How to spend a night in an unknown city without a hotel? Is there a guide or resource online?

By strange coincedence, I just (re)watched Murder, She Wrote season 2 episode 21. It opens as Jessica (a 61 year old woman) is turned away at a New Orleans hotel — due to a mix-up her reservations start the following night. Thanks to Mardi Gras, there are no rooms anywhere in the city.

She takes a cab to the address of a distant relative that she plans on looking up on that trip, with the intention of begging a place to crash for one night.

But there is a costume party going on, and she ends up spending hours looking for her cousin. When someone discovers a dead body, more adventures ensue. And it left me wondering, where did she ever find a place to sleep? I think the answer was that she never did, but rather spent the entire night and next morning having an adventure.

So… you said the airport was small. But was the nearby city a place where tney roll up the streets after dark, or is it full of nightlife? It may depend on the day, too: as with the example of New Orleans, I was in Cosumel during “festival” (actually, Fat Tuesday, Valentines Day, and Chinese New Year were all in the same week that year) and there were parades and party all night, even though that’s nominally a small town. I mention it because there may be a corelation between the lack of any nearby accomidation and the availability of nightlife.

If a hotel can’t accommodate you, you can still check with their concierge to learn what’s going on. Even if it’s not an event famous for being nightlife (like a college football game or graduation) there may well be some associated with the gathering.

This is a guess, and I’m not a woman. But if you are a woman and you are in this situation, maybe you should phone the local rape crisis hotline, and explain your situation. I’m sure that the people at the other end would understand that although you are not yet a victim, you are certainly at risk, and would at least find you a chair in a safe place for the night. Do offer to make a donation. These places need all the support they can get.

Of course it might open your eyes to things of which you’d prefer to have remained comfortably ignorant. Better second-hand experience, than first-hand.

In many cities you can buy a ticket on a public transit line that runs all night, and relax a bit on the bus or train while doing a bit of sightseeing. (Note, though, that you may find yourself in the company of homeless people who use this method to get out of inclement weather cheaply.)

This doesn’t get you a place to sleep, but does get you off your feet.

the google filter “now open” is an excellent tool. If you are close to a truck stop on Interstate or otherwise, they are always open 24/7 and I would be surprised if they don’t have rooms. Even if they don’t have rooms, they have a place to eat and bathing facilities. If the airlines sometimes drop the ball here, the trucking industry has figured this whole thing out. Cross country drivers are required by law to rest. If you explain your situation to some truckers, they may let you rest in their air conditioned cab, usually for some compensation.

If you are at an airport and the lobby is closed or inconvenient, see if they have have a general aviation facility. Alot of times the general aviation area will have a pilot’s lounge open 24/7 where you can relax in style in leather couches, hd tvs, coffee, snacks, etc. The pilot lounge is usually run by Signature Aviation. Just tell them you are a recreational pilot and member of AOPA. If you are not a pilot, tell them you are aspiring to become one.
Late at night there usually is just one or two employees there and if you tip them right they will look the other way if you are not a pilot.

It worked for me in Fort Lauderdale in the middle of spring break. We had drove down there to catch a cruise out of Miami the next morning. If Signature Aviation at Fort Lauderdale airport did not let my family (4 people) stay in the pilot lounge that night, we would have had to sleep in our Toyota Prius. There was no rooms to be had even if you were willing to sleep with c**k roaches.

Make friends

You have to act quick, because people move fast. The chances are high that someone else has had their plans ruined by the delay. Look around for other people that are scrambling. How are they solving the problem? Maybe they have a good thing and can share, maybe you can work together.

You might still be spending the night on a bench, but doing it with someone else will be far more enjoyable. This has the added bonus of your companion being just another stranded traveler with places to go, rather than some random person who is out.

Appy Stuff

As an app, you can try Couch Surfing. There is a good community out there, and unlike a hotel or airbnb, you’re going to be instantly connected to an actual person. He/She may be more than willing to help someone who just got stranded. There’s no charge at this time, but do provide conversation and smiles.

Ok, this is one of the more serious situations which a traveller can meet. It depends where you are and how big the city is. I describe the situations which you can have with growing despair.

• In big cities it is normally always possible to stay at the airport or the train station (there are always people/information desks which you can ask). There are some situations which can give you some trouble:
  • The city has a convention/meeting/event and the hotels are overbooked.
  • For whatever reason you are in a city part which is completely empty at night (factories, offices). Such parts can be very intimidating if the area is deserted.

The first places to go are the places which are by default open 24 hours or at night:

• Police station
• Firefighters
• Hospitals and ambulances
• Amusement halls

Another option are religious places like church, synagogue, mosque etc which you can ask (do not expect too much friendliness, but at least they are obliged to have a bad conscience if they reject you).

As some commenters pointed out, it is culture dependent if you can expect that police stations or religious places are manned at night. For outbooked city parts the very last option to have a night in a room is normally the red-light district which is conveniently open at night.

Let’s say you are in a deserted part of the town. Search for light and noise and head towards it, move silently and are attentive (listening, seeing) while you are on your way. If the street has different lighting (bright, dark, bright) close one of your eyes in the bright part to retain night vision. Women: If you have high heels, break them immediately off, they are way too conspicous and prevent both listening and running. Go against the traffic flow to see immediately if some car is coming and how it reacts to your presence. If he/she stops and offers help, decide if you have a good or bad vibe immediately and either accept or decline.

If you cannot get a room, try to find other people with the same problem (again, let your immediate impression decide) and search together for a place. This will be parks, open places etc. where other people with the same problem occur. If you are at least two, one is awake and watches to avoid being ripped off.

If you are stranded in a small city where everybody knows everybody, it can be that there is no police and ambulance buildings. In this case act diametrically to the description of the deserted part: Prefer walking in the bright light and step quite noisily to announce your presence. Talk to people if you meet them and explain the situation. If nobody is outside, have a look at the buildings. Look out for well-groomed houses with many adjacent neighbors and bright colors, trees and happy figurines (frogs, small children), something like that. If you enter the area, make yourself as noticeable as possible (knock at the garden gate and shout if anyone is home). Simply ask for help and offer that you sleep in the garden/shed whatever. The person will likely either offer you a place to sleep or with almost near certainty know someone who could offer you something for the night.

If you are really at the end of the world (There are in fact airports outside all cities, hello, RyanAir) and you cannot find even a shed, then sleep in the woods (naturally only if there are no bears or worse things). Try to get old newspapers/tinfoil (which are quite effective insulators!) and try to find a sleeping place. Woods have a higher temperature, give you some protection against wind and rain and are dew-free.

Airbnb by app or airbnb.com
homeaway by app or homeaway.com

I use them all the time for my travels. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I had stayed in a hotel.

If money is not too much of an concern, you can take whatever transportation suits you to a large fairly posh hotel and throw yourselves at the mercy of the concierge. They can probably find something for you. Tip them appropriately. This worked for me once when I arrived rather late in a huge city, hotels were known to be in short supply, and the airport was entirely closed for construction or something and it was raining- and my language skills were extremely limited. There was just a taxi queue- and buses going goodness knows where.

Cab drivers can help too, but that’s considerably riskier for several reasons. A friend tried asking a cab driver for a place, and being a bit of a cheapskate as well as worried about being ripped off with a commission, insisted it had to be very economical. He did discover what kind of grim establishment a pennurious Central American cab driver considered to be very affordable.

For situations closer to home, modern technology gives us apps like “Hotel Tonight” (I have never used it to book, but it seems like a good idea and it does come up with suggestions that look okay to me) and you can work out transit on your smartphone or summon some dude in an Uber to take you there even if it’s a fair distance away. Of course that depends on you having working cellular data or at least a Wifi connection at your destination.

One thing to avoid is things like AirBnb- they are not well set up for same day rentals, as I found when my host cancelled. If accommodation is tight, the hosts that are left also tend to be the most flaky ones who don’t respond etc.

There is certainly no guide to cover it all.

First, if the airline is at fault, they normally provide accommodation and meal. This has happened to me several times over the years. You must insist to get your vouchers as soon as possible though. The last time something like that happened the airline told me I would get my vouchers on arrival from the customer service desk. Only the plane arrived so late, it was closed. I had to pay transport cost on my own to another airport nearby and there they had someone who (after several) hours gave vouchers for me and my family.

Second, I would go to Sleeping In Airports. Yes, I know, you said sleeping at that airport is not an option but this site covers other options around the airport, including hotels and lounges.

Third, I would try both Expedia and Booking.com. Expedia allows you to check if there is a hotel or not within your price range and sort by distance to the airport. Booking adds many other options that are not hotels. In places where I cannot afford the results from Expedia, I usually find something reasonable on Booking.com, often a third or quarter of the minimum price on Expedia. Those places may not be up to par with expectations of a hotel but it’s better than nothing.

The rest really depends on the city. In some places, if you have a sleeping bag, you can manage to sleep in a park or even on a beach. In others, they may find your body later! In Asia, some temples have sleeping areas. Sleeping in a camper or car is another option. It sounds silly to rent it just for sleeping but you can have a sleeper and cars for much less than a hotel. The last time I rented a sleeper it cost 65 Euros and the last time a car cost me $23 USD, so it’s something to consider! However, before renting, you need to check if sleeping in a car is allowed near where you are. You may have to drive to a rest area but not always easy to figure out, considering different laws around the world.

Google Maps has an “open now” filter. That allows you to find bars, cafes, restaurants etc. that are available right now. Combine with “nearby” and whatever is currently available to you will pop up.

If that doesn’t yield anything try transportation hubs (train stations, bus stations). If that’s closed too and you don’t feel safe or weather is nasty, you can use emergency services. Ask for advice at a police station. You can probably finagle a wait at the emergency room of the hospital. There are always people waiting for something.

In post-Soviet countries you will probably walk to local rail station and rest in its waiting area. It’s usually open 24/7. You might be required to show a proof of onward travel from this station.

Granted, there might be some slightly undesirable people there (actual homeless and drunkards), but come to think of that, aren’t you a bit undesirable yourself, stranded without a bed?

UPD: There’s usually a luggage locker service at rail stations where you can leave your luggage and go walking free without having to carry it with you.

Another cool option is a cafe that doesn’t close at night. Order tea and biscuits, plug your phone, rest on cushions. You can even make it a cafe crawl, visiting a few places over the course of night.