I would add something (disclaimer I am involved in the management of a small hotel, this comes from my experience): 1) you will talk to a human 2) you will be

I would add something (disclaimer I am involved in the management of a small hotel, this comes from my experience): 1) you will talk to a human 2) you will be able to talk about particular requests (like - say - higher or lower floor, an additional bed for your child, room with balcony, non standard breakfast, etc.) 3) the dates/times of your arrival and departure will be double checked interactively with the hotel clerk [0] 4) the rate will be double checked and confirmed [1] (besides very likely being lower, particularly if you are going to stay mmore than one or two days) [0] it is not extremely rare that people make mistakes with the dates, when/if you arrive one day earlier it is usually not a problem (unless the hotel has no vacancies) but if you arrive one day later, that is a "no show", your money cannot be recovered [1] it happens often enough that people books a double room ( but for one person) by mistake and then is surprised that the hotel asks for a supplement for the second person