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What to do about booking rooms...

greghiker

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2021
For those not knowing of how Covid is affecting our travels on the Camino... The Albergues if open can only take 50% occupancy. Same with the pensiones and hotels. We have been stopping one short of the major destination and varying out day of walking based on what we can book for a good night's sleep. Tonignt we sleep in 643 hostel... in Villateurta... a very clean, affordable place, 2 beds for 40 Euros, and an amazing Pilgrims meal (with wine) for 15 Euros each. Well worth the costs and stopping short of Estrella. (4 km away) We even had our laundry washed for free, and dried in our room. Quiet, peaceful with a pub nearby, this was the perfect stop after a hot, climbing day.
Before this we stayed in Uterga, ... before Puenta la Reina. It makes sense to alter your stops with the lack of available rooms... buen camino.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
@greghiker,
My husband is a pilgrim on the Meseta now and has had no trouble getting a bed with or without a reservation. If you look on the Gronze.com site (in Spanish, but your browser can translate to English if needed) it will show how many places are open ahead in each community and you can plan accordingly. Just divide the number of beds listed at each place in half for Covid limitations. The site is updated regularly and usually lists phone numbers and whether the albergue/hostal will take reservations. It often even lists a website or booking links.

I If you feel you must book, I recommend calling ahead or ask someone to do it for you if your Spanish is a concern. Sometimes it takes one or two tries if the hospitalero is cleaning and can't get to the phone right away, but reserving through websites like booking.com costs the hotel or albergue more. Also not all beds are available through Booking. com so even if the hotel or albergue is showing full on the their website, it is likely they may still have available beds if you call.

My husband, Phil, will be the hospitalero in Caldazilla de los Hermanillos at the municipal albergue beginning on Thursday this week. With Covid limitations the rooms will be two person rooms instead of four person rooms. We were hospitaleros in Estella a couple of years ago and I hope you get a few moments to explore the pretty little town as you move through. Buen Camino!
Janet
 
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The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
We are in Zubiri tonight. We are booking about five days ahead just to get private rooms. No problem so far trying to get the first choice.
 
For those not knowing of how Covid is affecting our travels on the Camino... The Albergues if open can only take 50% occupancy. Same with the pensiones and hotels. We have been stopping one short of the major destination and varying out day of walking based on what we can book for a good night's sleep. Tonignt we sleep in 643 hostel... in Villateurta... a very clean, affordable place, 2 beds for 40 Euros, and an amazing Pilgrims meal (with wine) for 15 Euros each. Well worth the costs and stopping short of Estrella. (4 km away) We even had our laundry washed for free, and dried in our room. Quiet, peaceful with a pub nearby, this was the perfect stop after a hot, climbing day.
Before this we stayed in Uterga, ... before Puenta la Reina. It makes sense to alter your stops with the lack of available rooms... buen camino.
Even sans COVID madness it is always a good idea to alter your stops and not sleep in "etapa" villages. Opens up a whole new camino world especially on busy caminos or if you walked previously and stopped in the traditional stages.
 
The alberques I'm currently staying in are filling up more than 50 percent of the beds. I believe they can now go up to 75 percent. Last night was 7 out 10 in my room, tonight is 2 out of 3.

Frm
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
To add to my previous message, the hospitaleros I have spoken to say reservations are needed in the classic stops with few beds (Hornillos, Terradillos). I'm mostly booking ahead because showing up early isn't a guarantee since so many are shipping luggage. I arrived in Hornillos before noon and the alberque I was staying at had huge pile of shipped bags.
Frm
 
To add to my previous message, the hospitaleros I have spoken to say reservations are needed in the classic stops with few beds (Hornillos, Terradillos). I'm mostly booking ahead because showing up early isn't a guarantee since so many are shipping luggage. I arrived in Hornillos before noon and the alberque I was staying at had huge pile of shipped bags.
Frm
Everyone is booking ahead. We are on the camino now and some have had troubles. Most are saying five days out you need to book. I agree the smaller villages have more room. 50% capacity and 30% in Glacia.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
To add to my previous message, the hospitaleros I have spoken to say reservations are needed in the classic stops with few beds (Hornillos, Terradillos). I'm mostly booking ahead because showing up early isn't a guarantee since so many are shipping luggage. I arrived in Hornillos before noon and the alberque I was staying at had huge pile of shipped bags.
Frm
Explain the shipped bags, are you saying shipped bags guarantee a spot in line ahead of you?
 
Those shipping bags have usually made reservations at the location they ship to. So when you walk in and 10-15 bags stacked in the corner you can assume 10-15 beds are spoken for. The percentage of folks shipping ahead this year seems much higher than I have seen in the past.

Frm
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
No, you still need a reservation. Perhaps @FRM means that many people are shipping bags, thus also making reservations?
Those shipping bags have usually made reservations at the location they ship to. So when you walk in and 10-15 bags stacked in the corner you can assume 10-15 beds are spoken for. The percentage of folks shipping ahead this year seems much higher than I have seen in the past.

Frm
Tell me more about reservations or show me where get the most info? What is best way to make reservation? How do I find out which alberques take reservation? Etc..
 
Sometimes they only ship bags to one location in town and pilgrims have to go get them if the albergue does not take reservations.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
@Ashland293 I posted earlier in this thread with suggestions of how to make reservations. Just realize that not all abergues take reservations and you might find a bed at one that does not as it might be overlooked by others for that reason.
 
Hi @Ashland293. Some albergues do not take reservations and may specify whether they do or don't when you actually click on the albergue you are interested in on Gronze.com. Others will have a Booking.com link next to them which is often the easiest way for for some people to try to reserve. Others may have a link to their own website on the page about the albergue in Gronze.com which will allow you to request a room. Others yet will just have a phone number that you can call to make a reservation.

Gronze.com isn't a reservation website, but will give you the information you can use to make the reservation. It is just a fairly complete listing of albergues on the many Caminos.
 
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Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Use the Buen Camino app too. It's worked for us many times when Booking com showed no availability.

It does involve a phone call though.

We are also finding a lot of shipped bags, but whether shipped or carried the room would still have been booked.

We are having to vary our stages from 7miles to 17miles but always got booked (so far) I'm booking 5 days ahead to give me breathing space.
 

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