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Wikitravel:Accommodation listings
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[edit] Creating an accommodation listing
For the sake of consistency Wikitravel has created listing tags that can be used to list hotels and other establishments. Accommodation listings should use the <sleep> tag, which makes it easy to ensure that formatting is perfect. The <sleep> tag can be inserted by clicking the "add listing" link within the Sleep section of an article or by clicking on the "Hotels:" link at the bottom of the edit page. Existing hotel listings may be updated by clicking on the "edit" link next to the listing. The format of a <sleep> looks like the following:
* <sleep name="Name of Place" alt="Local script" address="Address" directions="extra directions if necessary" phone="Phone" email="email@example.com" fax="Fax number" checkin="Time" checkout="Time" price="$lowprice-$highprice" url="http://www.hotel.example.com/"> One to three sentences about the service, atmosphere, view, rooms, what have you. </sleep>
The fields used in this tag are:
- name
- The name of the place. Don't include the city name unless it's needed for clarity.
- alt
- If the place has a significantly different name in the local language, add it here. Non-Latin scripts like Japanese, Devanagari, Cyrillic etc can be used.
- address
- Street and number of the place, plus district if applicable. No postcode, and don't repeat the city name. If the city is different (for example, in a suburb), add that, too.
- directions
- Additional directions for how to find the place (if necessary).
- phone
- Direct telephone number of the place. Phone numbers should be in international format with the non-local calling part in italics (like "+1 514 555-1000" or, for areas with 10 digit dialing: "+1 514-555-1000").
- E-mail address of the place.
- fax
- Fax number of the place.
- checkin
- Earliest allowed check-in time. Days should be abbreviated (M Tu W Th F Sa Su), times should be AM and PM.
- checkout
- Latest allowed check-out time.
- price
- The rack rate/standard price of a typical double room in the currency in which payment must be made. If there are substantial differences in room types (e.g. dorms bed and single rooms) list brief room descriptions and their respective costs. Do not give a per person cost when twin share is necessary to obtain that rate, i.e. $20 per person, when a double room costs $40.
- url
- Link to the official website for the hotel or accommodation. Include the http://. If there's no official Web site, just leave that part out.
- description
- One to three sentences about the service, atmosphere, view, rooms, what have you.
All fields above are optional except for "name". If you don't know some information, just leave in the empty field, so somebody else can fill it up later.
[edit] Examples
This listing:
* <sleep name="Hotel Eldorado" alt="" address="Rue des Dames 18" directions="17th, metro: Place de Clichy" phone="+33 1 4522 3521" email="eldoradohotel@wanadoo.fr" fax="+33 1 4387 2597" checkin="" checkout="" price="23/39 Eur. - €49/79. (singles/doubles)" url="http://www.eldoradohotel.fr"> The Eldorado, a former maison de rendez-vous, was once home to the kept women of the 19th century bourgeois. Now a very cute no star hotel, its charm more than makes up for what it lacks in amenities (who needs a TV in Paris anyway?). The staff is super friendly, the decor is garage sale chic, and there’s a lovely courtyard that fills with neighbourhood hipsters on warm evenings. It also has a very good location & you can easily avoid the noise of Pigalle or Montmartre's high prices, but they’re within stumble distance if you decide to explore. For early risers breakfast (€5, until 10 am) is served in the attached restaurant/bar. Some English spoken, especially for those who pet the cat sprawled across the reception desk. </sleep>
...shows up like this:
- Hotel Eldorado, Rue des Dames 18 (17th, metro: Place de Clichy), ☎ ''+33'' 1 4522 3521 (eldoradohotel@wanadoo.fr, fax: ''+33'' 1 4387 2597), [1]. The Eldorado, a former maison de rendez-vous, was once home to the kept women of the 19th century bourgeois. Now a very cute no star hotel, its charm more than makes up for what it lacks in amenities (who needs a TV in Paris anyway?). The staff is super friendly, the decor is garage sale chic, and there’s a lovely courtyard that fills with neighbourhood hipsters on warm evenings. It also has a very good location & you can easily avoid the noise of Pigalle or Montmartre's high prices, but they’re within stumble distance if you decide to explore. For early risers breakfast (€5, until 10 am) is served in the attached restaurant/bar. Some English spoken, especially for those who pet the cat sprawled across the reception desk. 23/39 Eur. - €49/79. (singles/doubles). edit
This listing:
* <sleep name="Yinbo Hotel" alt="金波大酒店" address="135 Tiantong Road"
directions="across the bridge on the north side of the Bund"
phone="+86 21-63566288" email="" fax="+86 21-63257555" checkin="" checkout=""
price="¥338" url="">
Typical nondescript mid-range hotel.
</sleep>
...shows up like this:
- Yinbo Hotel (金波大酒店), 135 Tiantong Road (across the bridge on the north side of the Bund), ☎ +86 21-63566288 (fax: +86 21-63257555). Typical nondescript mid-range hotel. ¥338. edit
[edit] Apartment listings
Only accommodation used by travelers should be listed. That is apartments must be available for rentals of one week or less and must be in a location where travellers frequently rent cabins or apartments.
When a rental property is available to rent directly from the owner, it is preferred that the owner and property details should be given in any listing. In general we aim to put travellers in direct contact with the business they will be patronising.
Where a property has an agency that is an exclusive letting agent for the property it may be listed if appropriate for the destination. An exclusive letting agent would normally be expected to have a 'real world' office with a phone number and a physical address at the destination for picking up the keys, managing the property and/or resolving rental issues. This information must be listed in Wikitravel and on the agency website. We do not list websites and consolidators that merely allow owners to list or advertise their properties and which do not have any local presence.
The general guidelines for accommodation listings apply to apartments as well, that is long lists should be avoided, and information should be concise and relevant to the traveller.
[edit] Avoid listing nearest attractions
Accommodation owners frequently give detailed list of attractions that their property is close to. We don't welcome it here at Wikitravel:
- it is difficult to judge which hotel is more convenient to a particular attraction,
- it overloads listing text with details irrelevant for many travelers
Instead of writing a long flowery description of the many attractions near the property, contribute detailed lat-long coordinates of the property (see Wikitravel:Geocoding)--it will be much more helpful for a traveler choosing a place to stay.
[edit] Avoid using images
Images of accommodation, including hotels and their bedrooms, are generally not used. The only exceptions are if the hotel is a well-known attraction in its own right, or if the type of accommodation is unusual and unique to the region. In the second case, identifying the lodgings where the picture was taken by name is not necessary.
[edit] Compilation from external sources
If the Sleep section of a destination articles is unfilled even after the other sections are complete, you might consider compiling material from external sources.
The name and contact details should be obtained from the official web site.
The description can be derived from an impression of the reviews that you have read, together with some facts from the official page, but you should not copy somebody else's words into Wikitravel. Avoid listing establishments where the reviews are overly negative.
Here's an idea of what a listing compiled from reviews might look like:
- Hotel del Sol, 44 Ramblas del sol, 55 555 55 55. This hotel rates well with young couples, who like the heated lagoon pool, and basement bar open late. Water pressure is low in the shared showers. The rooms facing the sea are said to have wonderful views, but avoid #29 which is behind the neighboring building's television aerial. 30-50€.
Note that the origin of the ideas in the listing are clearly from reviews, but that the words are not. The detail about the TV antenna could be a close call, but only if the words are copied. The presence of the antenna, and its marring of the view from a particular room, would be facts which are free from copyright.
[edit] Avoid long lists
| This guide uses the following price ranges for a standard double room: | |
| Budget | Under 50 zorkmids |
| Mid-range | 50-100 zorkmids |
| Splurge | Over 100 zorkmids |
Wikitravel is a travel guide, not the yellow pages. A long undifferentiated list of hotels is only marginally useful to the traveler. A general rule of thumb is that lists should contain 5-9 items, and when they exceed that length it is time to consider breaking them up or pruning them.
[edit] Breaking up lists
- Use districts: Large cities are broken up into districts and accommodation listings go in district articles or district subsections. Listings in a main article of a huge city should be avoided.
- Use price ranges: Accommodation lists should use the sub-headings "Budget", "Mid-range" and "Splurge", with the rough price brackets indicated with the {{sleeppricerange|Budget range|Mid-range|Splurge range}} template.
- Create other suitable subdivisions: Further subdivisions within district and price categories can be invented as you go along, whatever suits the location:
- by neighborhood, which can be more fine-grained than districts.
- by location — "around the train station", "on the beach", et cetera.
- by season — a few hotels for when it is not busy and a list of fallbacks for peak times.
- by style — Western vs traditional or party animal vs meditation student.
- These are just examples; invent your own as needed.
[edit] Pruning accommodation lists
Once these strategies have been taken, it may be time to start pruning the list.
- Try to ensure there are a range of accommodation styles, prices and locations for the traveller to choose from.
- Consider removing unreliable listings. Ones that contain effusive, meaningless or touting language.
- Consider removing listings that are unhelpful to the traveller; that omit price or location information, have a poor quality description or no description at all.
[edit] Listing order
Alphabetical order should be the norm within each section. If another standard is used, it should be clearly stated so any new listing can be added to the appropriate place. Leading articles, such as "The", or "A", in the accommodation name should be ignored for the purposes of determining the order.
