What does Proof of accommodation mean to the visa consulates?
The Visa consulate wants proof of accommodation before you apply for visa application. Having a solid proof of accommodation helps the consulate determine 1 thing:
Do you have enough money to cover all your expenses abroad?
If you want to read the official statement, here it is
So proof of accommodation is used by the consulate know if you can sustain yourself in Europe for the duration of your stay
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Can booking.com be used as proof of accommodation?
Short answer YES,
If you are sure of using the same hotel once you get your visa, then, by all means, use the booking as a valid proof of accommodation. But it is not the safest option if you know you would be cancelling that booking once you get your visa.
Although some of the bookings on booking.com have free cancellation options, many hotels can still hold a “pre-authorisation” amount on your card which can be anything between €50 to €2000. And even if you cancel the hotel booking in 10 minutes it would take at least a month for that amount to be released back to your card.
It is not as risk-free as it sounds.
Accepted proof of accommodations
For Schengen visa, your proof of accommodation can be anyone of the following,
Hotel room booking
Hotel/hostel vouchers ( including airbnb arrangements made online)
A fully organised tour operator or holiday tours
An invitation letter from the host including a copy of their passport of the one sponsoring your stay in Europe.
Proof of accommodation for an unplanned trip
If your trip involves just one country where you visit your grandma or you are part of a packaged tour then it makes sense to make all your bookings in advance. But what if you are after the backpacker experience where you want to travel unplanned?
To download the entire Schengen visa guide for free, click the below image
[media-downloader media_id=”1578″ image_url=”https://travelvisabookings.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/download_ebook.jpg”]
How can you get proof of accommodation without using your own credit card?
To buy hotel bookings for your visa application follow below steps,
Select pricing from our menu bar
Select the right package for you. We have an insurance option in all packages
Fill our checkout form, with your details & requirements
If you need to add additional travellers you can add them as well here. We don’t charge additional amount for kids
If you need insurance you can add insurance as well as part of your package
Click on checkout with Paypal option. Here you can even use your credit or debit card to make payment
If for some reason your payment failed, then do not worry, you can visit below link to make payment again.
FAQ – Hotel booking using our service
Why should I take the package from you?
Because we are the best in this business. We have been in operation from the past 5 years and in those years we have processed over 100,000 orders such as yours. Here is a screenshot of our sales this month alone
But the interesting part is over 50% of our customers are referred by previous customers
Do I have to purchase hotel bookings once my visa is approved or can I make my own bookings?
No,
Once you get your visa you can make your own bookings and no need to worry about the bookings you make with us. You are free to make your own plans. we will handle all the cancellation charges and you will not need to pay anything extra.
Can I see a sample flight itinerary and hotel bookings?
This is our flight booking sample
Our hotel booking sample
[pdf-embedder url=”https://travelvisabookings.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Hotel-Riu-Costa-Lago-All-Inclusive-Torremolinos-Mar-17-Itinerary-7160682756408.pdf” title=”Hotel reservation for visa application”]Our Insurance Sample
[pdf-embedder url=”https://travelvisabookings.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/insurance-templates.pdf” title=”Insurance Sample for Schengen tourist visa”]Can I make changes once I place the order?
Yes 100%. Each purchase on travelvisabookings will be given a minimum of 3 changes. If you have made a mistake in your order or want to change your travel plan, then drop us an email and we will make the changes for you
Can I add more traveller names in my hotel bookings?
Yes 100%. For a small fee, you can add your co-traveller’s names in your plan. Also, as a policy we will add children below 15 year in your order for free !!
How can travelvisabookings.com make hotel bookings?
We do not use any of the booking systems online, we have our own Amaedus booking system that we use to make booking for people online. This will help us consistently get the best and the most reliable service that we desire
Is travelvisabookings a scam?
Well our competitors would like you to believe so . There has been a lot of propaganda on social media trying to book us as scam. But we are providing the exact service as them for over 5 years . We would advice them to work with the same enthusiasm on their website to improve it and challenge us with customer support. You can see that we are ranking high on google because we have been consistently providing the best results.
Is paying through travelvisabookings secure?
Yes 100%. We do not save any of your card or Paypal information. All your payments happens on the payment gateway and we get only the payment confirmation. We do not save any of your information on our website except your check out form.
What if my plans get cancelled? What if I want to cancel my order that I placed with you?
Then you will get 70% refund from our end.
Sponsor letter for Schengen visa
If your accommodation will be covered by a person who is living in the country where you expecting to stopover in Schengen Area then you need to attest to the diplomatic office of the relevant country having a proof or letter of sponsorship accommodation. The invitee’s letter must have his signature as well as must be approved by the local town hall or an officer.
Proof of accommodation letter from a person who is residing in the country you intend to visit.Please note that this needs to be signed and approved from their local town hall or an officer. Below a sample of how a accommodation proof for visa application would look like
your invitee would need to create a proof of accommodation letter like the one above and get it approved by a town hall. There are some countries ,especially in Europe where one needs to attach stamps close to $30. This needs to be confirmed with the town hall.
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this is indeed very problematic when you don’t know your travel plans before hand. The visa consulate does not even consider the possibility that you would want to just backpack and experience the country and may just want to go where the travel takes you.
However the visa consulate expects you to present hotel reservations for your entire stay even if you plan to take a backpack trip for 3 months. Hell, at one time one of our customers had rented a camper van to travel around Iceland with 3 of his friends ,he had a hard time convincing the visa consulate that a proof of accommodation is not needed since he would be staying in the van.Finally he gave up and decided to approach us for hotel reservations for visa purpose only and got visa for himself and his friends.
Another problem with making all your hotel reservation and flight booking for visa is that each country expects you to have a minimum “per day” amount that you will need to have in your bank as proof of your financial sustenance when you travel across their country. This amount can be as little as $30 per day or go as high as $300 per day. This is again country specific and you can find the official information for all the European countries minimum per day amount here.
Now if you decide to get all your hotel and flight bookings done before applying for visa then you need to make sure that you have the above mentioned per day money in your bank account . This is not easy if you don’t have a lot of money in your account, especially for stays exceeding a month.
Fortunately, you can get both hotel reservations as well as flight itineraries for visa application without depleting your bank balance. This article shows you how you can do that.
Proof of accommodation would mean a concrete confirmation such as hotel reservations, hostel reservations, invitation letter from a solvent person residing in the visiting country, or a sponsorship from a company/university stating that the applicant has made arrangements for his stay for the number of days as mentioned in his visa application.There can be several proofs that you can submit as proof of accommodation for your visa application
- Hotel or hostel booking confirmations .Hotel and hostel bookings should be made for your entire stay.
- Proof of accommodation letter from a person who is residing in the country you intend to visit.Please note that this needs to be signed and approved from their local town hall or an officer. Below a sample of how a accommodation proof for visa application would look like
your invitee would need to create a proof of accommodation letter like the one above and get it approved by a town hall. There are some countries,especially in Europe where one needs to attach stamps close to $30. This needs to be confirmed with the town hall.