A person consistently chooses a familiar hotel brand when traveling in unfamiliar cities, based on past experiences rather than researching alternatives.

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Relying on a mental shortcut to decide in unfamiliar cities is a heuristic. Heuristics are simple rules of thumb people use to make quick judgments when there isn’t enough information or time to evaluate every option in depth. In this case, choosing a familiar hotel brand based on past experiences reduces both cognitive effort and perceived risk, because if it worked before, it’s reasonable to assume it will again.

A policy or a procedure refers to formal, codified rules or step-by-step methods that guide behavior—things organizations publish and expect people to follow, not personal shortcuts. A bias is a predisposition that can skew judgment, often leading to systematic errors; while this behavior could align with a preference for familiarity, the situation is best explained as a heuristic—a practical shortcut used to simplify decision-making under uncertainty.