UNLESS you like pitching tents or fancy falling asleep on park benches, you?ll know that hotels are as much a part of traveling as your plane ticket.

Choosing the right hotel can make or break your travel experience, leaving you with wonderful memories of great room service and bubble baths, or horror stories about thin walls, grumpy housekeepers, or bugs in the bathroom (eeewww!).

That?s why often, if you can afford it, choosing a good hotel is travel money well spent, and even the best establishments are offering great discounts because of competition.

In preparation for travel season, whether you?re headed to a resort paradise or a cosmopolitan city, SIM asked some leading local hotels for tips on how to make the most of your stay.

1. Best rates and good bookings: The Internet has made booking a hotel anywhere in the world a breeze nowadays. Shangri-La?s Mactan Resort and Spa Cebu has even launched a multilingual mobile website that allows guests to book from their mobile phones, ?so they can reserve, modify, or cancel a booking with real-time availability,? says the hotel?s Director of Communications, Mildred Amon. A phone call will do if you?re in the neighborhood, however. In fact, locals take note, it can even work out better for you.

?For local residents, the best way to get the best rates is to call,? says Mandarin Oriental Manila?s Public Relations Manager Erika Aquino, ?And the best time to call or e-mail is around 2 p.m. or 8 a.m. ? we experience the least traffic during this time. The best stay for a local resident is on weekends, from Friday till Sunday.?

Don?t be embarrassed to ask about lower rates, PRs advise. ?If you have a limited budget, just tell the hotel reservations officers, and they may be able to find you a room,? says Jopy Lopez, Director of Sales and Marketing of Traders Hotel. Find the ?Best Available Rate? link on any hotel?s website booking page. Expect better rates during lean months like June and July instead of the high season like Christmas and New Year, Lopez says.

2. Freebies and entitlements: So what are guests entitled to other than their hotel room that they don?t get to take advantage of? Believe it or not, it?s the gym. Guests at Traders Hotel have use of the health club, jacuzzi, and sauna, but hardly make it there, says Lopez, probably because guests don?t usually associate holidays with exercise.

If you?re a business traveler, there?s a different slew of benefits. The hotel?s exclusive Mandarin Oriental Club includes a concierge, free boardroom use, free Internet, and free pressing of suits. Be sure to ask as well what you?re entitled to when traveling with children. At Shangri-La?s Mactan Resort and Spa, buffet meals for children below 12 are free when they?re dining with parents. As most resort hotels also pile on the outdoor activities, sailing lessons, snorkelling tours, tennis lessons, a taste of scuba, garden and bird watching tours, outdoor morning runs, and other distractions come free of charge at Shangri-La.

?We come up with different room packages for specific periods such as Christmas, Easter, and Halloween for a limited time,? says Monique Toda, Director of Communications of New World Hotel. ?I recommend that you check out these room promotions as they offer the best value for money and include additional services, amenities, discounts from partner establishments, and many more.?

?It would help to book a room package that?s centered on the holidays,? seconds Aquino. ?The room packages during that time may have additional privileges, so it?s best to ask ? and keep asking every once in a while.?

3. To tip or not to tip? This is a common question, as some hotel guests believe that tipping will get them better service.

?A tip is a monetary incentive which a hotel front-liner receives for good service rendered,? explains Traders Hotel?s Lopez. ?To say whether the amount is ?good? or not is relative. Generally, tipping remains a kind gesture that is well appreciated. As in any incentive, tips are among many factors that motivate staff to continue delivery of excellent service.? The hotel itself offers such incentives to employees when they get commendations from guests, Lopez says.

Generally, however, hotel PRs assure that in better establishments, you shouldn?t really be made to feel the pressure. ?Our job is to provide the best service to all our guests, so there is no need to get on our good side,? says New World?s Toda. ?It?s really more of us trying to get on the good side of the guest. A good tip to the staff means that they have done a good job, though, so it?s doubly appreciated.?

?All guests are treated equally, regardless of whether they tip or not,? insists Amon of Shangri-La Mactan. In fact, more important than a monetary incentive, they say, is how a guest treats the staff. ?It?s a universal principle,? says Lopez. ?Being a good guest simply means being a good person, and not treating staffers like your personal maids or drivers.?

?Respect begets respect,? agrees Mandarin Oriental?s Aquino. ?Just treat everyone nicely, and we?ll treat you like a king or queen.?

The true worth of a hotel, however, may be the extent to which it will go when accommodating special requests. Going the extra mile for guests on a beachside vacation is all in a day?s work at Shangri-La, says Amon. ?Some interesting and special arrangements we have made for our guests include special menus for caregivers and babysitters. We once helped a guest make his wedding proposal more memorable by laying out 100 candles on the walkway leading to their dinner venue.?

Mandarin makes reservations if their guests want to play in off-site tennis courts ? and remains discreet and efficient when special room service requests are made for wives and girlfriends, reveals Aquino.

?We do have a dedicated staff at Traders who monitors all information about a guest?s detailed, individual preferences, and ensures this is implemented each time the guest is staying with us,? says Lopez.

The bottom line, really, is finding a hotel that will truly make you feel at home ? with benefits. ?In this day and age of cookie-cutter efficient service, personalized service is what will make a hotel stand out,? advises Toda. ?So at New World, we take note of every guest?s preference, from the way they like their coffee to the cookies that come with it. More important is that we get to know them and talk to them so that we may anticipate, prepare, and even surprise them during their stay.?

Now, wouldn?t that be worth the trip? ?

Mandarin Oriental Manila, tel. no. 750-8888, www.mandarinoriental.com, momnl-reservations@ mohg.com; Traders Hotel, tel. no. 523-7011, www.shangrila.com (click on Traders Hotel); Shangri-La?s Mactan Resort and Spa, Cebu, tel. no. (32) 231-8276 to 79, www.shangri-la.com; and New World Hotel, tel. no. 811-6888, www.newworldhotels.com.