Room categories: when the upgrade is worth it, and when it isn’t

What a category name means

Very little. Each hotel sets its own room category names. “Deluxe” can be the cheapest room, “Superior” the second cheapest, “Premium” almost anything.

The suite is a little clearer. In the Hotelstars Union criteria, a suite is a room with at least two separate spaces, a bedroom and a living room. An open connection between them is enough. Junior suites are explicitly excluded. So a junior suite is usually a larger room with a seating area, not a suite.

What you’re really paying for with an upgrade

A surcharge usually buys one or more of these: space, view, location within the hotel, newer condition, or access to something such as a lounge. The question is which of them does anything for you on this trip.

Space matters when you spend a lot of time in the room: in the rain, on a long stay, in a city hotel in winter. In a beach resort where you’re outside all day, it matters less.

View matters when it’s the reason for the trip. Then it’s often the only category truly worth it, and only if the view is guaranteed and not “partial”.

Location within the hotel is underrated. The nicer room above the bar or next to the lift is the worse room.

Condition is the least visible difference. Hotels don’t renovate every category at once. Two categories with similar names can be ten years apart.

When the second-best category is the smarter choice

Often. If the second-best category has the same location and view and the best only offers more space, the surcharge is hard to justify for most trips. Conversely, the cheapest category is often where a hotel saves: facing the street or the courtyard, oldest condition.

So the typical good choice sits in the middle, deliberately, not out of caution.

Five questions before you book

1. Which category is shown in the photos that make us want to book?
2. Is the view guaranteed in this category, or only possible?
3. When was this category last renovated?
4. Where in the hotel are these rooms, and what’s below or next to them?
5. What’s included that the cheaper category doesn’t have?

You can email these questions to the hotel yourself. The quality of the answer tells you almost as much as its content.

What I’d do in your place

First decide what you want to pay for on this trip: space, view, quiet or condition. Then choose the category that delivers exactly that, not the one that sounds most expensive. On a honeymoon, that’s the most important decision in the whole booking. More on the honeymoon page.