When you arrive, ask a few questions. (1) Always ask to see the room you will be renting. Consider how noisy it will be at night. (2) Always ask how much the room will cost in total, with all taxes, fees, charges for breakfast and the like included, to avoid nasty surprises when you check out. (3) Take a good look at your fellow lodgers. A bunch of men with pencil-thin mustaches picking their teeth with stilettos is usually a bad sign. (4) If possible, ask someone staying there if they like it and if there is anything you should know. (5) Owners and staff may not show you the cheapest room first. If that is important to you, ask up front for the cheapest available, and then work up in price if you don’t like it. (6) If you ask for a room and the person behind the desk asks how long you will be staying, “three days” is probably the answer they’re looking for (whether you plan to or not). If you’re staying longer than three days, especially if the place isn’t crowded, ask for a discount. You may get it. (7) If you are alone, and only doubles are available, ask if you can share with a single person who comes later. Or you may have to find a roommate yourself if you really want/need that room. Note that all these points imply that you have a choice of going somewhere else. If every place is packed except the one you’re at, however, your choice will be easy.

If there is no tourist office in your town and nothing about that town in your guidebook, you’re probably well off the beaten track. Good for you. To look for housing, ask some of the station staff if they know of a cheap place to stay. Taxi drivers are also potential sources of information, although they may not offer anything which does not involve a taxi ride. Hotels tend to cluster around train stations: even if they are out of your price range (and they may not be - station areas are often home to the cheapest places), they may be able to direct you somewhere else.