Premier Inn (book and cancel)

baser999

Looking at booking three nights mid-October and prices seem to be going up on a daily basis, albeit only by about £10-15 in total, so not the end of the world. This might be the consequence of demand, so perhaps best to leave my booking until October and hope prices will have dropped? 

Alternatively would it be prudent to book today to at least secure the room, and then if prices do indeed drop cancel that booking and rebook? Would PI’s system pick up the cancellation and rebooking for the same dates and refuse the new request? Anyone done this? 

strawb_shortcake

baser999 said:

Looking at booking three nights mid-October and prices seem to be going up on a daily basis, albeit only by about £10-15 in total, so not the end of the world. This might be the consequence of demand, so perhaps best to leave my booking until October and hope prices will have dropped? 

Alternatively would it be prudent to book today to at least secure the room, and then if prices do indeed drop cancel that booking and rebook? Would PI’s system pick up the cancellation and rebooking for the same dates and refuse the new request? Anyone done this? 

Wouldn't you have to book a flexible rate which would be more expensive than a non flexible rate, and prices may not drop anyway. 
If you look at the same hotel with closer dates, how does that come out price wise? 

I'd book sooner rather than later purely for availability 

p00hsticks

I'm not sure how intelligent PI's pricing system is, but the fact that you are looking on a daily basis could in itself be contributing to the price increases - they know you are interested in that hotel on those dates.....

baser999

p00hsticks said:

I'm not sure how intelligent PI's pricing system is, but the fact that you are looking on a daily basis could in itself be contributing to the price increases - they know you are interested in that hotel on those dates.....

‘On a daily basis’ was really just my expression, have checked them out perhaps twice a week. 

baser999

strawb_shortcake said:

baser999 said:

Looking at booking three nights mid-October and prices seem to be going up on a daily basis, albeit only by about £10-15 in total, so not the end of the world. This might be the consequence of demand, so perhaps best to leave my booking until October and hope prices will have dropped? 

Alternatively would it be prudent to book today to at least secure the room, and then if prices do indeed drop cancel that booking and rebook? Would PI’s system pick up the cancellation and rebooking for the same dates and refuse the new request? Anyone done this? 

Wouldn't you have to book a flexible rate which would be more expensive than a non flexible rate, and prices may not drop anyway. 
If you look at the same hotel with closer dates, how does that come out price wise? 

I'd book sooner rather than later purely for availability 

The full flex could be cancelled up to the actual day and is payable on arrival so would cost nothing initially. The semi-flex has 3 days leeway but needs to be paid up front. If the prices drop and system allows cancellation and rebooking then it’d make little odds whether we’d initially booked full or semi.

mandco

As long as you book a flex or semi flex room there’s absolutely no issue cancelling & rebooking for the same hotel/date - flex works best as otherwise you might have to pay out again while you wait around for a refund.
I often book quite far out and not prepared to have them sit on my money for months so always book a flex room as it’s pay on arrival and then check closer to the date of arrival and if it’s cheaper I’ll cancel & rebook I’ve even done it morning of arrival before. - I’ll book the new room before I cancel the old one to ensure I’ve got it. I’ll be doing it today as the room we’ve booked for tonight is still £5 cheaper if I switch it to a non flex booking - not a lot but it pays for the offsite parking.
that said lately I’ve found prices only tend to increase the closer you get and often the cheapest non flex price ends up being around the same as/more expensive than the flex booking I made originally- obviously that does depend on the hotel/location as it’s demand driven. If they have rooms left prices go down if its pretty full prices go higher.