Finding The Best Budget Accommodations

Trying to find a discount on a hotel room can be difficult, but there are some tips and tricks that can save you some big money. Knowing where and how to shop for accommodations can be the key to saving you money.

Tips For Great Hotel Deals

• Online rates will more than likely be better than any rate that you will get from a travel agent. Sometimes your best deals however, will come from calling the hotel that you wish to stay at directly. Many times by dealing with a manager at the actual location you can negotiate a deal on your rate.
• Beware of deals that are advertised as online specials, some times these deals are actually designed to get you to pay more money in the long run. For instance sometimes getting a third night free can actually wind up costing you more especially if those other two days are consider part of the hotel’s peak time rates. Also, some package deals that offer extras like a gift basket may be costing you a lot more for just a few little items in a gift basket, and calling it a beach getaway or honeymoon package, so beware of these tricks. The best thing to do is to compare any gimmicks with the hotels regular rates to see how much extra that package deal may be costing you.
• When contacting a hotel to inquire about rates, contact the location directly and not through their 1-800 number. Most 1-800 operators are located in a central call station and won’t have much flexibility as far as pricing goes. It is better to speak directly with the hotel manager at the location you will be staying at for the best deal on a room.
• Calling the hotel directly, be sure not to be directed to reservations because many hotels will just send your call back to the central call center anyway, instead ask to speak with the manager at that location.
• Communicating with the web is much different from communicating with a person. If you do find the best rate on a hotel room on the web, you are likely to find that your room is located in an undesirable location like facing the trash bins or a busy highway. In order to insure that you are getting a good room, it is helpful to speak directly with a person. Also, most hotels have what are called booster pumps. These devices are located on different floors of the hotel to help boost the water pressure, so if you can find a room on one of the floors with the booster pump, this can insure that you get the best water pressure possible in your hotel room.
• When staying in a business location, if you are staying for a whole week, then see if they can offer you a weekend rate for the entire week. Many hotels will offer you this, since they need to keep those rooms full on the weekends as well. In touristy areas, the reverse is true, they will need to full the hotels during the week, but weekends are their prime time, so you will more likely pay more for the weekend days than the week days.
• Call around at the last minute. Many hotels will offer lower rates when they realize that they have openings trying to entice people to stay. A good tip for doing this is to book a cheap hotel room in the area that allows for last minute cancellations, and then if you find a better place to stay for less, you can cancel your existing reservation and take the last minute deal.
• Call around. If you call around on a Sunday around 4pm, the hotel revenue manager will be off. By speaking to the on duty hotel manager, if they have a room available, they will usually be willing to give you a deal on it. After all, they know that some revenue for that room will be better than none at all, so they will usually want to book the room.
• Talk to hotel staff about the room. If you have a bell hop help you with your bags, then you can ask him how he likes your room. Remember that he knows what all the rooms look like, and if he doesn’t think that it is one of the better rooms then have him help you switch at the desk.
• If a hotel is overbooked, this may provide you with an excellent opportunity for a deal. Many times even when a hotel is booked up the will have a suite connector room available. This is the seating room that can be added to another room to make a suite, and sometimes they will rent you this room for less, and yes usually it will include a pullout couch for sleeping. Also, sometimes the hotel will have a few rooms that are not up to par, and so even though they are available, they aren’t trying to book them. If a room is out of order then it may have a stain on the carpet, a broken a/c unit or a broken TV, but if you ask, they will more than likely give you one of these rooms at a discounted rate.