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Hey fellow travelers, Mark here with Walters World and today we're here in Gent, Belgium. And today we're going to talk about are some of the unspoken truths about European hotels because travelers from all over the world enjoy coming to Europe. But sometimes the biggest surprises they have or when they get in their hotel room. And so for my fellow travelers, I'm really going to focus more on my American travelers that come to Europe so they have a better idea of what they should prepare for cuz it's going to be a little bit different than your holiday in back home. All right. Now, the first thing I want to talk about is the size of the room. And you have to realize rooms and hotel
rooms in Europe are significantly smaller than you have in the US or Canada or South America. So, do be aware of that because a lot of these buildings are from hundreds of years ago with smaller rooms and smaller sizes and they've been retrofitted to make it into a hotel. So, if you're going to be booking your hotel room, don't think of a double like in the US where if you have a double, you can put four or five or six people in there, no problem. No, if you get a double in Europe, it literally is for two people. That's why it is very important when you're booking your hotel, you say the exact number of people that are going to be there. And it's not just two adults, it's, hey, two
adults and we've got our two kids because you will not be able to fit all four of you into a double room in some hotels here in Belgium or in France. It's really important to mention that. Okay. And that's why if you've got a family, you have to realize if you have four of you, you might need to get two hotel rooms because finding triples and quads and stuff like that is a bit difficult. So if you have a bigger family, you might want to look at chain hotels like Marriotts and Novatels and NH cuz they sometimes do have those bigger rooms that you can connect together or a bigger room in general. So
something to kind of think about. or if you're a big group, you might want to look at apartment rentals because then you can keep everybody together and it could be more economical. Now, another thing I need to mention, um, when you get into a hotel room in Europe, you kind of understand why they don't have a lot of babies in Europe anymore. And basically, you're looking at the beds, and what you're going to have is like if you got a double, you'll have two single beds. If you're lucky and want to be romantic, they might push the beds together. And if you're really lucky, the bed you have might have a frame that put both of the singles in there. But there seems to be that little crack in
the middle quite often. And I'll tell you, if they push the beds together and you lay in the middle, don't be surprised if it separates like the Red Sea and you fall to the ground. I don't want to hurt yourself when you're in bed, but it's something to kind of think about when you're there. And that's one of the things kind of surprises travelers when they come. They're like, "Wait a minute. How are we going to do this?" Now, the locals will tell you, "Hey, having those single beds makes it more comfortable because then your partner doesn't wake you up when they roll around." But I'm just telling you what they like to say. I prefer to be all snuggled up with my wife in one bed
and not separate beds where I know I'm going to fall to my doom. Now, another thing I think is really important for travelers coming to Europe is look, you cannot bring lots of luggage. You know, the people that have the two huge suitcases and their front backpack and then their purse and their other stuff as well. That's not going to fly when you come to hotels in Europe, especially if you're going to guest houses, pension, like local places because they're so small. It's not just small for the beds, it's small for the space. And a lot of times you might only have a small closet or no closet at all and you're literally living out of your suitcase. So where are you going to put
those suitcases if you got a lot of them? Especially if you're a group of people. That is one thing you have to consider. Less packing, less stuff, less luggage is important. Otherwise, it's going to be a very uncomfortable stay when you're literally using your bed to open up your suitcase to get your clothes out while someone else is trying to sleep. It's not very fun sometimes. Now, another important thing I want to mention is not all hotels are equal. Like when you come to Europe, there's a lot of different kind of accommodations.
You know, in the US, you have hotels and motel and maybe there's an inn somewhere, right? Or a bed and breakfast. In Europe, you'll have hotels, you'll have guest houses, you'll have pensions, you'll have bed and breakfastes, you'll have a host, you have a lot of different things. And each one of those accommodations will have a different level of service, different level of amenities, and how many amenities you share with other people. So, it's really important depending how much you want to share with other people. You want to research the type of accommodation some place is because you may think it's under accommodation. It's going to be a hotel, but it could be an apartment hotel or it could be a room in
a hostel with you and eight other people in bunk beds. And whether you're at a hostel or a pension, there's some bathroom things I think it's important to mention. One, in general, do not expect to get washcloths in Europe. That is not a thing. Like, if you're in the UK and some other places, you might get them. But in general, washcloths, if you're one of the people that like to have them, like Jos brings washcloths with her, you're gonna want to bring some washcloths with you. So, that's one thing. But when you're in the bathroom, there's a couple extra things that you might not know what they're for. Like, I've brought groups of students to Europe for, you know, 15 years now. And
they're always surprised when they see their first bedet. They're like, "Wait, there's a toilet and then there's like a water fountain next to it." I'm like, "Oh, dude, dude, that is not a water fountain. That is where people wash off their behinds. Okay, it's not to wash your hands. It's not to take a drink out of. is not to refill your water bottle. No, no, no, no, no. Do not listen to people like it is to wash your private parts. So, do be aware of that. Another thing you might see, this isn't all the time, but sometimes you go to hotels and you know they'll have hair dryers for you, but you don't realize it's a haird dryer cuz it looks like it's a vacuum on the wall. Yeah, that's a haird dryer for
you. All right. And if you're going to be coming to Europe in the summer, one of the big ones I want to mention to you is don't expect air conditioning. Sometimes there are air conditionings. If you're in like a bigger hotel chain or some of the international brands, they'll have it. And if you're like in Greece, you'll probably have it in a lot of your hotels there, too. But it would be one of those things I would check if you're one of those people that's like, I need to be cool at night. You need to check and see. And I will tell you, don't expect to be able to freeze yourself or like really heat up the room
with the heater in the hotels here because they usually have like a temperature control where you can only go so high and so low with the AC or the heat. Now, when you are booking your hotels, I know you can use Expedia or you can use bookings. You can use a lot of third party things, but I would recommend if you could book direct with the hotel you want to stay in because if there's any issues, it's a lot easier to get a cancellation. It's a lot easier to get your money back. It's a lot easier to contact them than these third party programs. So, something to kind of think about when you're there. Also, then you know that more of the money is going to the hotel cuz we like to stay at like,
you know, local spots. We know that local spots owned by local people, then we're helping out local people, right? So, it's one of those things you kind of feel better if you're booking direct with them. So, that's nice. Though, not everything is nice when it comes to the hotels. One thing I will tell you is um most of the time when you're in Europe, if they give you a free breakfast, great, take it. But, if they're going to ask you to pay for breakfast, whether you're in Portugal or you're here in, you know, Belgium or you're in Lithuania, I'm going to tell you, paying anywhere from 10 to 15 to 35, so like think about $40 for breakfast per person is never worth it. go to the local
bakery, you'll spend a few euros, a few dollars getting yourself some fantastic treats there for a fraction of the price, the fraction the price of the hotel breakfast. So, that's why it's kind of important you realize that, you know what, I'll pass in the breakfast, but thank you for the offer cuz honestly, it's going to be cold cuts and cheese slices and some hard-boiled eggs. And if you're lucky, if you're lucky, they're going to have some good rolls and butter and that's it. Like €35 for that. No, go to the bakery instead. Now, let's head back into the room. One thing I want to tell you is European hotels since there are a lot of times in older buildings have been retrofitted, don't
expect a lot of plugs. It is key that you bring your adapter from home and the one you do, make sure it has multiple USB ports in it. So then you can charge your phone, you can charge the camera, your kid can charge their iPad, these kind of things, because there might only be one plug for all that. Okay? So you need to have multiple USB things for you. And you might notice that sometimes you got to move the bed a little bit to get to those plugs. So just giving you the heads up on that. I know my dad, he always brings like it's a USB extend extension cord which is kind of cool and that kind of helps out where it has like six plugs in it so that makes his life a little bit easier. And speaking of my
dad, one of the things he always does at the hotels when we come to Europe is he watches CNN non-stop cuz I want to tell you when you're looking at the TV in Europe when you're going there, it's basically local channels plus CNN and BBC news and that's what you get. So if you want to have you know hear your own language, it's just going to be a news channel unless you speak the local language that's there. Um, and of course then there's the Wi-Fi issue. And yes, Wi-Fi is most hotels have Wi-Fi these days here. However, I will say this, don't expect good, strong Wi-Fi, but be expecting, you know, I can send my emails and check a few things. But if you're looking to do a lot of work and streaming stuff,
maybe not, at least not everywhere. Okay? So, it might be something you want to ask or look online at people in their reviews if they're talking about the Wi-Fi strength. Okay? Now, another thing I think is important to mention are the elevators. Because there's old buildings, sometimes you might need to take multiple elevators to get to your room. But probably the biggest thing you'll notice is sometimes the elevators are very, very small. And so it might be that you put your suitcase in, you push floor three, and then you hurry up four flights of stairs to get to the luggage when it opens that door there because those small elevators are there. That might be something. And you notice I
said you push button three, but you run up four flights of stairs. That is another thing you need to realize in Europe in general. the ground floor. You know, the ground floor in the US is the first floor, but in Europe, no, the first floor is the first floor above the ground. So, they tell you're on the third floor. That's four flights up. So, when you think, "Oh, I can just walk up. No big deal." Just know you got a few more steps ahead of you. And kind of going along with the floors and the elevators, I think it's important to talk about accessibility. And in general, Europe is nowhere near as accessible as the US or Canada in a lot
of spaces because they have such old buildings that there were no there was no 88. There's no American with Disability Act, no European with Disability Act, you know, 500 years ago when these buildings were built. So therefore, sometime it can be a bit difficult. So if you're in a wheelchair or you have any kind of accessibility issues, it's good to reach out to the hotel and be like, "Hey, we want to stay here. I want to let you know how easy it is it for us to get around because I've been in places. cuz I was in Rothenberg with my dad and he was out of breath by the time he got to our hotel room because the elevator was broken and if it did work it only dropped us off on this side of the hotel and then you had
to go up more stairs to get to his room. So it is an issue you might want to talk about if you do have accessibility issues. Now let's get to the check-in checkout process and when you're dealing with the people like I will tell you in general Europe you have very much very straightforward professional service at the check-in desk. Um, but do I will tell you this when you check in don't be surprised they ask for your passport and in some countries they might photocopy your passport because they have to register all the people that have actually come to their hotel. So if you're wanted by you know NATO or something like that they might get you that way. Um but it is a very normal thing for them to do that. Um also when
you are you'll probably have to put your deposit down or give them a credit card even if you already paid cuz they have it for incidentals just like you do back home at your hotels there. Um, but one thing I will tell you, when you're at the check-in desk, this is one thing I love about Europe, they always seem to have the city map there. And when they have the city map, don't pass up the help. Ask them, "Hey, could you circle the main sites? Could you mark a few of the restaurants that I should go to?" And they'll do that for you, which will make life so much easier. All right. I told them that I wanted to eat something Belgian and traditional. They gave me a list of places that I could check out,
and they said, "If you want a reservation, they'll make it for you." I mean, these people are so nice here. Ah, I wish everybody was like this. So, those are some of the kind of the unspoken rules and secrets of uh hotels in Europe that I think tourists should know before they come here so they can have a great time cuz whether you're here in Gent, Belgium or you're in London or you're in Lithuania, you can have a great time spending your time in hotels or accommodations all across Europe. Anyway, I want to say thank you to all of our members on YouTube and all of our patrons on Patreon for helping make videos like this possible. And if you want to help us keep making these videos, please consider joining us on
YouTube or, you know, becoming a member there or go to patreon.com/waltersworld to see how you could help support us keep making honest travel videos around the world. Anyway, I wish you all the best. I'll say bye from here in beautiful Gent, Belgium. Definitely a place worth staying and plenty of really great hotels, too. I'm actually staying at one right over there. Woohoo. Very nice.
