What can you do to avoid getting a bad hotel room? Here are some simple tips from an expert to make sure that you don't find yourself in one.

How can you avoid a bad hotel room?

What can you do to avoid being assigned a bad hotel room?

For Michael Rewers, he knows that he increases his chances of avoiding a bad hotel room by staying away from “free” hotel vouchers – and at least one four-star hotel.

Rewers, who travels frequently as a sales rep for a European energy company, recently tried to redeem a hotel coupon for a weekend at an upscale hotel in Warsaw. “Big mistake,” he recalls.

Jorge booked a nonrefundable room at the Hampton Inn & Suites Reagan National Airport through Orbitz and then canceled the trip.

No credit for your nonrefundable hotel room

True, Jorge Sanchez-Salazar booked a nonrefundable room at the Hampton Inn & Suites Reagan National Airport through Orbitz. And it’s true, too, that he canceled the trip, and that under the rules, the hotel could keep his money — all of it.