5 Most Commonly Misunderstood Travel Terms

Adjoining rooms don’t actually join. – "Adjoining" means adjacent, or next to one another, not connecting. This is one of the most popular requests from my clients, especially when they are traveling with young children. In general, hotels will not guarantee room requests like this in advance, though there are a few that will guarantee connecting rooms for a fee. I have a very high success rate of acquiring guaranteed connecting rooms for my clients at Virtuoso properties and other luxury hotels, because of our agency's great relationship with them.

The Goring Hotel, London

Direct flights aren't always faster. – Frequent fliers know that a “direct flight" does not mean that the plane goes directly to their destination. It just means they don’t have to change planes, which is more convenient than a connecting flight, but not necessarily faster.  If you are looking for the shortest flight, make sure it’s nonstop.

Time for my beauty sleep

Ocean view does not mean a great view of the ocean. - As long as you see water from any vantage point, a hotel can get away with calling a room “ocean view.” Even if it means you have to stand on one edge of your balcony & lean way over to see just a sliver of water through the trees. Some hotels break down their room categories very precisely, offering everything from partial ocean view to oceanfront. But if the hotel doesn’t offer anything but ocean view rooms, that probably means there is a wide discrepancy in views, and it’s the luck of the draw when you check in. In that case, I request that my contacts at the hotel hand pick my client’s room to ensure the best location & view.

Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa

Double has double meaning. – A "double" room can mean either that it sleeps two people (in one or two beds), or it has two beds in the room and can sleep up to four. Nor does it indicate what size the beds are. Whether a room has a double, full, queen, or king size bed is very important to many travelers, but this can be one of the most frustrating pieces of information to obtain. I don’t rely on website room descriptions to tell me everything I need to know, I talk to my contacts to find out exactly what my client can expect in their room, and ask them to guarantee their bedding request.

Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe

And my personal pet peeve:

Suites are not always as sweet as you think. – When clients tell me they want a suite, they usually mean they want a private bedroom, with a door separating the sleeping and living areas. But this is not necessarily what you get when you book a "suite" through a website. Hotels frequently use this term to refer to an oversize room with a seating area, what I would call a “junior suite.” I check floor plans or ask my contacts at the hotel to make sure I my client is getting exactly what they want.



Four Seasons Las Vegas

Instead of wasting your time trying to navigate through confusing, and possibly misleading, information on the internet, give me a call to help plan your next family vacation.  If I don't  have accurate information at my fingertips, I know exactly where to get it. You deserve to have your vacation dreams come true.