Katra is a city in Jammu and Kashmir, 12 kilometres away from which lies the temple of Vaishno Devi. As it is a very popular tourist site, thus it is no surprise that Katra receives a lot of human traffic throughout the year. There is nothing called an off season to visit the temple, hence people flock the city all the 365 days of the year.
When visiting the temple one needs to keep in mind that it is not a one day task. Because the distance is vast, many people, especially those travelling with elders need to keep in mind that they cannot possibly walk all that distance in a day. Hence booking hotel as and when one closes in on the distance is something which is very important. Thus one's first destination will be Katra, as will be the same for thousands of others, hence the catch here is booking quickly, which nowadays is easy thanks to online booking.
Many, or rather, most hotels nowadays gives one the option of booking rooms online, another plus point of online hotel bookings is the fact that one can compare between various other hotels and then decide accordingly. They can also book in bulk. So the problem of booking various hotels as and how they progress is not a problem with online booking.
Vaishno Devi gets visitors from all across the world, hence online booking makes it easier for people who are not physically present there, to get hotels. Believe it or not, along with the tourists many locals also make it a point to visit the temple every now and then, hence online bookings are of great help. Online booking also facilitates one to know about the hotel of their choice in details, sites also have reviews so that one can see who lived in which hotel and how they liked it and their thoughts about each hotel.
Online bookings give one all the power, thus compare, do your research and then decide, because you even if one might just be spending the night there, if one does not get a good night's sleep after a tiring day then they will not be prepared properly for the next day, thus resting in the hotels play an important part. Online bookings also facilitate packages, which booking physically will not facilitate. Some online booking sites offer 2 and 3 day stay packages which tends to cover your stay in all the hotels, and thus the booking is done by the site itself and you need not bother.
Thus the advantages of online booking are vast, so vast that sometimes even the locals tends to book their hotels and packages online as it is way more convenient.
Martin Wynn
