Deal breakers:
1. hotel with smoking rooms or smoking floors (mainly in Asia). Even if you book a non-smoking room, it usually still stinks of smoke.
2. single beds only option. Sometimes I like to sleep with Mr Seat 0A.
3. no aircon
4. reviews mentioning rude staff, noise, not clean
5. no kettle/jug/other way to make a cup of tea in my room
6. resort fees and other hidden charges. Just tell me what it's going to cost for heaven's sake
7. poor location - for me this means that I want to be able to walk to public transport, and I would like a supermarket and some local
Things I dislike, but might consider:
1. shower over bath
2. no fridge, or even worse, a fridge for mini bar that I can't use to keep some milk, yoghurt and a few supermarket priced cold beverages
3. check out before 11 am
Things I like:
1. quiet, dark, spacious room
2. nice view
3. coffee machine in the room
4. late check out
5. friendly, helpful staff
6. breakfast included or available at a competitive rate.
I am also influenced by status perks in loyalty schemes, although i also like to try to stay with locally owned smaller hotels if I can (I recognise this is conflicting!). What I mean is, if I can get all my deal breakers solved and some of the things I like at a good price, I will often try a local chain or independently owned place.
I also actively consider reviews on TripAdvisor, booking.com etc. I know some are fake news, but I do feel like I have been able to get a good idea about a lot of the places I have stayed from reading these reviews.