Accommodation Reservation

A common requirement for almost every visa application is an Accommodation Reservation or some sort of Proof of Accommodation during your intended stay. The purpose of this information is for the embassy to ensure that you will have a place to stay during your time in the country and to ensure that you do not overstay your visa duration. To accomplish this, embassies will ask to see one of the following items;

an actual Hotel Booking or Reservation form directly from the Hotel or Travel Agency
an invitation from a Host within the country with a copy of their passport and proof of sponsorship, as well as financial documents, or
a reservation or proof of a pre-paid tour made via a tour operator or travel agency.

Hotel Reservation Requirements

The Hotel Reservation or Booking document that is provided to the embassy must contain some key pieces of information so the visa officer can ensure that the information aligns with the other visa application documents that have been provided. Those items include the following:

The full name of the individual booking the Hotel clearly visible on the document and it must match the name as presented on the visa application forms.
The dates of stay at the Hotel and a summarized number of days that booking will cover.
The full address of the Hotel as well as contact details for the Hotel such as phone number or email address.
The price breakdown of the reservation with the currency it is in.
The reservation or booking number of the Hotel or Travel Agency.
Any other details of the Hotel or accommodation that further prove the accommodation is legitimate.

Depending on your mode of travel to arrive at the country, this document is usually accompanied by a Flight Reservation, which is typically referred to as a Travel Itinerary in most situations.

Purpose of a Hotel Reservation

As mentioned earlier, embassies look at this information as part of the overall visa application documentation. At this stage of a visa application they are not interested in seeing the actual Hotel receipt that shows you paid for the reservation yet, in fact, embassies will discourage the full payment of a Hotel Reservation or Flight Reservation before your visa has been approved. The reason is that there is still a chance your visa could be rejected or delayed and do not want people to lose money for this reason, though a simple reservation hold that shows your authentic plans during your stay is needed so the can confirm the following:

Ensure you will not be overstaying on your visa and that your accommodation plans properly align with the amount of time that you are allowed to stay within the country and correspond with your Flight Reservation.
It helps in determining the total visa duration that you will require for the trip. Sometimes people will select a visa that does not properly cover their trip based on their intended duration, visa officers can help guide you to the proper visa that is better suited for you in this situation.
This information will help in ensuring that you are applying at the correct visa consulate, especially in cases where multiple countries are involved. Sometimes, the countries may have agreements with one another to cover travelers that move between them and in other circumstances they do not and the visa officers will help in identifying when additional visas may be required.

Best Way to Get a Hotel Reservation

Below are a few methods to acquire a proper Hotel Reservation document that can be used for a visa application.

Contact your preferred travel agent and have them provide you a reservation for your Hotel booking and Flight booking based on your trip criteria. Some travel agencies will require a deposit for the trip and a surcharge fee in some instances for the reservation documentation that you can use for a visa application. In some circumstances they may require full payment to properly reserve your trip. We do not recommend ever paying for your entire trip prior to getting through the visa application process and securing your visa for your trip first.
Utilize and online booking site that provides a free cancellation service. There are many sites to choose from and some of the accommodations that can be found do offer a time limit before they can be canceled at no charge. There are a few things to be careful of if you plan on using this method. Unless you are also paying to book your Flight Reservation through the same site, you'll need to be careful that the information and name match the rest of your visa application documentation. The format of the itinerary may not be well suited for a visa application and you may have to rely on a screenshot, this can sometimes cause problems if you're missing important information. Also, you will need to remember to cancel your reservation before you are charged and possibly lose your money if that is not the accommodation you want to stay at. If this is your desired option we would recommend booking.com as a good online service that offers many different hotel options.
Utilize an online service that specializes in visa Hotel and Flight Reservations to provide you the necessary documentation you need for your visa application. You'll likely find many options on the internet for this all with varying degrees of assurances and customer testimonials. In our experience, these sites are all very similar when it comes to a Hotel Reservation document for a visa application, however, the price and service can fluctuate quite a bit. Since these services are designed for the one task of providing a travel itinerary for a visa application we recommend this as your simplest and fastest option. Of the multiple services available on the internet we've found that getitinerary.com is the best value and fastest at providing the necessary flight and hotel itineraries for a visa application. They also provide integration with their travel agency division so your itineraries can be verified online or converted into actual tickets if you so choose.