Depending on your destination, there may be a wide variety of lodging available to you. In resort areas and in Europe, you can swap houses or just rent a house, villa or apartment, saving money and allowing you to live more like a native wherever you may be. Throughout the world, and in North America as well, you will find hotels, motels, resorts, guest houses, pensions, apartments, houses, castles, villas and youth hostels available. It's hard to know what to recommend, except to say your choices are thousand fold, ranging from inner-city business-type hotels or family-owned guesthouses through suburban motels to remote resorts and fishing camps.
Although it is nice to stay in strictly locally owned accommodations, there is something to be said for chains. They frequently have tie-ins with airline frequent flier programs, they are better at taking responsibility when something goes wrong (most of them can be sued in American courts if you have to resort to that technique), and they have special reduced rates, often, and sometimes throughout the chain.
In most countries, you will find a government rating system, usually based on zero to five stars. While those at either end of the scale are fairly obvious, sometimes hotels in the middle ranges are not. Sometimes for reasons bureaucratic, or tax-connected, a three-star hotel may be better than a four-star one, and so on. Generally speaking, however, the higher the number of stars, the more you will pay for your room, of course.
