It is easy to just arrive in any city in Thailand, including Bangkok, baring a holiday, and book a hotel room. Especially if you are on a budget, travelling with children, and care about getting the most bang for your buck. In fact if this is the case, this approach is strongly recommended.
LONELY PLANET, a great guide
The first two times we did the journey to Thailand, Lonely Planet was our go to guide for everything. I feel that this travel guide is by far the best one to have and worth its weight. There is a major gripe against Lonely Planet which I heard voiced many times and agree with. Lonely Planet paints a pretty picture of most locations, which isn't always true. Maybe they do this because they write for a large and varied audience, and maybe some peoples pleasure is another 's poison. The needs for a family of 4 our quite different than those of a partier. If you can find a blog from someone who seems to share your expectations, this can prove invaluable. There is also something to say for having a physical copy of the lonely planet as opposed to the PDF version. Call me old school, but it is much easier to flip between the maps and informational pages than it is to flip through screens. Also it wasn't so fun to pull out the tablet in crowded places. For this trip we used a PDF version to read about places to go, but did not rely at all on Lonely Planet for hotel or restaurant recommendations, and actually did better than previous journeys.
DO NOT TRUST THIRD PARTY WEBSITES FOR ACCURATE QUOTES FOR MORE THAN 1 CHILD!
For hotels we employed a time consuming but somewhat effective strategy. The first step was to enter Agoda.com and put your parameters. For us it was city, location, price, dates, amount of people. From here we would see our selection on the satellite map and see how close it was to where we wanted to be. This would also show us other options which we clicked through and read the reviews from like minded visitors. From here I would enter sawadee.com and find the hotel. The nice thing about this site is that it offers you the option to contact the hotels. I would do this to ask their rate for 2 adults and 2 children. 9 out of 10 times they would quote a rate much higher than appeared on the website for the 4 of us. We have heard many horror stories of families arriving to their hotel with reservation in hand and deposit made only to be denied that rate or a refund.
IF TRAVELLING WITH MORE THAN 1 CHILD ON A BUDGET, ONLY BOOK YOUR FIRST 2 NIGHTS OF HOTELS ONLINE.
Although we had some success employing this online method, we had much more success arriving to our location and doing some footwork. Ask their price and mention the children, and if you are okay sharing beds and or a room. It is obviously more stressful this way, but if you are not travelling in high season, you will get a much better deal. Also never trust the pictures on the websites, read the reviews, or even better see for yourself first.
For your first nights in a new country, I do recommend biting the bullet and securing a room if you are with children. It is nice to have one less worry and a place to crash and survey your surroundings. If piece of mind is worth more than the risk of being over charged than by all means book in advance, but make sure you are specific in your needs when travelling with children, and get a price quote directly from the hotel. If you find yourself in Bangkok on a budget, with children and without a hotel, your best bet is to head to Kao San rd. where accommodation is plentiful.
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