US ESTA before hotel is confirmed?

henrygregory

Hi,

I am visiting the US later in the year, and thought I would get my ESTA done and dusted now. I notice that it now asks which hotel I will be staying in, but I have not actually booked the hotel yet.

It says that I can put 'none' in the address and '0' for the hotel phone number.
Does anyone know if this will still go through, or would I be better waiting until I know exactly which hotel I will be staying at?

Thanks :money:

duchy

I tend to put a likely one in. it doesn't matter if it changes later- whereas none tends to flag up at entry and leads to a couple more questions.

henrygregory

duchy wrote: »

I tend to put a likely one in. it doesn't matter if it changes later- whereas none tends to flag up at entry and leads to a couple more questions.

Good idea - I happen to have one in mind, so I will put that one down for now. Thanks very much :beer:

InsideInsurance

From memory there are instructions on what to do if your accommodation hasnt been sorted.

As I have worked with insurers with USA based offices for too many years and my business trips are often short notice I've always kept my ESTA up to date even if I have no immediate intention to travel. Certainly didnt have any dates or hotels to give them last time and know I didnt make something up to fill it in... just cant remember if the instructions are to leave it blank or something else.

henrygregory

InsideInsurance wrote: »

From memory there are instructions on what to do if your accommodation hasnt been sorted.

As I have worked with insurers with USA based offices for too many years and my business trips are often short notice I've always kept my ESTA up to date even if I have no immediate intention to travel. Certainly didnt have any dates or hotels to give them last time and know I didnt make something up to fill it in... just cant remember if the instructions are to leave it blank or something else.

Thanks. The instructions online do say leave blank by putting 'none' but I didn't like the idea of that as it doesn't really give them much of an idea on why you are going over there. I am just going for a holiday, not work. I believe if it was business, there is a section for you to fill for that.

pollypenny

I would wait until you have the address. You have to pay for the ESTA now and it lasts just two years.

No point in wasting some of it.

jonesMUFCforever

pollypenny wrote: »

I would wait until you have the address. You have to pay for the ESTA now and it lasts just two years.

No point in wasting some of it.

I would have done it just prior to booking the flights - just in case !;)

InsideInsurance

henrygregory wrote: »

Thanks. The instructions online do say leave blank by putting 'none' but I didn't like the idea of that as it doesn't really give them much of an idea on why you are going over there. I am just going for a holiday, not work. I believe if it was business, there is a section for you to fill for that.

No, the form doesnt ask the purpose of the visit so no difference if you are going for pleasure, business or as in my case half the time, a bit of both.

I've done ESTA form a couple of times both for me and the Mrs. Each time its been approved in under 5 minutes each time. That includes when I got the Mrs dob wrong and the second time I submitted the identical details other than dob it was also approved within 5 minutes (there was circa 3 months between the two as our original plans fell through)

I'm not going to claim to know what goes on behind the scenes but it doesnt feel that its something to be too concerned about. The Mrs has to declare being born in a country not friendly to the USA, still holding its citizenship and despite that and my mess up had no problems. Doesnt make me think its a very robust system.

pollypenny

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I would have done it just prior to booking the flights - just in case !;)

In that case you wouldn't know the flight number, which is something they ask for.

jackieblack

From ESTA website https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/WebHelp/ESTA_Screen-Level_Online_Help_1.htm#ta1


Can prospective travelers apply to ESTA for a travel authorization without specific travel plans if they want to be able to travel to the United States on short notice?
Yes. Specific travel plans are not mandatory at the time of application.

DTDfanBoy

I've never provided either a hotel address or a flight number when applying for an ESTA, and have never had any issues, that said I've got Global Entry now so haven't applied for an ESTA for a while