Find Lodging Deals: Tips for getting the best deal on hotel rooms and other lodging options

Lodging pricing tends to fluctuate less than airline pricing which tend to be more dynamic. We recommend you don’t spend too many hours searching websites for better lodging prices. You are not as likely to save on lodging through a longer search like you will with airline prices.

Search and Book Recommendations by Lodging Type:

Hotels/Motels
Bed and Breakfast
Hostels
Condos – Homes – Apartments
Student Lodging

Top Tip: Start your search early!

Booking early isn’t only about great deals. Early bookers get the best rooms.

If you can be travel date flexible then compare different date ranges or periods for the best lodging rates. Hotels can fill up for a big convention or big event. Busy and expensive one weekend. Empty and cheap the next. Moving your stay dates even a day or so can often get you a lower price per night.

Flip-flop weekends and weekdays. Hotels target different types of travelers which will have very different weekday and weekend routines. If the Hotel has a large business clientele it can be very quiet (with large discounts) on weekends. Leisure tourists oriented hotels are packed on weekends, as a result, they tend to be cheaper on weekdays.

Generally speaking in regards to hotel advance purchase for good rates:

• Business oriented hotels may have good rates inside 7-10 days of arrival
• Leisure oriented hotels may have good rates outside 2 months and within 6 months of arrival

Tips:

1. Utilize coupon books. Some communities will offer coupon books that have travel and entertainment discounts.

2. Travel without reservations. We don’t recommend this in all situations. Several apps, including Hotel Tonight, cater to travelers looking for a room on the fly.

3. See what others are paying. Sites such as BetterBidding.com and BidLessTravel.com allow you to find out what other travelers have paid on white label/opaque sites. These include Hotwire and Priceline. Sites like BetterBidding.com can sometimes identify the “Hidden” hotels. Normally the name and exact location of the hotel are secret until you book.

4. Check local tourist offices. In many communities they will sometimes get “Special Deals” for when you book through these offices.

5. Check daily deal sites. Groupon, LivingSocial and other promotional travel websites offer frequent travel deals. Note: most of the time you must act quickly to get one.

6. Go with a package. If you’re traveling to just one destination, look for a deal that includes hotel, airfare and car rental. This package may be cheaper than buying these components individually. Booking.com and Hotwire.com are our recommended websites to book packages on.

7. Use travel rewards points. Free stays or stays for a low fee are a great way to save!

8. Stay Off-season. That means fall in the Caribbean, winter in Europe and Spring in the Rockies. It also includes as weekends near convention locations or weekdays in resort areas.

9. For Luxury Hotel Deals:
JetSetter.com is our favorite private-sale site for luxury-hotel deals.

My Two Recommended Search Options for Hotels/Motels

If you are looking for a traditional hotel, I have two recommended Hotel Searching Strategies. You’ll search by hotel quality rating or if you need to know the specific hotel before purchasing.

FIND LODGING DEALS: Recommended Quality Rating Booking Process – Hotels/Motels:

I  frequently book by quality and location. As long as its a 3* or better the specific hotel usually doesn’t matter to me. My recommended process is below:

1. Start off by checking Hotwire.com via it’s Hot Rate search feature.

2. Firm-up the part of section or sections of town you would like to stay.

3. Scan for the search quality you desire.

4. If you find a booking quality option that meets your price leave this up in your browser.

5. Then a new browser and go to www.priceline.com. Go to the name your price feature. Do this in a new browser window.

6. Check for the same quality rating hotels in the same section of town.

7. Bid a price below the Hotwire.com price on Priceline.

8. You’ve just purchased the quality rated hotel, if  www.priceline.com responds with an acceptance of your bid. You will also find out which hotel at this point.

9. If www.priceline.com rejects your price – you can still complete the Hotwire.com booking at the price that was acceptable for you. (In the other browser window) Once you pay you will see the exact hotel purchased.

10. Purchase through the standard search below, if neither www.priceline.com nor hotwire meets your price.

Important:  You won’t typically earn loyalty points, although a quality rating booking often brings a better price. Also, bookings often are non-refundable or carry a cancellation fee.

FIND LODGING DEALS: Recommended Standard Search Booking Process – Hotels/Motels:

I sometimes want to know the specific hotel I’m booking before I pay. I will search, at times, through the Standard Search/Booking Process below:

1. Perform a standard hotel search via 2-3 metasearch (They check multiple websites) or online travel sites to cover your bases. (In separate browser windows)
We recommend: Booking.com, Hotelscombined.com and Hotels.com, Travel Pony – Agoda for Asia.

2. Compare prices and what the services and features are that you will get from each website.

3. Also take note of cancellation conditions and fee’s.
Many websites will require a cancellation occur a certain duration prior to arrival and/or may charge a fee for cancellations. Some prices may be non-refundable or incur a change or cancellation fee.

4. Hold the best rate and service’s/fee’s situation on the website that offers this (If Refundable) (Close the other browser windows).

5. Go to the hotel website direct and check for the same travel dates.

6. If you get the same or better deal including services and features on the hotel website, book it.
A booking directly with the hotel is easier to navigate any changes, cancellations, special requests etc…

7. If the price is higher on the hotel website, Call the hotel. See if they will match or beat the price and the features and services of the non-hotel website booking option.

8. If the hotel won’t match or beat the price of another website, consider the cost difference. Also compare the cancel and change policies, loyalty rewards points and services and features.

9. Book which situation works better for you.

My Recommended Search Options for Bed and Breakfast

FIND LODGING DEALS: Recommended Standard Search Booking Process – Bed and Breakfast.

When I want to book a bed and breakfast I will use the following process:

1. Perform a standard bed and breakfast search via 2-3 websites or online travel sites to cover your bases. (In different browser windows)
We recommend: Booking.com, Bedandbreakfast.com and bnbfinder.com.

2. Compare prices and what the services and features are that you will get from each website.

3. Also take note of cancellation conditions and fee’s.
Many websites will require a cancellation occur a certain duration prior to arrival and/or may charge a fee for cancellations. Some prices may be non-refundable or incur a change or cancellation fee.

4. Hold the best rate and service’s/fee’s situation on the website that offers this (If Refundable) (Close the other browser windows)

5. Go to the direct bed and breakfast website direct and check for the same travel dates.

6. If you get the same or better deal including services and features on the bed and breakfast website, book it.
A booking directly with the bed and breakfast is easier to navigate any changes, cancellations, special requests etc…

7. If the price is higher on the bed and breakfast website, Call the B & B. See if they will match or beat the price, features and services of the non-B&B website booking option.

8. If the bed and breakfast won’t match or beat the price of another website, consider the cost difference. Also compare the cancel and change policies, loyalty rewards points and services and features.

9. Book which situation works better for you.

My Recommended Search Options for Hostels

FIND LODGING DEALS: Recommended Standard Search Booking Process – Hostels.

When I want to book a hostel I will use the following process:

1. Perform a standard Hostel search via 2-3 websites or online travel sites to cover my bases. (Search in separate browser windows).
We recommend: Hostelworld.com, Hostelbooking.com.

2. Compare prices and what the services and features are that you will get from each website.

3. Also take note of cancellation conditions and fee’s.
Many websites will require a cancellation occur a certain duration prior to arrival and/or may charge a fee for cancellations. Some prices may be non-refundable or incur a change or cancellation fee.

4. Hold the best rate and service’s/fee’s situation on the website that offers this (If Refundable) (Close the other browser windows)

5. Go to the selected hostel direct website and search the same travel dates.

6. If you get the same or better deal including services and features on the hostel, book it.
A booking directly with the hostel is easier to navigate any changes, cancellations, special requests etc…

7. If the price is higher on the hostel website, Call or email the hostel. See if they will match or beat the price, features and services of the non-hostel website booking option.

8. If the hostel won’t match or beat the price of another website, consider the cost difference. Also compare the cancel and change policies, loyalty rewards points and services and features.

9. Book which situation works better for you.

My Recommended Search Options for Condos – Homes and Apartments

With larger groups or longer stays, a Condo, Hotel or Apartment rental, often provides the best rate. More and more regular online hotel booking sites are presenting condo, home and apartment options to book. You may see longer stay options pop-up when you perform one of my recommended hotel searches. (Listed above)

HomeAway.com offers the biggest selection of rental lodgings, with more than a million worldwide listings across its family of sites. These include VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com.

FIND LODGING DEALS: Recommended Standard Condo – Home – Apartment Search

1. Perform a standard Condo – Home – Apartment search via 3-4 search options to cover your bases. (In separate browser windows)
We recommend: Booking.com (Apartment) – Booking.com (Home/Condo), Airbnb.com, HomeAway.com and checking the local tourism board website for this type of lodging.

2. Compare prices and what the services and features are that you will get from each website.

3. Also take note of cancellation conditions and fee’s.
Many websites will require a cancellation occur a certain duration prior to arrival and/or may charge a fee for cancellations. Some prices may be non-refundable or incur a change or cancellation fee.

4. Hold the best rate and service’s/fee’s situation on the website that offers this.  (If you can hold with no cancellation penalty) (Close the other browser windows)

5. Look for the Condo – Home – Apartment website direct (Or Property Management website) and check for the same travel dates.  There may or may not be a direct booking source.

6. If you get the same or better deal including services and features on the Condo – Home – Apartment website, book it.
A direct booking is often easier to navigate any changes, cancellations, special requests etc…

7. If the price is higher on the direct Condo – Home – Apartment website, Call them. See if they will match or beat the price, features and services of the non-direct website booking option.

8. If the direct booking source won’t match or beat the price of another website, consider the cost difference. Look at the cancel and change policies and services and features against the best deal on the non-direct booking website.

9. Book on whichever website situation works better for you.

FIND LODGING DEALS: Recommended Student Lodging Booking Process:

1. Perform a standard Student lodging search via 2-3 search options to cover your bases.
We recommend: Booking.com, Student Universe websites. Open in different browsers.

2. Compare prices and what the services and features are that you will get from each website.

3. Also take note of cancellation conditions and fee’s.
Many websites will require a cancellation occur a certain duration prior to arrival and/or may charge a fee for cancellations. Some prices may be non-refundable or incur a change or cancellation fee.

4. Hold the best rate and service’s/fee’s situation on the website that offers this.  (If you can hold with no cancellation penalty)

5. Look for the Student Lodging website direct and check for the same travel dates.  Note: There may or may not be a direct booking source.

6. If you get the same or better deal including services and features on the Student Lodging Unit website, book it.
A direct booking is often easier to navigate any changes, cancellations, special requests etc…

7. If the price is higher on the direct Student Lodging Unit, Call them. See if they will match or beat the price, features and services of the non-direct website booking option.

8. If the direct booking source won’t match or beat the price of another website, consider the cost difference. Look at the cancel and change policies and services and features against the best deal on the non-direct booking website.

9. Book on whichever website situation works better for you.

Recommended actions once you’ve booked

Important! – Verify directly with the hotel after booking through an online booking website (e.g. booking.com). This confirmation can help you avoid any snafu’s later. Also take the opportunity to make special requests. I’ve sometimes requested two beds when traveling with someone else and had these requests granted.

Important! – Check directly with hotel for room upgrade options. I’ve upgraded for as low as $10 more per night.

Email the hotel directly a day before arrival. It’s worth the effort to insure your booking is in order. If you show you care about your booking, your room, your stay then the hotel will too.

Summary:

While I like to find lodging deals I don’t like to spend too much time on the effort. Since lodging pricing is not as dynamic as air pricing I spend less time looking to find lodging deals. The above strategies should help you find lodging deals but not burn too much of your time.

NOW THAT YOUR HOTEL IS SET – NEXT STEP TRAVEL INSURANCE AND ACCESSORIES