How to book your hotels for the best prices?

[Fedup]

I've been looking at hotels in places that I want to book for my travel next year. But some of them are real pricey if you want the option with free cancellation. What do you do to get the best prices without being locked up months ahead? I rarely paid for trip cancellation. Last year I used free reward points for 21 days in continental Europe. I figured if I lose the reward points, it was not a big deal. For U.K., I only prebook for hotels about 2 weeks ahead except for the pad I rented in London.

[Lsbcal]

I have not found any magic formula. We generally stay at mid range hotels and for Europe book far in advance. For instance, I booked for the Netherlands/Austria trip in December. I just think the better reviewed hotels (Rick Steves, Tripadvisor, etc) have more available if you do it early. Besides, when it's raining in December it's kind of nice to think about a warm summer trip.

I always book directly with the hotel. We have used Chase rewards a bit but I've only used them for cancellable hotels. We have sometimes paid a bit of a premium for the cancel option. The Chase Sapphire card has trip cancellation insurance so that could be a fallback.

[Breedlove]

We usually follow the local forums for the area you want to stay . We normally stay in B&B like in Holland and once you get to know people word is passed around . We are staying downtown Amsterdam for Kings Day end of April 85 Eu a night . We will stay in Brussels also a B&B a block from the grand square for 89 EU a night .

If you go to the Kraz. a block away 400Eu same time , much nicer but too much for our blood.

Trust the locals.

[Fedup]

I tried to look at the option that I book directly with the hotel and save 30% if staying longer than 6 days. But I didn't know whether it was cancellable.
The price of the hotels at these fancy resorts in French Polynesia that I'm looking at could go up in the $700-$800 per day for free cancellation. I know booking.com has ad for $300-$400 range but those prices are for non cancellation and not over the water bungalows.
I'm thinking of using my free hotel night from hotels.com, after booking 10 nights somewhere cheap like Las Vegas. But I wonder can you save those free nights for somewhere more expensive?

[cathy63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I tried to look at the option that I book directly with the hotel and save 30% if staying longer than 6 days. But I didn't know whether it was cancellable. The price of the hotels at these fancy resorts in French Polynesia that I'm looking at could go up in the $700-$800 per day for free cancellation. I know booking.com has ad for $300-$400 range but those prices are for non cancellation and not over the water bungalows. I'm thinking of using my free hotel night from hotels.com, after booking 10 nights somewhere cheap like Las Vegas. But I wonder can you save those free nights for somewhere more expensive?

The way hotels.com does "free" nights is they calculate the average cost of the 10 nights you paid for, and you can use it as a credit towards the next night you book. There are a few hotels where you can't spend your reward, but not many. So anyway, in your case, if you find a place in Vegas for $80/night and you spend 10 nights there, the most you're going to get is an $80 credit towards the expensive French Polynesian hotel.

Good luck finding a bargain in French Polynesia!

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cathy63 The way hotels.com does "free" nights is they calculate the average cost of the 10 nights you paid for, and you can use it as a credit towards the next night you book. There are a few hotels where you can't spend your reward, but not many. So anyway, in your case, if you find a place in Vegas for $80/night and you spend 10 nights there, the most you're going to get is an $80 credit towards the expensive French Polynesian hotel. Good luck finding a bargain in French Polynesia!

Thank you. That's good to know about hotels.com.

[braumeister]

Just as with overseas airfares, I find I usually get the best hotel rates the farther ahead I book them.

Example: I currently have a popular hotel booked for August in Germany. I made the booking in February and it is already 10 Euro a night higher now. As time goes on, that rate will continue to creep upward. By the time we get there I expect the rate to be another 20 Euro a night higher, if there are even any rooms still available. I can cancel any time, but would have to pay 90% of the first night's cost. That's fair in my book.

[Fedup]

I think I might go a different route then hotels. But I'm waiting to book my airfare first before I book them.

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup Thank you. That's good to know about hotels.com.

In our experience booking.com is more flexible than hotels.com. If your plans do not change I suspect you will be fine but we had to make some last minute changes in Croatia and Booking was much better. I think it may have been a function of the hotels involved in Dubrovnik versus Pula.

[braumeister]

Agree. Booking.com is superior to hotels.com in my experience.

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan In our experience booking.com is more flexible than hotels.com. If your plans do not change I suspect you will be fine but we had to make some last minute changes in Croatia and Booking was much better. I think it may have been a function of the hotels involved in Dubrovnik versus Pula.

I agree with you. But I usually check all websites and book the one that gives me the best price and most flexibility. Booking.com is excellent. I cancelled my booking and rebooked many times of the same hotel to get better prices. I'm thinking of going through airbnb or Vrbo now. But my brother just called me and said he booked his trip to Barcelona and Italy through airbnb. So I might try that. I never used airbnb before, let's hope there won't be any problem. He said I need a Facebook account which I don't have yet.

[Lsbcal]

I am wondering why people are going to booking sites rather then directly to the hotel site? Am I missing something?

Here is one article on why one might book directly: 3 reasons to book directly with hotels | One Page | Komando.com

[Totoro]

We probably have dissimilar travel styles. I basically like to go wherever tourism has a slump, and don't book in advance.

Went to Egypt last winter - plenty of space and lots of discounts with full flexibility. Did Sri Lanka, Nepal, Madagascar, Bali .. the same way: a little while after, or during issues.

Don't do this in popular places, you'll get stranded.

Also, hostels and family run places usually are more flexible. Hotel chains and resorts have poor flexibility.

[CaptTom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal I am wondering why people are going to booking sites rather then directly to the hotel site? Am I missing something? Here is one article on why one might book directly: 3 reasons to book directly with hotels | One Page | Komando.com

That's what I usually do. I use Google or Expedia or whatever to identify the hotels in the area, and the general price range of each. Usually there's a clear winner, and a few runner-ups. Then just call down the list.

Just last month I had a flight cancelled due to weather. I was in a strange city late in the evening, and realized that everyone else in the airport was in the same predicament. Hotels would be at a premium soon. I pulled out the phone, fired up Google Maps, found a few nearby hotels with free airport shuttles, called the cheapest one that fit my needs and got the same price that Google had listed.

[audreyh1]

I book directly with the hotels, and I don't fall for the prepaid deals unless that's all that is left - too risky.

[Starsky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I've been looking at hotels in places that I want to book for my travel next year. But some of them are real pricey if you want the option with free cancellation. What do you do to get the best prices without being locked up months ahead? I rarely paid for trip cancellation. Last year I used free reward points for 21 days in continental Europe. I figured if I lose the reward points, it was not a big deal. For U.K., I only prebook for hotels about 2 weeks ahead except for the pad I rented in London.

Booking.com is excellent for this. I regularly book hotel rooms way in advance and cancel the ones I don't want. I love it for planning trips that might change.

[TallTim]

We have had good experiences with Orbitz and so-so with booking.com. Our issue w the latter was not flexibility but it was not getting reward points on reservations made with booking in hotels where we were members of their frequent guest program. It ultimately was fixed in one case and not fixed in another - so we stopped using them. Also the way they allocated the award credits/nights, as noted above, was a pain.

we first check Orbitz or Kayak and then the hotel's own website or the corporate site for a global chain and cost compare.

One potential solution to address the non-refundable rate (assuming you are OK with tying up the cash) is to buy 'cancel for any reason' travel insurance and then pay the non-refundable rate. It's been our experience that the travel ins is 6-8% of the trip cost, which can be less than the difference of the prices between cancellable and not hotel rates. This can help with booked far in advance trips when things might happen to alter or cancel the trip. (E.g. summer EU trips or winter S Pacific stuff that you have to book way ahead and costs $$$).

[Fedup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TallTim We have had good experiences with Orbitz and so-so with booking.com. Our issue w the latter was not flexibility but it was not getting reward points on reservations made with booking in hotels where we were members of their frequent guest program. It ultimately was fixed in one case and not fixed in another - so we stopped using them. Also the way they allocated the award credits/nights, as noted above, was a pain. we first check Orbitz or Kayak and then the hotel's own website or the corporate site for a global chain and cost compare. One potential solution to address the non-refundable rate (assuming you are OK with tying up the cash) is to buy 'cancel for any reason' travel insurance and then pay the non-refundable rate. It's been our experience that the travel ins is 6-8% of the trip cost, which can be less than the difference of the prices between cancellable and not hotel rates. This can help with booked far in advance trips when things might happen to alter or cancel the trip. (E.g. summer EU trips or winter S Pacific stuff that you have to book way ahead and costs $$$).

Thank you for your post. I'm curious, who do you buy the travel insurance from. I might look into that.

[TallTim]

We have used AIG and Allianz in the past, and have actually had to make 2 claims - one for my wife for a trip to Myanmar following a death in her side of the family and another for our whole family for a trip to Maccu Pichu that was messed up by the sale of my former employer.

We found there was some level of hassle involved, but ultimately it worked well, and even net of premiums it was FAR better than being out thousands of dollars in each case.

You can go t insuremytrip.com and generate multiple quotes by providing some info about your trip (dates, costs, locations) and selecting a level of coverage (cancel for medical reason, cancel for any reason, medical evacuation, etc ..) Pricing for these plans varies WIDELY, so it's worth it to shop around and check the scope of coverage carefully .. but we've come to do it routinely for big trips, esp outside the US.

[brett]

We may start with booking.com or tripadvisor but we invariably try to contact the property and book direct. Quite often we get better terms, a breakfast included, or a refused rate. Last month we stayed at a family operated resort in Costa Rica. We saw it on booking. We emailed them directly. We realized. 15
Percent discount by doing this and by paying cash. We have this at numerous other properties.

We also use Priceline bidding and Hotwire in some cities. We also use hotel reward plans like Marriott, Accor, Melia, etc. They sometimes have excellent specials that are not advertised.