When is the best time to book hotels for holiday abroad?

ah23

2 of us are travelling to Dubai mid-January. The flights are already booked (£330pp with Emirates), but I am not sure when to best book the hotel price-wise. I was thinking hanging fire until this coming friday in the hope of some 'Black Friday' deals - do hotel comparison sites (Trivago, Agoda etc) offer these kind of deals, or is it best to just follow your gut and book what we think is cheapest?

We're aiming to get the hotel for around £800 in total if this helps.

Thanks!

dj1471

It's impossible to tell what will happen to hotel prices over time, there are too many variables.

I almost always book with hotels.com. Aside from usually being the cheapest, they have a price guarantee which means they will refund the difference if you find a cheaper price on any site up to the day before check-in (so long as it's an equivalent deal, obviously). I take advantage of this on almost every booking with them and they've always been willing to honour it.

ah23

Thank you, didn't know about this! Will take a look with them!

littlereddevil

January is high season in Dubai.
Not so much chance of a bargain

Pollycat

As your flights are booked and you're tied to specific dates, if you have a particular hotel in mind I'd book it now if the price is within your budget.

How much of a bummer would it be if the hotel was fully booked when you tried to book?

michele-p

I tend to book something on a free cancellation deal through booking.com - then you're free to keep a look out for other deals if they come along. But read the small print first, make sure the dates you can cancel until and that is not a "non-refundable" rate.