How to save cash when booking a hotel room.
Oct 24th, 2011 | By salele | Category: Travel Secrets
As hotel chains get larger and more global, the availability of rooms to stay in has increased dramatically. The older hotels are being renovated and new hotels are being built everyday. Most people enjoy staying in a clean, comfortable room when they are traveling. If children are part of the family, it is important for a hotel to have other amenities such as swimming pool, restaurant with preferably free breakfast, video game room, exercise room, etc. Some hotels allow pets to stay there too.
Use frequent flyer miles
If you have a lot of frequent flyer miles, then you can use them to get the room completely free. Some large hotel chains have this convenience. As we already know, it is easy to collect frequent flyer miles without ever setting foot in an air plane. If we use credit cards that reward us with miles or use the specified portals on the web that give us extra miles for just buying everyday items via those portals, our frequent flyer accounts will increase considerably. Examples of the portals that allow you to collect miles for shopping online are https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/login.jsp and http://skymilesshopping.com
Loyalty pays off
If you are a return customer to many hotel chains, you can collect points for free days of stay. As these points build up, you can gather free rooms continuously. If you are able to get reservations at special times of the year when they offer double or triple points per room, you can get free rooms instantly. If you have multiple members in your family, make sure that you add them all as members. Some hotels will give you miles as well as points, while some will give you only one or the other.
Business Discounts
If you are part of a business, it pays to research before you book the room. Most large corporations have discounted rates on the best rooms. So you may be able to relax in a royal suite for much less than you would have to pay on our own. Also, if you are a business traveler, you are entitled to other discounts and amenities such as restaurant, parking, exercise rooms, spa, hot tubs, etc.
Older and Wiser
If you have discounts such as AARP (The American Association of Retired Persons) you can get more discounts just for the asking. Make sure you speak up before you book the hotels and ask for all the discounts you are entitled to get. Many of the hotels refuse to give you more than one discount, but if you are there on site and willing to negotiate, you can get added bonuses that save you money.
Local attractions coupons
Most hotels offer discounts on local attractions. If a hotel room has problems or an angry customer needs appeasing, there are small consolation prizes that are offered by the hotels that can make your stay a little more enjoyable. You can ask for these special discounts on local attractions, free bus passes, free meals, museum tours, movie tickets, etc.
Use the consolidators
Online web sites where the consolidators buy rooms at wholesale and then distribute it at large discounts to customers can get you the best discounts. Visit http://www.hotels.com or http://www.hotelscheap.org to search for hotels in your destination. There are many styles of hotels, many grades of service and quality that you can choose from. The consolidators are in a hurry to sell all of the tickets they bought, so they may offer huge bargains on last minute sales. Make sure you use a credit card to buy these rooms because some of these online deals may not be legitimate. Today, there are two deals on these sites offering 30 – 40% off the rates if the customer books it for three consecutive days.
Are you one of a party?
There may be occasions such as weddings, conventions, retreats, etc when a group gathers in a hotel or in surrounding areas. Sometimes these local hotels may give discounts to the members of these groups. The last time I went for a retreat in Seattle, Washington, the hotel where we stayed gave us 15% off the rack rate just for being part of the group. These discounts are offered to out of town folk so that they will continue to return to these places for such conventions thus boosting the economy of the region.
Weekend Rates
If you can afford to travel any time you choose, then book the tickets for the days when the rooms are normally empty. Off peak seasons and weekend rates combine to get you drastic discounts from normal fares. Usually the hotel management is willing to cut you a deal since business is very slow during these times. You may be in luck if you ask for an upgrade or room with a better view or a non-smoking room. Also add pets to the package.
With Toby in toe, you may not have to worry about leaving him alone and can enjoy the trip to the maximum. Some of the better hotels have amenities for pets such as snacks, pet trails, pet parks, easily accessible doors for not-so-elevator friendly pets, etc.
Off peak months are when the tourists are gone and the town is pretty empty of crowds. This is the best time to get deals everywhere in town, at the museums, stores and other local attractions.
Inventory Rooms
Most of the hotels have a percentage of rooms that are held back due to problems that need to be fixed. Some of these rooms may have serious problems while others may have minor problems such as a dripping faucet or refrigerator breakdown. These rooms are removed from the check-in lists. If you are interested in these rooms, ask for the lowest rate at the hotel and then ask for a discounted rate.
Get those extras
You can also ask for extra services such as free breakfast, free parking, free telephone calls, and free in room movies. Most of the time these are added costs when we pay the bill, but if you can negotiate in advance, you may be able to reduce your total bill by a large amount, especially if you are traveling with family.
Planning ahead and using all your resources to bring down the price of accommodation will allow you to enjoy and relax even more!
The tip on weekend rates when hotel business is slow is great and suites me just fine.
All of this sounds great when your traveling to get the best prices available but how do you just go in some hotel and start asking for all of these freebies and discounts? That is like thee rooms with minor problems that would be a cheaper rate because of that, but are you as the customer even supposed to know about these rooms? I don’t know I guess I would just feel really weird asking for free stuff or discounts every where I go.
Your blog had a lot of ideas for saving money and getting freebies, where did you come up with all this information anyway? Are these all proven facts or are people going to book a vacation , try some of these ideas and be embarrassed when the hotel clerk says “I don’t know what you are talking about. In all honesty the things you have pointed out shouldn’t have to be asked for really, it just goes to show how places rip you off to make a buck. Thanks for gathering all this information and posting it for all of us, great job and very well put together.
Most of what I read I already knew. I’m by no means a seasoned traveler, but do stay in motels/hotels occasionally. What would be nice to have is a breakdown on some of the more popular chains with a run down of the benefits and discounts they offer. Is such information readily available in one location for comparison?
Sometimes you can find good discounts for hotels on weekends and for bed and breakfasts during midweek (Monday through Thursday).
This was a great article with a lot of pointers, as another reader commented before I am by no means a seasoned traveler but when I do travel I like to get as many good deals as I possibly can. Your blog will help with that certainly. How did you come up with all of these different ways to save money on all of this stuff? Especially the rooms that have problems but they will let you rent them at a lower price to put up with those problems. I found this very interesting and I hope you continue to post any ideas you come up with.
I agree with Rodger, I would like to see a list of the more popular chains and the discounts they offer, is that something that is readily available? I can’t imagine all of the hotels having the same kinds of discounts etc. as the ones you listed especially the higher end hotels. If you know of such information and where to find it could you please post that for us?
Picking the right hotel has become even more important since they started banning the pesticide that is used to exterminate bed bugs. If you choose a hotel just for the rate and without considering its cleanliness your return from that dream vacation may suddenly take a turn for the worse and into a nightmare as you realize that certain blood sucking vampire bugs hitched a ride on your luggage and are about to make your house, their new dream home with you as their daily – or nightly – meal. For this reason, I am now in the market for luggage that is made of something other than canvas, but even that would not totally safeguard you from this hideous parasite. I probably sound like a traumatized victim, but thankfully, I have not suffered any traumatic encounters with bed bugs (knock on wood).
I think the emergence of travel booking web sites like the ones that let you book airfare and lodging all at once. As far as hotel point, I have used the La Quinta points system which you can track on their web site. It may not be a royal sweet, but their system allows you to earn a free night’s stay relatively quick because you do not have to accumulate very many points to be awarded a free night. I never new about consolidators as a way to take advantage of bargains. I am grateful of the information.
I was aware of a few of these little travel tricks but I had not heard of the Inventory Rooms, who would have known that they would do this with rooms that have problems. It is actually a good idea and I think they could make some good money off of those rooms if they would actually advertise that they have such an option, and only take them off of the list when they are actually being worked on or if they have a serious problem like holes in the walls or no plumbing. After reading your blog I feel a little better about just going in and asking for freebies now.
I was aware of a few of these little travel tricks but I had not heard of the Inventory Rooms, who would have known that they would do this with rooms that have problems. It is actually a good idea and I think they could make some good money off of those rooms if they would actually advertise that they have such an option, and only take them off of the list when they are actually being worked on or if they have a serious problem like holes in the walls or no plumbing. After reading your blog I feel a little better about just going in and asking for freebies now.