Hi peeps! One of my new year's resolutions is to travel more in 2024 (both domestically in Australia and overseas) - one of the things I've been wondering is how best to save money on hotels. Any tips or experience you can share on this would be greatly appreciated!
Tips for Saving Money on Hotels Please?
Lalchemist16 on 31/01/2024 - 08:04
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A call to the hotel asking if they have a better offer than the best price you find online sometimes works, especially last minute bookings.
And vice versa, sometimes it is much cheaper to book online at a place you have stopped at in the spur of the moment on a roadtrip.I use Agoda, booking.com and TripAdvisor as my starting searches. Also I google for a special offer or coupon for the hotel name.
Thanks a lot! Good to see some genuine responses :) Appreciate that
Yeah call and book direct. Direct bookings save the hotel a lot in commission which can be up to 30% of the total!
But rarely cheaper. I don't think I have ever booked direct as it's always dearer.
Don't book non-refundable so you can cancel without penalty if you find a better hotel/price
Please correct me if I'm wrong, isn't non refundable can be way cheaper?
Not really. I'd rather book refundable hotels just in case. You could also have your plans go awry
It can be but usually it is not much cheaper.
From my experience in working in hotels - no matter which rate you choose can always be refunded more than 24hrs out if booked direct (and you have at least a reasonable excuse for non-xcl rate)
Bring termites with you and complain before checking out.
Maybe start a business: Selling bedbugs for frugals?
Low reward, sky high risk
Take all the complimentary items when you leave.
turn air con on
lock up the minibar
take the batteries from the controllerSave some tea for refilling the whiskey bottles in the mini bar.
Take some of that cold air home - brilliant!
protip : check OzB for deals on ballooons and portable compressors
the air won't be as cold, but you'll get more of it - think of it like having compression cubes for your atmosphere
Use multiple slabs like tablets on comparison sites.
If you stumbled on a too good to be true offer leave the tablet where it is and continue on the next one.
Before even starting have cookies cleaned out else they know your level of desperation vs frugality.
Depending on the site, it may be worth checking out the price in incognito
Get a room with 3 beds and sublet the other 2
nice! charge the wife and kids!
Own a hotel
On Mayfair?
Many countries offer cheaper rates for single occupancy even in a double room. They are often not advertised on booking websites and need to booked direct.
Oh that's interesting to know! Thanks
I make refundable bookings at my preferred hotels so I can progress my itinerary planning. I also subscribe to any newsletters or free memberships to get updates on rates and promotions. Closer to departure I re-check both refundable and advance purchase rates listed at both the booking site and directly with the property. If you're travelling in low occupancy periods it's worth phoning hotels to get their best rate. I also check for inclusions that may not be bundled by the booking sites. A recent example: I cancelled a refundable booking and made a reservation direct with a property in Switzerland while adding private transfers and half-board.
Thanks for that
cashback
Book when there are upsized cashback or discount offers.
yeah. im getting $40 back not much but its something.
Good idea. What cashback website is good for hotels?
Camp out and also you could find a place that does volunteering and in return gives you a place to stay.
Travel in low or shoulder seasons to get cheaper rates or to have more bargaining power.
Use the same app so that you get a loyalty discount. For example I use Booking.com and my prices are at times cheaper than my partner when they search the same hotel without the loyalty "genius" discount. Double check other sites before you pay however to make sure they are the cheapest.
Low season travel is a must for cheaper hotel rates. I saved $3k at a resort just by going a month later
wow that's a lot. I will keep that in mind
Travel in off-peak season.
Sort by "lowest to high price"
Have low expectations.
Have low expectations.
and then lower them some more.
Couch surf overseas. You'll meet some cool peeps.
I've been wondering is how best to save money on hotels.
Don't stay in hotels….. Sleep in the car on a park bench. Pretend to be homeless, you might even make some money!
book hilton motel and not hilton hotel
Churn credit card and use frequent flyer points to book hotel!
I’m going to Italy in May and hotels are so expensive there. I find the Agoda app to be good (easy to save favorites) but I also check Trivago & Booking.com websites. Once I’ve selected a hotel then I’ll check the rates in the hotels own website. If you’re going somewhere with high availability then you can get free cancellation and pay later with a good price. Places with low availability you will pay around 25% extra for cancellation and pay later inclusions. If you want to save money, work out your schedule first so you don’t need the cancellation option. Just having cancellation “just in case” will cost you.
'Just having cancellation “just in case” will cost you'
like paying for insurance - if you can afford the bad event, you don't need it.
if the bad event would bankrupt you or cost you years of savings, and you are at risk of actually needing to cancel (sick family, insecure finances, trouble at mill) then it might save you the total loss of the pre-booked expenses.
our best/cheapest travel between 2010-2015 was with https://www.couchsurfing.com/ - the FREE precursor to the paid Airbnb - met and stayed with wonderful people in the USA, Canada, England, France, and Japan for FREE - saved us so much money we'd spend maybe 1/4 of the cost of a hotel on gifts for our hosts who would then express delight
then Couchsurfing listed as a US B-corp (tax-exempt charity) and killed the chat groups which were the lifeblood - killed it dead as a doorknob - sad {sigh}
I’ve just organised a holiday in Asia and found that 1) you need to use all search engines and sites including booking, Agoda, TripAdvisor, qantas, Klook, trip and palago. Also check pricing on apps as they’re cheaper than the website. 2) Then once you have the best price and this is the important part, you need to find the best sequence. Eg I found on some hotels clicking from google to TripAdvisor cheaper than going to the best price on a site directly (including TripAdvisor direct). There are site referral discounts that bring the price lower. Next, booking free cancellation is not always cheaper as prices in some cities go up as you get closer to the date whilst others get cheaper. Booking direct always seems to be more expensive. 3) Once you book through a site, always reach out to the hotel directly to confirm your booking. Also once you book the hotel, join their free loyalty program to get additional benefits or upgrades and let them know you are a member. Finally watch out for phishing scams on booking.com as recently publicised. After all that, you’ll need a holiday to recover!
'you need to use all search engines and sites including booking, Agoda, TripAdvisor, qantas, Klook, trip and palago' … 'you need to find the best sequence'
interesting expression of need …
pls explain why I need to use all those search engines ?
Just be wary of theses type of occurrences too -
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/oct/23/bookingcom-cus…
i find its driven by location. its more expensive booking hotels in japan using au site. maybe try vpn.
Yeah this is interesting. My wife uses the Thai Agoda site and I use the English Australian one. She seems to get deals cheaper and simply not available on the AU version.
No need for VPN in our case though, both using the same Internet connection.
I noticed this as my wife had never used Agoda on her laptop whereas I was a registered user - her quote for one hotel was about $70 cheaper than my quote for the same thing
so maybe if you clear cookies that might help - not sure about incognito mode …
Is Thai Agoda in Thai-nese language and in Baht money ?
Yep. You could use browser translator though to get around it.
Wow, I never would have thought of this.
Thanks!
More of an increased value than a cheaper price but Booking.com and the like charge quite a fee if a place is booked through them. If you book direct through the place you want to stay, more likely than not they'll throw in bonuses like a bottle of bubbly. It can be cheaper sometimes as well.
I find going thru a price comparison site, like TripAdvisor or HotelsCombined, then clicking thru to the accom site (booking.com, hotels.com, etc) often gets a better price. Also, hotels.com are often price competitive but also give you a free night for every 10 paid nights
Enjoy loooong Showers without worrying about the water bill.
Also, check any memberships that you have joined. NRMA, AGL, etc…. definitely some discounts to be found there.
If you're still "young" ( below 35 ) you will save a lot of money, and probably have a lot more fun, staying in hostels.
I asked a youtuber in NZ, they (a couple) mentioned how they get a $50 a night air bnb in Auckland - I'm pretty sure it's not a regular thing.
Heaps useful comment bro
'$50 a night air bnb in Auckland'
is that like the similar cost Airbnb in London - which is something like a 2-man tent on the living room floor of a studio unit, next to several other 2-man tents … ?
cool - glamping ? uh … ungh … where's that snoring coming from … ?
Park bench under a street light near a toilet block.
Depending on your employer, sometimes they have a corporate login that gives you very cheap deals, especially Accor.
Use cashback websites when you're booking through Expedia, Booking.com, etc. Book with the hotel directly if it's cheaper or the same price, but most of the time you can save up to 12% going through Shopback or Cashrewards.
I've personally redeemed around $5k in cashback from hotels back when I was travelling tons.
Hostel - these are fun, I prefer them over hotels
Was just about to say this. You meet people at hostels and chat about their journey and yours.
'You meet people at hostels and chat about their journey and yours.'
I'll guess only if they'd like to have sex with you.
My observation of hostels recently was individuals all sitting separately and alone carefully staring at their own small screen avoiding eye contact with everyone else.
Perhaps they’re looking up a Lonely Planet travel guide.
Join their loyalty program. You can get good discounts on food and beverage on property and collect points towards free stays. Some hotel loyalty programs also offer status match through frequent flyer programs for added benefits.
Agoda and booking.com have very weird dynamic pricing. I often find that if I go through enough comparison websites (google maps accommodation is a good place to start) one of them will undercut the other only on that platform. If you follow through the link you can often access a price you will never find on those websites if accessed directly.
Of course, always book direct if it's the same or cheaper.
Also, others have have suggested cashback apps. Just be careful because some of the sites just increase the prices to match (or exceed) whatever you're getting back.
That's interesting! Will give that a try and thanks for tip re cashback
Agoda is owned by Booking.com so it is now a subset of Booking.com so likely there'd be some interaction there
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booking_Holdings
https://www.agoda.com/info/about-agoda.html?cid=1844104&ds=Z…Makes sense. I probably should have just said the various 3rd party platforms as there's also a handful of others
use trip.com - book a few days before trip for last min discounts
risky but I get 20-30% off regularlynote don't do it for places with hotel shortage like Japan. this works for Vietnam/Bali/Thaland etc
Last minute discount - is this actually a thing? if there is nothing going on in the city you're going, then this is true, but if there is an event, price could have skyrocketed right?
Vietnam/Bali/Thaland - stayed in the biggest cities here - wouldn't say they are boring and worked everytime
if you have family/kids/picky wife - YMMVSorry, miss the fact you did say it's risky.
Upon check in at the counter, before they hand you the keys to your room, ask if there are any better rooms vacant for you to upgrade. In Vegas you used to be able to 'bribe' the person at the desk with some cash and they would put you into a much higher level room. Not sure if it still works these days.
good tip - start by being friendly, ask the staff behind the counter about themselves, get them smiling and laughing, and then ask nicely if they have anything better - they'll typically then go out of their way to find the best they can for you.
How long ago did that work for you?
1980
Almost 10 years ago (Vegas). Upgrades? 2023 in Bali actually.
This is actually a good topic, good job OP! Glad to see alot of us have similar approaches to looking for cheap accom
just waiting on most voted comments to build up votes and get the best tips
This issue has been mostly resolved. Specifically they have now introduced 2FA to the property accounts that were affected by the above incident. Like everything online there is still the risk for future attacks but I don't think this should affect OP's decision making in using booking.com
This is because booking.com has their loyalty program call "genius" which I find often undercuts even the hotel's own loyalty program discounts.
Hey OP also if you have friends or family in the Hotel industry ask them for their friends and family discount 😂. Sometimes this could be cheaper and some of them are even valid for overseas bookings in the same hotel chain they are working in.
Or try promo code “familyandfriends10”
Sometimes you can search the hotel through a site,enter the dates but not progress. Next day there is a discount code to continue the booking.
Scooping has some good accommodation deals.
be slutty ;-)