Do I Have to Reserve Hotel Rooms and Why Hotel Reservation is Required?

 

You do not. The EU law code and Schengen embassies strongly advise you not to pay for rooms until you get your visa. As per the Schengen embassies, they want to see evidence of reserved itineraries. However, there is no such thing as reserved anymore. You can't book a hotel room without paying the full price for it. You can now use Schengen Visa Itinerary to get a Hotel Itinerary ('dummy hotel room') that would qualify as the evidence required for your visa. You'll get a roundtrip flight itinerary that fits your travel dates & travel plans. The itinerary consists of actual hotels, prices, and dates. The booking code/reservation number is a Schengen Visa Itinerary-specific code. In the rare event that the embassy wishes to confirm your tickets, there won't be any problems. You no longer have to take the risk of paying for flights without a visa on hand.

Many hotels charge non-refundable fees just for making a booking. This may be inconvenient because you could never be sure that you will get your visa approved, and you will not get refunded even in case of visa rejection.

However, there are specialized companies such as Schengen Visa Itinerary that will support your visa application by providing you with a Dummy Hotel Booking confirmation for a small fee. This service is completely safe and is the most inexpensive way of dealing with hotel bookings prior to obtaining your visa. We also offer Flight Reservation and affordable Travel Insurance to complete your visa requirements.

Why Hotel Reservation is Required?

The EU (and Schengen) is the world's largest tourism market with a large influx of tourists from across the world, especially Asia & Americas. In order to sustain high levels of tourism, the Schengen countries are strict on ensuring that tourists do not settle in their countries illegally. Therefore, proof of accommodation in the form of hotel bookings (paid or otherwise) indicates that the applicant has plans to stay for a fixed duration in the Schengen states and intends to go back to their home country.

Finally, embassies also use this to determine which country should be issuing you a Schengen visa. So, for instance, if you are going to Germany for ten days and Spain for three days, then based on your stay details, you can only apply for a Schengen visa to Germany (maximum length of stay). This evidence can also be used to determine if you are overstaying your stipulated stay in the Schengen countries.