Travel Accommodation: Choosing a Hotel or Motel
There are a number of considerations in selecting accommodations that can
make the difference between an enjoyable stay and a major headache, whether
your trip to Barrie is for business or pleasure. You can select a hotel
based on its name, features,
price range, or its location.
By Name
Most of the major hotel chains have properties in the Barrie-Muskoka marketplace.
If you are familiar with and happy with a chain, or just want its frequent flyer
miles, then you will like their hotel in Barrie.
Some chains focus on business travellers, in the upper-middle
price range. In Barrie you'll find: Best Western, Holiday Inn, and
several other chains. Some chains target families and budget
conscious business travellers. These chains are: Howard Johnson, Travelodge, and Comfort Inn.
The Barrie area has several fine hotels and motels that do not belong to a chain for example, Georgian Summer Suites, Horseshoe Resort.
By Features
A traveller may need to rely on a specific features in a hotel. It may be a hotel-wide capability like airport shuttle or business centre, it may be an in-room feature like Internet access or a whirlpool bath (and vary from room to room), it may relate to fitness to stay in shape on the road or to entertain the children, or you may require special suites. We have tried to catalogue them all in the FoundLocally database.
The range of features will vary from hotel to hotel, and sometimes from room to room. If there
is a feature that is critical to your stay (ie wheelchair access or coach
parking) request it in the Hotel Search screenBe sure to request this feature when making your room reservation.
Some commonly sought features are:
Price Range
There is accommodation in Barrie to suit any budget. You can stay at the local Hostel for only dollars a day,
or you can stay in hotel suites that are good enough for visiting prime ministers.
Pricing is seasonal. Summer is high season in the Barrie-Muskoka area.
Area hotels are also more expensive over holidays and long weekends.
Fall (September to December) and spring (April to June) are definitely the less expensive times to visit.
For the hotels along the Niagara Escarpment and downhill ski resorts (particularly around Collingwood), as well as those close to cross-country or snowmobile trails,
the winter season is also a peak time.
Each hotel's dates for high, low, and shoulder seasons differ a bit so watch your timing or your hotel.
Our pricing guidelines (exclusive of taxes) are as follows:
| Price | Low Season | Peak Season | $ | <50 | <60 |
$$ | 50-79 | 60-99 | $$$ | 80-119 | 100-149 | $$$$ | 120+ | 150+ |
Location
The desired location of the hotel depends on the purpose of your visit.
We have grouped the hotels by "Area" to assist you with selecting appropriate accommodation. The Area is in most cases, the city in which a hotel is located. Inside the City of Barrie, we also list the part of town.
If you are in Barrie on business, you would want a hotel in the Downtown core. Several hotels are within walking distance (or a $4 to $8 cab ride) of downtown shopping and restaurants.
There are some value-conscious hotels in the Downtown area. You can walk to downtown or to Lake Simcoe from most downtown hotels. Similarly, Orillia's hotels in the core are close to Lake Couchiching and the Trent-Severn waterway.
If you are travelling across Canada along (or to) the Trans-Canada Highway or
to-from Toronto on highway 400/69, you'll need to get off the main highway at a community alongside, such as Barrie or Parry Sound.
If you are trying to find something VERY NEAR your meeting, use the "Postal" feature in the Hotel Search screen, where we match the first the digits/characters of the postal code! This also works on our Restaurant search, to find a restaurant near your hotel (and in every other search form on our site).
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