Why do I need a hotel reservation for visa applications?

You’ve planned your big trip — You know exactly where you want to go, what to see, and whom to meet. Everything has been planned in detail, and you haven’t left anything up to circumstances. Or have you? Traveling these days is a lot different from what it used to be. Hearing stories of how others bribed the border patrols in Burma to travel the Golden Triangle or were starving with a stomach bug on a train trip through Europe makes anyone wish they were born 50 years ago; when traveling was a slower, present state of flow (or starvation). Not full of smartphones, Instagram-updates, flashpackers and…. PAPERWORK… These days you need a visa to travel to most countries or continents, and the embassies require a lot of information from you; including a hotel reservation for visa applications. It takes the spontaneity, flexibility and not to mention FUN out of traveling. So how do you go about getting all the required documentation, including a hotel booking for visa application...