking company?

I think that it's just too early!

 

[Tincatinker]

Berking.con, Tripeadvertiser, Lostminutes and all the rest of them all have only limited room allocations in most hospitality locations. Most never held more than 12 months in advance. In the current mess they’ll hedge their bets tighter than ever. “No availability” means “we have not taken an option”, and who would when no-one knows what the state of intra & international travel will be in 3 months time let alone a year or more. We all live in hope. Companies live by their balance sheets.
Go for direct contact whenever you can, but bear in mind that that business may not be there in 2022.

 

[BROWNCOUNTYBOB]

Annie, when my wife and I decided to cancel our 2020 Camino Frances, I cancelled all our private room reservations. Easy to do on Booking.com. For some we made directly with the private albergue / casa rural. Then I immediately began making private room reservations in July / August 2020 for our camino this fall. Some allowed reservations, some did not. Some that initially said rooms were not available, later opened up. In some cases, I used contact info on Gronze to contact the albergue directly. A few places told me that it was too soon to accept reservations. If so, I just made reservations at an alternate place. So for our mid-Sept to late October CF, we have confirmed reservations for every night. We both have had two Pfizer vaccine shots so just need for travel restrictions to be lifted, then we'll be all set. Bob

 

[henrythedog]

Far too early. The commissions paid to booking.com, and others, are such that most places only list a few rooms with them And - if they are expecting to be busy - that ‘few’ becomes ‘none’.

Even direct bookings more than 9-12 months out, in normal times, can be difficult.

 

[BROWNCOUNTYBOB]

Sorry to disagree. I made advanced bookings in 2017, 2019 and 2020 which we canceled and now 2021. All made way ahead of time. A few cases I rechecked current prices on Booking.com in which there were better rates for the same date and the albergue lowered the rate.

Most times rooms were available months in advance. Does not hurt to simply check and if none available then retry later. Bob

 

[Anniesantiago]

Far too early. The commissions paid to booking.com, and others, are such that most places only list a few rooms with them And - if they are expecting to be busy - that ‘few’ becomes ‘none’.

Even direct bookings more than 9-12 months out, in normal times, can be difficult.

In the past 10 years, I've always been able to make reservations for my groups 1.5 years out (or more) so this is something new for me. I recently emailed Hotel Eslava directly and discovered the hotel had been sold and is being remodeled and will have a new name. I suspect more changes like this will be coming.

 

[Anniesantiago]

I think that it's just too early!

I've always made my group reservations 1 to 1.5 years in advance with no problems. This is something new. See my response to henrythedog.

 

[henrythedog]

Sorry to disagree. I made advanced bookings in 2017, 2019 and 2020 which we canceled and now 2021. All made way ahead of time. A few cases I rechecked current prices on Booking.com in which there were better rates for the same date and the albergue lowered the rate.

Most times rooms were available months in advance. Does not hurt to simply check and if none available then retry later. Bob

Bob,

yes, you’re right. I have at times made reservations well in advance and whenever the situation normalises, will do so again. It’s always worth checking.

At this time, if I were running an albergue or guest house I’d be very uncertain as to what capacity would be available locally in competition and what the ‘going rate’ should be. I wouldn’t be concerned about demand -as I expect that to be high - and if looking to slowly recoup 12 months or more of lost income I wouldn’t want to ‘lock in’ too many advance bookings at what may prove to be an unnecessarily low rate. I certainly wouldn’t want to secure bookings through booking.com and pay their substantial commission if I could hold my nerve.

Time will tell, and in the medium term supply and demand will balance; but if I get to Spain in October as I hope, I’m expecting the price of accommodation to have risen substantially from my last Camino in 2019.

 

[Kathar1na]

I recently emailed Hotel Eslava directly and discovered the hotel had been sold and is being remodeled and will have a new name. I suspect more changes like this will be coming.

You may be interested to know that the hotel Eslava was put up for sale in January 2020, or even earlier, when nobody knew what was coming.

El popular Hotel Eslava de Pamplona, abierto desde el año 1966, se pone a la venta

Los hermanos Eslava que regentan este 2 estrellas -el único del Casco Viejo de su categoría- afirman que el negocio funciona, pero quieren cambiar

www.noticiasdenavarra.com

 

[Deleted member 73526]

Amid all the turmoil of the pandemic, normal patterns of supply and demand have been disrupted. It will take a while for them to settle. Remember last year, when folks were fighting over the last pack of toilet paper in the supermarket, while warehouses were overflowing with commercial-sized rolls that offices and restaurants wouldn't buy? All sorts of things are going to be lumpy like that for a while. House prices in England are seeing a surge right now. Are house buyers in a generous mood? No. There's just too much money chasing an unusually small number of houses for sale. Lumpy. Dog owners who bought puppies during the pandemic are struggling to find dog walkers now that they need to go back to working at the office. Lumpy.

The travel and hospitality sector has seen more dramatic change than most. Hotel owners have had to shutter properties, furlough staff, and focus on short-term survival over medium-term planning. I am sure, thought, that they are eager to get back to the days when they could publish their inventory to a GDS and enjoy the 18-month advance bookings coming in. Be patient. The physical rooms are out there in the real world, even if their digital counterparts have disappeared from the virtual world. They will become visible online and you will be able to book them.

In the meantime, if you're interested to know how hotel rooms wind up being sold on bonking.com and trapadvisor, here's an interesting overview:

Back Office Software of Online Travel Agency

Discover the main travel agency back office systems and software and the functions they are responsible for.

www.altexsoft.com

 

[Anniesantiago]

You may be interested to know that the hotel Eslava was put up for sale in January 2020, or even earlier, when nobody knew what was coming.

El popular Hotel Eslava de Pamplona, abierto desde el año 1966, se pone a la venta

Los hermanos Eslava que regentan este 2 estrellas -el único del Casco Viejo de su categoría- afirman que el negocio funciona, pero quieren cambiar

www.noticiasdenavarra.com

I knew the owners were getting older, but didn't know it'd been put up for sale in January. I'm sort of sad that the new owners are remodeling it. I loved it the way it was but it will be interesting to see what they've done to it.

 

[lt56ny]

I was checking around to see what an answer to this question was. Obviously there is no one size fits all answer. I checked on bookings and their booking calendar goes out till July, 2022. I ran a test for booking in July 2022 and found availability in 180 hotels.
I also checked the internet and I found a story below that gives you information on major chains on how far out you can book with cash or award points. Thought some of you would like to know.

How far in advance can you book a hotel room? - The Points Guy

If you're a super planner, you have every detail of your vacation reserved months or even years in advance. But how early can you book a hotel room?

thepointsguy.com

 

[Deleted member 61803]

It may be easier for hotels and pensiones to give advance bookings than dormitory style hostels and private Albergues due to the fact that they don't yet know what social distancing rules will be in force when allowed to totally reopen. Even here in the UK those bnbs with say, shared bathroom facilities may have to take less guests or deep clean the facilities many times a day. So more booking opportunities may open up as the owners become more certain they can cope with whatever rules are set, at the price from which they can make a profit.

 

[gloria lowe]

I knew the owners were getting older, but didn't know it'd been put up for sale in January. I'm sort of sad that the new owners are remodeling it. I loved it the way it was but it will be interesting to see what they've done to it.

It is on Booking as Hotel Aldo now but says they aren't taking reservations yet.

 

[Anniesantiago]

It is on Booking as Hotel Aldo now but says they aren't taking reservations yet.

Yes, thanks. I just got an email from them.

 

[Anniesantiago]

It may be easier for hotels and pensiones to give advance bookings than dormitory style hostels and private Albergues due to the fact that they don't yet know what social distancing rules will be in force when allowed to totally reopen. Even here in the UK those bnbs with say, shared bathroom facilities may have to take less guests or deep clean the facilities many times a day. So more booking opportunities may open up as the owners become more certain they can cope with whatever rules are set, at the price from which they can make a profit.

Yes, we are booking private rooms, not dorms.

 

[davebugg]

If looking at multiple day stays in one location, I would also look at something like AirBnB.

 

[NavyBlue]

Hi,

By the way, for information : I have been denied a pilgrim rebate in some occasions, after having booked through booking.com (because they take a chunk from the room rate for their service).

 

[trecile]

Hi,

By the way, for information : I have been denied a pilgrim rebate in some occasions, after having booked through booking.com (because they take a chunk from the room rate for their service).

I would only expect to receive a pilgrim rate if booking directly through the hotel.