Are you interested in the easiest ways to save on hotel bookings? Here’s another question for you. Hotels or airfare: which do you spend more of your money on? I’m much more concerned about saving money on hotels than I am about saving on air travel. Most, if not all, of my long haul flights are booked on award miles. This means that this year, as has been the case for many years now, I spent way more on hotels than I did on airline tickets. And I also spent way more time in hotels than in the air! Most years I spend over 80 nights in just Hyatt properties alone. When I add in the other hotel nights in other properties, well that’s a lot of money. No matter how many nights YOU spend in hotels, finding some way to save on hotel spending would be nice, don’t you think?
I started asking around to see what simple ways people were using to save on hotel bookings, and because the people I hang out with are much smarter than I am, I learned a lot :) Here are 6 simple and easy ways to save money on your next hotel booking, and I saved the best for last!
1. An Instant 10% Hotel Rebate
Why not get a rebate when you book a hotel room? How does 10% sound? Hotels.com offers a free room for every 10 you book. Whatever you average spending on 10 booked nights, that’s what your free night is worth. No restrictions. They make it easy.
2. Use Easy Membership Discounts
When you’re a member of groups such as AAA or AARP you’ll receive special rates. Not at all hotels but at most of them, especially when making your reservation directly with the hotel. So even if no other special discounts exist, you can still save 10-15% on the rate by using these discounts.
3. Change The Website Address You Book Your Hotel From
Did you know that switching from one version of your favorite booking website to another can sometimes save big bucks? By clicking in the corner of a web page to change to a different country website version, you’ll notice different prices. You’ll be amazed when you start to check into this. One other trick is something people often do when saving on airfare, but it’s also great for looking at hotel rates. Try using a VPN so the hotel booking websites think you’re in a different country. I use one called ExpressVPN and love it! It may not seem fair that location matters in pricing, but it does, so why not take advantage of knowing how to work around this and save some money?
4. Use Special Cash And Points Hotel Rates
Sometimes we think of points equaling free hotel nights but I’m a huge fan of using cash and points rates. I probably use cash and points more than either cash or points only. You have to do the math and come up with a value of savings you’re happy with. And don’t forget that if you don’t have any hotel points, you can transfer AMEX, Citi Thank You, or Chase points into points at hotel chains. Marriott, IHG, Hyatt and Hilton all offer cash and points rates.
5. Use Private Rates Instead of Public Room Rates
“Give us your email address and we’ll give you a better rate”. You’ve seen this teaser on booking sites, I’m sure. It might just PAY to do this. Hotels and booking sites aren’t allowed to publish certain prices publicly, but by entering your email address, you technically join their membership club which then enables them to show you those private better rates. Sometimes private rates are as much as 30% lower than public rates, so if you find a “club” that gets you great discounts, giving up an email address can be worth it.
6. And best of all… Pruvo All Your Hotel Reservations
Pruvo tracks hotel reservations from ANY website, as long as the reservation is free cancellation. It’s like an insurance policy for your hotel reservations, only it’s free to use. If the price goes down, you score. If the price doesn’t go down, at least you know you’re getting the best possible price. It’s a no-brainer to let Pruvo do what it does best while you go on about planning the rest of your trip.
What’s your favorite way to save on hotels? Share your tricks, so we can all save some money!
I spend four or five months a year at hotels, most of them outside the US, nearly all of them independent, and when I visit places I haven’t been before I sift the wheat from the chaff through online user reviews at sites like tripadvisor. I book for a single night through an OTA, like hotels dot com or booking dot com. If I enjoy the first night, I negotiate for the rest of my stay — and I’ve been offered room rate reductions ranging from zero to more than 70% in the past couple years. You’ll just never know unless you ask.
You’re a pro, Mike. I agree, you never do know unless you ask. Thanks for reading and offering your suggestions.
I actually used ExpressVPN a few months ago to look for airfare. Took a while but I found a few good options.
Great. I love ExpressVPN. Been using it for a few years now. Thanks for reading, Jessie.