Hotels and booking.com

I generally travel without booking hotels in advance with a few exceptions.  I just like to wander and make up my mind what to do as I travel.  I always rent a car when travelling on my own (not in a tour group), so I don't have to worry about arriving in a town at a late hour and then trying to find something.  

Sometimes, I just drive to the centre of town or city, park in the square or as near as possible, then walk over to the nearest likely looking hotel and if it's under 100 Euros I take it.   Pros --- often find a very good hotel at a lower price.

Sometimes I check Lonely Planet for ideas and then have a place to look for in my price range.

Most often, I use booking.com and book something the day before or morning of.   I have my computer with me and WIFI is easy to find.  I specify my date, and that I need parking and WIFI, and my price range (under 100 euros), and hotel under type of property.   I don't like apartments or hostels.  I sort the resulting list by review rating and then by distance from the centre, check out a few likely ones under Facilities for Parking and WIFI.  Then read the first 20 or so reviewer comments to make sure there are no warning signs.

In Western Europe, high 7 and up are good.  In Central Europe (Balkans), local tourists rate everything very high, so I check specific comments and nationality of the reviewer and go for high 8's and 9+.  

I don't get too stressed about the price or amenities as a few euros won't bankrupt me and you absolutely cannot tell everything from reviews, price, pictures, or descriptions.   

Ideally I like an attractive room, big windows or balcony, view, good mattress and bedding, especially pillows, good lighting (not too dark to read or find something in my suitcase), BBC or CNN in English on the TV, handy plugs for charging computer, phone, beside the bed within  having to move lamps, and no smoking in or around the hotel, and friendly staff who like talking to guests.  But I am okay if the room is clean, has windows that open (not small high up attic windows), AC, very good WIFI in the room, parking on site or close by, and is within walking distance of restaurants, cafes, and museums. 

Smoking in or around the hotel is often a problem, a restaurant in the hotel is good and necessary if the hotel is not walking distance from restaurants, and friendly helpful staff (nice to chat with staff about the country, the town, etc.)

Ideally, the bathroom has nice towels, hot water, a shower that does not flood the bathroom, hair dryer, good lighting, a mirror that is not too far away or high for me to see my face, a shelf  to put my toiletries by the sink and in the shower, and a nice bar of soap and/or bath gel.

Things that many hotels, even the more luxurious, commonly get wrong:
- hard pillows
- no place to put toiletry products next to sink 
- no shelf in the shower for soap, shampoo, gels, conditioners
- no place to hang towels
- bad lighting in the bathroom and bedroom
- carpet on the floor
- the full length mirror located where you cannot stand more than 2 feet away from it
- bathroom mirror too high to see my face in or put make up on (I am average height for a woman)
- only one plug beside the bed (can't plug in computer and a lamp at the same time)
- no English news channel on TV
- no fruit or overripe or dried out fruit at breakfast, poor quality coffee and bread, those artificial tasting scrambled eggs, packaged processed butter, spreads, and yogurts, juices that are merely fruit flavoured mixes
- no place to hang laundry to dry
- loose toilet seat
- closet hangers so high that even on tip toes I can barely reach
- those small foot pedal garbage cans are a pain to use.