Etap Hotel Review. Budget Accommodation In Europe

Etap Hotel is ideal for couples, families traveling with one child or two travel buddies wandering Europe on a shoestring budget. A couple of years ago I was vagabonding Europe with my husband and we discovered this great hotel chain that helped us save lots of money. We immediately listed Etap Hotel under our cheap accommodation options label and we started looking for one on every destination. Etap is a cheaper alternative to the traditional hotels and a more comfortable and cleaner alternative to the youth hostels with 6 or 12 beds dorms.

Actually Etap Hotels are somewhere in between hotels and hostels and might remind you of the boarding school. Though the name states otherwise, in some countries they have not received the licence as hotels, but hostels. I´ve stayed in different Etap Hotels all over Europe. They are great value and they grew on me as we moved from one city to another and the hotel rooms seemed almost the same. That made me feel like home when far from home, while the countries and habits of the locals were changing from one day to another, because even before I opened the door I new exactly what to expect.

The Etap Hotel Network belongs to The Accor Hotels Network. There are more than 400 Etap Hotels around Europe in the main touristic cities and the prices and the quality is pretty much constant. The rooms rates go around 50euros a night for 2 people. Some hotels charge a 12 euros fee for the third person, others don't. The rooms are prepared for up to 3 people, with 1 double bed and 1 single bed. All rooms have private toilet and shower. Etap Hotels provide you the towels, the soap and the shampoo at no extra cost unlike most of the European hostels, plus you get daily cleaning service too. I found all the Etap Hotels I've stayed with generally clean, I would give them a 9 out of 10 points, as nobody is perfect. Plus most of the Etap network's hotels have been opened only for the past few years and you can actually notice that by looking at the cubicle exterior design and the furniture.

All the Etap Hotels rooms have air con and small TV with remote control with volume limit, which is good for your neighbors and for your good night sleep too. The windows are from PVC, which means they keep away the street noise. The shutters are easy to use and they fulfill their job successfully so you can sleep all day long. But don't!

Most of the Etap Hotels have 24h reception. The staff speaks English except maybe the night shift. At the reception, when you check in you are given a card that is your room key digitally programed with a code that resets itself automatically at 12a.m. on the day of your departure as an extra security measure.

If you are a travel writer or a business person or you just can't live without checking your Tweets, Etap Hotels provides you with free Wi-Fi access. In the morning there is a continental breakfast buffet that you can contract separately, on a particular morning or every morning. You don't have to pay the breakfast in advance. Suffices with you going in a particular morning to the reception and pay for it. Pets are welcomed too, one per room, but they cannot enter the cafeteria area during breakfast.

Each Etap Hotel has hundreds of rooms and they usualy have short notice availability even during the high season. If you travel from one city to another in the same country you can ask your hotel to make a reservation in your name to another Etap Hotel from another city in the same country. They won't charge you anything for this service and they even give you a written confirmation of the booking.

Etap Hotel are suitable for any ages. The elevators are disabled friendly and the rooms though modern and simple are useful and clean. There isn't much furniture in the rooms, except for the beds, a desk and a chair and some hangers for your clothes. No real wardrobe there, white walls and no fancy decorations, but for the price difference between Etap and a classy hotel, I think it is worth it. It's not like you are going to live in the hotel forever.

Though many Etap Hotels are located next to the airport, which is not particularly bad, or next to main roads, at the outskirts of the cities, some of them are actually located next to the city center. But no matter where the Etap Hotels are situated, there's always a metro station or a bus station near by.

I like Etap Hotels and I think they are a great concept, a good choice for budget travellers and good value for your money.

I would love to hear about your stay at Etap Hotels.