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I am doing a tour of Europe for 3 weeks, and thought it would be convenient if I could flexibly book all my accommodation with the same hotel brand, for one flat price? Like the Euro Rail pass.

E.g. Stay at the Ibis in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, etc. Do any hotel brands/chains provide deals for this type of thing?

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    Are you imagining something where you can simply show up unannounced in the evening and be sure to get a bed? I very much doubt that exists, if only for practical reasons -- in contrast to trains, hotels don't have any "standing space". Commented May 14, 2016 at 9:00
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    Some loyalty programs offer a guaranteed room from a certain status, i.e. you can always get a room, but at the highest possible price. I doubt that is what you are looking for.
    – mts
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 9:06
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    Hotels also use demand-based pricing to a much greater extent than trains. Hotel rates vary significantly depending on the market, the season, events in the hotel or around the city, occupancy levels, and other factors. A hotel chain wouldn't want to lock themselves into a single rate for all of Europe, as it would eliminate their flexibility to, say, charge a vastly increased rate if a major convention is taking up every bed in town. Commented May 14, 2016 at 16:48
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    Even many of the long distance trains, as well as almost all high speed trains, require reservations well before the day of travel, also with a rail pass. There are one country hotel/B&B offers, but those are hardly ever cheaper, just more convenient.
    – Willeke
    Commented Jun 20, 2016 at 17:47
  • Unlikely. Even within the same city and the same hotel chain, there are very big price variations depending on exact location. For example in Berlin the Ibis Genshagen cost a about a third of the Ibis Alexanderplatz. One-size-fits-all pricing seems impossible.
    – Hilmar
    Commented Jun 20, 2016 at 18:08

2 Answers 2

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+100

To the best of my knowledge such a pass does not exist for Europe as of now. This does not exclude its existence, but it is highly unlikely. Furthermore I doubt you would be able to make significant savings if there were such a pass, compared to careful price shopping.

Why I don't believe it exists

  • Googling "Hotel Pass Europe" or "Hostel Pass Europe" does not return anything of the like
  • I do follow miles & points blogs fairly closely and have not yet heard any mention of such a pass
  • See also the comment and answer by @CMaster

What can I do to replicate the flexibility of such a pass

  • Many hotel chains as well as booking.com offer rates that can be cancelled without a fee up until the day of arrival. You could book such flexible rates for every possible destination for every possible combination of days that you might spend there, and then cancel or use these reservations along the way. Do be careful though to cancel all of the ones you do not use, as otherwise you will be charged in case of a no-show.
  • Buy hotel vouchers such as this one (no affiliation) and redeem them. Do however check carefully booking rules and make sure you will be able to use them all.
  • Use miles & points programs. Many hotel chains have loyalty programs and offer to book rooms with points instead of cash (e.g. IHG). These can be significantly cheaper in case of events and still flexible rates. You might need to buy those points beforehand.

Honestly, initially I thought such a pass does not exist, as has been pointed out in comments by @ZachLipton

Hotels also use demand-based pricing to a much greater extent than trains. Hotel rates vary significantly depending on the market, the season, events in the hotel or around the city, occupancy levels, and other factors. A hotel chain wouldn't want to lock themselves into a single rate for all of Europe, as it would eliminate their flexibility to, say, charge a vastly increased rate if a major convention is taking up every bed in town.

However I did find such a pass e.g. for New Zealand. I did not on the other hand compare their pricing and I doubt you are making the best deal in terms of hotel quality and pricing compared to researching hotels and prices for every city without restricting yourself to one hotel chain.

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    Thanks for the research. It's not so much about the savings but more the convenience. It would make a tour of Europe easier to organise, especially if there are many stops. Was hoping a chain like Ibis would do this
    – MakkyNZ
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 11:14
  • @MakkyNZ in that case you can always limit your hotel search per city to the chain of your preference. Depending on your destinations only a few are big enough to be present in enough places, besides ibis which you mention, IHG, Accorhotels, ... come to my mind. Interesting question and I did in fact learn stuff when researching this answer.
    – mts
    Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 11:24
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    Was going to put my own answer, but will just add a comment: Have checked Marriot, hilton, Accor, Ibis, Best Western, HostelingInternational, HostelWorld, Generator Hostels, Wombat hostels. No sign of anything like this.
    – CMaster
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 9:41
  • @CMaster I would +1 such an answer if you do decide to write it, otherwise may I incorporate your comment into my answer?
    – mts
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 9:44
  • @mts ended up answering because I came up with some other ideas.
    – CMaster
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 9:49
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European (or even single European country) hotel pass:

I could not find any examples of this existing for Europe (there seem to be some hotel and hostel passes in NZ and Aus). I tried generic serach terms, and also dug around the websites of: Marriot, Hilton, Accor, Ibis, Best Western, HostelingInternational, HostelWorld, Generator Hostels, Wombat hostels. I could see nothing even resembling this there.

Alternatives

While not quite what you want, about the closest that seems to exist are equivilants for camping:

  • Camping Card International provides discounts and other features across europe.
  • Camping card ACSI provides fixed-rate stays in the off season.
  • I think membership of certain camping clubs can provide some amount of inclusive days at member sites as well.
  • I suspect there are others like this.

Other than that your best options seem to be making on-the-day bookings with the likes of LastMinute's "Top Secret" scheme, or LateRooms, or showing up to local tourist information centres (which can be of mixed use). None of these are quite as convenient as what you want.

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