How do you cut the cost of staying in a hotel?

zagfles

mhoc wrote: »

Please can I ask I have holidays booked for much later in the year and I usually stay the previous night locally either at Premier Inn or in the local Ibis Budget - Etap as was.

I was wondering if I should book the full rate room now but then monitor for when and if the price falls to the level I really want to pay.
I know the full rate you can cancel for a refund - not sure how close to the date
I use 2 emails so I can book and cancel with one and rebook with another if need be.

Does anyone do this?

I've done this when going somewhere at peak times, then found cheaper non-cancellable rates close to the date. In general the full rate is cancellable right up to the day of arrival or perhaps the day before, but policies vary so check them, sometimes it might be 3 days or so before.

SavingforDiamonds

I am a Melia Rewards member and you get points for staying at their hotels, which you can then use to get discounts on stays (e.g. on 9th June you would pay £61.55 at the TRYP Barcelona Aeropuerto hotel, but using 2,000 points would bring the price down to £49.92 for the night, so it is a pretty good saving).
The best thing about the scheme is that you often get given bonus points without spending anything. A few days ago I got an email saying they had added 10,000 points to my account to celebrate a new hotel opening. Using these free points for the booking mentioned above would bring the price down to £30.15, which is more than 50% off without ever having spent anything on Melia.
As an added bonus, if you order directly through their website you get a free voucher for an amount that you can spend at the hotel every day of your stay, on hotel restaurants, room service, minibar etc (not breakfast). The amount varies depending on the hotel - it is €10 per day on the hotel mentioned above, but can be €20 or more at other hotels.

SavingforDiamonds

I also use Secret Escapes a lot and find it excellent as long as you can be quite flexible on locations and dates. They usually have about 120-130 sales for holidays abroad on at any one time (plus UK offers), so there are loads of options for holidays all over the world. The discounts are good and they also offer extras quite often that are included in the price but add a lot of value (e.g. wine in the room, free dinner or afternoon tea at the hotel, free cocktails in the bar), so you definitely save a lot if you would treat yourself to things like that on holiday anyway.
You also get £15 free credit if you sign up using a referral link (mine is on the referrers board at the moment), and you can earn more free credits once you are a member if you share your own referral link, so you can save even more.

londonsaver86

When booking hotels I always use hotels.com and go via quidco or topcashback as they always have at least 10% cashback on offer.

hotels.com also have the free night reward stamp which really adds up fast

bigadaj

londonsaver86 wrote: »

When booking hotels I always use hotels.com and go via quidco or topcashback as they always have at least 10% cashback on offer.

hotels.com also have the free night reward stamp which really adds up fast

Though you should be checking multiple brokers etc using tripadvisor, trivago etc

It's often the case another place is cheaper even when there is no cashback, and cashback doesn't always track.

PolishBigSpender

Jezsav wrote: »

Find a hotel, guesthouse or BnB on a booking site ie late rooms.com, Booking.com. Search for the hotels contact details (not given on the booking sites). Contact the the hotel direct and ask for discount because, you are booking direct with the hotel and they will not have to pay the commission (12%to 17%).
I run a guesthouse and guests do get a room cheaper if they book direct with me.
Also ask for discount if booking more than 1 room or 1 night.

Yes, this can work well, particularly if booking.com are involved - who are notorious for not caring about clients, both owners and those staying.

Having said that, these days, I almost exclusively use Airbnb. They are *very* good with customer service, including one case when it turned out that the person renting the property had decided to rent it long-term to someone else. A full refund was given, and Airbnb charged the host for the cost of providing my alternative accommodation.

Yes, their service fees are quite high, but I've found that their customer support is excellent. They are also very quick to stamp on anyone using the service in an underhanded way, such as advertising apartments at a cheaper price.

moreofthegoodstuff

I always book through Quidco to receive cash back, always double check first though because occasionally the best rates don't come up when booking through Quidco.

Try leaving it late, I booked a hotel two weeks ago for the 26/7 and paid £100 (£10 cash back on top) and now it's at £90. This doesn't always work though, and is difficult if you know where you want to stay, if you can be flexible then leaving it late is good because you can stay somewhere else...I just like this hotel!

I have also received discount for booking more than one night, not long ago a hotel was £210 per night and they reduced the second night to £80, you just have to be cheeky and ask directly!

Don't always go for the most popular chains, we stayed in Vegas recently and were next door to the Belagio, we had the most stunning suite with windows all around giving a 270° view and was around £500 less than staying next door in the better know hotel! Found it using Tripadvisor which is another favourite when hotel booking.

Rotti

Jezsav wrote: »

Find a hotel, guesthouse or BnB on a booking site ie late rooms.com, Booking.com. Search for the hotels contact details (not given on the booking sites). Contact the the hotel direct and ask for discount because, you are booking direct with the hotel and they will not have to pay the commission (12%to 17%).
I run a guesthouse and guests do get a room cheaper if they book direct with me.
Also ask for discount if booking more than 1 room or 1 night.

As another small property owner I totally agree with this and always tell my guests that when booking in future if they contact the property rather than booking through Booking.com they should get a discount on their advertised rate as they take 15% off the top. I am really small fry to them as I have one room - a luxury cabin in my garden that people like as an alternative to hotels and it has been received very well but in the 9 months we have been operating we have had nothing but trouble with bookings through them and find that people who look at our own website and take the trouble to contact us direct are more genuine and actually turn up. The reward for their intelligence is free breakfasts daily or if they don't want breakfasts I will shave 10% off the bill. Happy guests, happy owner! The majority of people use third party booking sites for convenience and don't even realise there is a commission involved or consider that there might be a cheaper way. Apps have made it even easier to make a snap decision and then change their mind which is why we now get so many cancellations, but a bit of shopping around with get a better deal.

When we have travelled in Europe or the USA we have ALWAYS had a much reduced rate on direct contact so it is definitely worth a call or an email.