At first glance, it seems pretty simple and easy to pick out a hotel that fits your budget. You find the most affordable offer and book that. It couldn’t be more straightforward, right? Except sometimes getting the cheapest option available might result in paying more than you would have had you picked a more expensive option. How did that happen, and is it at all possible to avoid it?

Believe it or not, booking the right hotel is a bit of an art rather than an exact science. It is why our experts at Fair Point GmbH have specialised in optimising booking expenses to present our clients with the most affordable offers, but even then, we can only take care of the hotel costs. Even with putting the charges associated with the trade fair (like stand building, exhibition space and shipping for materials) aside, there are still the expenses of transit in the expo city and moving from the airport to the hotel and the exhibit. If money is not a problem, you could easily keep taking cabs or rent a car, but if you're on a tight budget, that's not necessarily the best option. And while there's no universal way to tell what the best transit options will be for your situation, let's take a moment to discuss how you can determine what would work best for you.

Secure Your Airport Shuttle

Many first-time expo visitors or travellers fail to recognise that they need to plan ahead for their transportation from the airport. Depending on where your hotel is, the shuttle or taxi services can get expensive. Some bigger cities, like London, offer affordable public transport from every airport to various underground stations around it. However, that presents its own issues, given that typically you won’t be attending a trade fair alone, especially, if you’re exhibiting. So that’s where you need to do some research and determine if paying £22 per person would be cheaper or more expensive than booking a £60 shuttle that can fit everyone.

If public transport isn’t an option for you, you need to rely either on a taxi or an airport shuttle. The first isn’t the recommended option for a variety of reasons – it’s more expensive, and a single car might not fit everyone on your team. Not to mention taxi drivers often scam foreigners by taking longer routes, which you probably don’t want to deal with after a tiring flight even if money is no issue. Shuttles are more affordable, you pre-pay (meaning the driver is incentivised to get you to your hotel as fast as possible), and the size of your group is taken into account. If your hotel offers transportation services, then you basically hit the jackpot, as many of them are free or cost far less than the average rate.

If you intended to rent a car to get from the hotel to the expo and back, it might be a good idea to get it right at the airport. Of course, that comes with its expenses which we’ll touch on in a bit. Suffice to say, most people aren’t too keen on driving for hours after a long flight, so it might be worth spending a bit extra just for comfort.

Consider Transit Options to the Expo Center

The most affordable hotels are often located pretty far from the trade show – sometimes even in an entirely different city. For a purely hypothetical situation, imagine that you need to choose between a hotel an hour away from the show that will cost you €200 a night or another hotel that’s €250, but it’s about 20 minutes on foot from the hotel. Which one should you pick? Your obvious choice would be the first option as you’re saving €50 per night – and that’s a very substantial sum, right? But it might not necessarily be the best one, especially if you’re only booking one or two rooms. Sometimes, the money you’ll save from transit costs is more than whatever extra you’d spend on a hotel. After all, taxies are expensive, and public transport is extremely time-consuming. Think of all the deals and connections you could be making at the expo instead of riding a bus.

Generally speaking, a rental car is the best way to reach the expo, as the extra costs compared to public transport are worth the time and energy you’d be saving. However, even that has a hidden caveat in the form of parking fees, which can be extremely expensive in certain cities. So once again, booking a slightly more expensive hotel, but one that has free parking will allow you to save money in the long run while also reducing the anxiety of whether your car would be towed if you forget to pay within a certain timeframe. Different countries have different laws on when a car is considered abandoned, and you’d definitely want to focus on making deals instead of worrying about your vehicle. Long story short – try to pick a hotel that’s as close to the expo as possible, and if that’s not possible, aim for ones that offer free parking or a quick enough public transport route. Don’t worry – if you decide to book a hotel with us we’ll tell you all about these!

Ultimately, the key to saving money on expo travel is the same as saving on pretty much everything else – be informed. We, at Fair Point GmbH, try to give you as much insight as possible, catering to both your travel and accommodation needs. But even if you book by yourself, you’ll most likely settle down on a couple of options. Take into account what we outlined above, and you will certainly be able to make a decision that works best for your particular requirements!