We traveled without making a single hotel reservation. Hotels around train stations were plentiful; you looked for the number of stars that you could afford and walked a short distance to the hotel of your choice. Prices were usually posted on the door. In the off season it was never a problem getting a room. In the summer, hotels might fill up late in the afternoon, but if you got there in the morning, you were almost always assured of finding a room.
Why didn't we reserve? Well, besides being unnecessary, reserving a hotel room involved writing a letter (remember those?) to the overseas hotel and waiting weeks or months for a reply. Then, if a deposit was required, you went through the whole deal again.
We paid in cash, which we got by standing in line at a bank and cashing traveler's checks--along with all the money we had left over from the last country visited.
Today, the internet makes reserving easy. So we do it. In some ways, it's an added step, which some of us find a pain. But the efficiency of the marketplace dictates that during the season, one must make a reservation or risk sleeping in the rental car.
The efficiency of the market has also created pressure on the little family-run hotels, who can't afford to discount as heavily when they aren't full (nor absorb the modern credit card fees as easily). Thus, today there are far fewer little quirky hotels with friendly hosts who become restaurateurs in the evening. But, there are more big and efficient air conditioned boxes with their own bathrooms you can find cheap on the Internet, especially when there's no big convention in town.
