How to find a cheap hotel

Oct 20
06:54

2010

Jessica Scott

Jessica Scott

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When traveling, the cost of the hotel room can be a serious portion with the expenses incurred...

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When traveling,How to find a cheap hotel Articles the cost of the hotel room can be a serious portion with the expenses incurred. If you want to travel in style, but don't want to put yourself into debt, you're going to need to do a little bit of digging around to find the best deal. In this guide on how to book a cheap hotel room, we will demonstrate the best ways to discover cheap hotel rooms, without getting stuck in the Bates Motel.

Depending on how you discover it, the rate for just one hotel room can vary wildly. Your job as a savvy traveler is to discover the best room at the cheapest price. If you go into this process blind, then you are almost always gonna pay more. Here, we're going to give you suggestions on how you can use the ability of the Internet as well as your special charm, persuasion, and moxie to find the room of and for your dreams.

Step 1: Verify Price Comparison Sites

* Price comparison websites just like Findhotelaz, SideStep, Yahoo! Farechase and Kayak will check multiple websites, including hotel consolidator and booking services, for hotel room prices. They should then tell you very cheap price found.

1. Go to the websites for findhotelaz...

2. Input the name of the country and your city of travel into the appropriate boxes.

3. Click on "Find Hotels".

4. Note the lowest price you have found for the hotel(s) you are interested in, as well as the name of the website offering that price. Many will offer the chance to click through to the reservations area.

Step 2: Call the Hotel

* By calling the hotel directly, you are able to frequently get a lower rate than the one advertised on the web. However, you have to call the hotel itself, not the national 800 number, to get these rates.

1. To look up the phone number of the particular hotels you've noted in Step 1, go to Google Maps and click on "Find Businesses."

2. Type the name of the hotel into the "What" box.

3. Type the city the hotel is located in into the "Where" box.

4. Click "Search Businesses".

5. Check to ensure it is similar hotel you found in Steps 1 and 2: some chains have multiple hotels with similar names in the same city.

6. Call the local number of the hotel. It will be the number that does not have the "800" area code. You will get a greater rate by talking to the hotel directly than by calling their national 800 number.

7. Ask what their rate is for the dates you would like to stay there.

8. In case you are a frequent guest of a unique hotel chain, booking from your hotel chain will garner points and amenities that booking through a third-party web service will not.

Step 3: Ask for a Discount

* Always request a discount when you speak to the hotel. If they don't offer you a discount, ask them if they will upgrade you to definitely a greater class of room at that rate.

1. While speaking to the hotel, ask, "Is it possible for me to obtain a cut rate?" or "I was hoping to pay quite less." Don't say, "I found a better rate on the Web"; they'll just tell you to book it on the Web.

2. Some specific rates you can ask for: rate to get a death or major illness in family, church rate, government rate, weekend rate (if the hotel is not full, you obtain this on weekdays too), reunion rate. Corporate rates will be good, but it depends on the corporation and the hotel.

3. Be nice. The nicer you're, the more likely you are to get a better rate or an upgrade.

4. Call after the reservation office has closed for the evening; the front desk clerk, if he or she isn't busy, is more likely to give you a lower rate than the reservation office or the hotel manager is.

5. If the clerk is busy, offer to call back; being considerate of the clerk's situation may also assist you to obtain a discount.

Step 4: Ask to Match the Lowest Rate

* Often, hotels will match the lowest rate you've found online. Additionally, many chains have programs in which they offer big discounts if you discover a rate less than their lowest rate.

1. If their lowest rates aren't just the one you found online, ask if they will match the rate you found.

2. Many chains have a Lowest Rate Guarantee program. If you find a rate lower than the lowest one they offer on their website, they will give you an even more deeply discounted rate. See below for several chains' programs. Remember to read the fine print!

Conclusion:

While there are many sites on the Internet that will tell you that you can get the best rate through them, in the end, the best way to obtain a hotel room on the cheap,that isn't a dump, is to do some sleuthing in your own. Nothing beats the persuasive power of a phone call towards the hotel itself. Remember: it never hurts to ask. Of course, you can even make out like a bandit by bidding on the room you want. No hotel wants their beds empty.