How to Book Hotels at the Lowest Prices
By R Grant
Getting discount hotel reservations when you travel is not really that difficult when you know how.
Booking early is one of the best ways to get a discount hotel reservation. And the earlier you book your hotel room the more discount you may receive. Hotels manage their reservations to ensure that the hotel books the maximum number of rooms at the maximum room rate possible. And the hotel will certainly make sure that the number of bookings exceeds the hotel's break even point so that it is profitable. Hotels regularly release blocks of low cost rooms to the market to encourage people to make a reservation. These rooms will be only available several months into the future. The hotel will have blocks of medium priced rooms and blocks of high priced rooms. As the demand for rooms increases the hotel "sells" the cheapest rooms first leaving the blocks of higher priced rooms. Also as the demand for rooms increases the hotel will increase their room rates to match the demand.
Booking at the last minute can sometimes result in a significant discount for customers. When a hotel has not received enough bookings to be profitable, then the hotel may release a number of rooms to the market at a discount. However, customers may not be able to book the hotel of their choice. If you are not too fussy about where you stay booking a hotel at the last minute can sometimes work in your favour.
Avoid travel on religious, public or school holidays. There will be increased demand for hotel accommodation which leads to higher room rates. Hotels tend to receive bookings many months in advance giving hotels the chance to maximise their room rates to ensure the hotel is fully booked well before the holiday period.
Avoid travel in Peak Periods such as the middle of summer when visiting a beach resort or island. Likewise, avoiding the middle of winter if going on a skiing holiday. The Greek Islands are a very popular destination during the summer months with the peak during August when the Greeks are on holiday. I visited the Greek Islands during June; there was plenty of affordable accommodation and the weather was beautiful.
Avoid travel during a major event such as The Olympics. For example, when the Sydney 2000 Olympics were being staged I travelled to New Zealand. The number of tourists visiting New Zealand was at a low point and I booked some very good bargains and had the pick of hotels. Also there were no queues at any tourist attractions which makes your holiday so much more enjoyable.
Booking multiple nights at the same hotel often results in a discount for customers. I cannot count the number of times I have booked 3 or 4 nights and received a free night or some other benefit such as a free breakfast every day. Hotels offer this to encourage customers to stay longer as it saves the hotel money. A hotel would rather check-in one customer for five nights than check-in five customers one for each night. The hotel would save substantial check in and out costs, administration costs, cleaning costs advertising and agent booking fees.
Stay during the week and not on weekends can result in a significant discount for customers. This is very evident at entertainment hot-spots such as Las Vegas and Macau where gamblers fly in for the weekend. The hotel rate on Friday and Saturday nights is often double the Sunday to Thursday night rate. Many other international locations also have this weekend premium where travellers arrive for a weekend escape from the city. For example many Londoners travel to Paris for the weekend and many Greeks visit the Greek Islands on the weekends.
Stay a little further away from the centre of the action. When travelling to major cities and attractions, the nearer the hotel to the city or attraction the more you should expect to pay. If booking a hotel in a major city consider staying in the suburb just outside the central business district. If visiting a major tourist attraction, such as Disneyland, consider staying in the next suburb. The down-side, of course, is the extra travel cost but a $10 taxi fare may be a lot cheaper than the extra cost of the hotel room.
Booking on the Internet is the best way for customers to compare and shop for a hotel in any location in the world. There is huge choice for customers meaning huge competition for the hotels which keeps prices low. Also many of the best hotel deals are only released on the internet and are often only available until sold out. The internet allows you to enter your travel dates, check availability, compare prices, view photos of the hotel exterior and interior and read reviews hotel reviews from other travellers.
The booking is made in real-time so you know that once it has been confirmed the booking is complete. Most importantly, making a prepaid reservation will get you the cheapest hotel rates available. As your credit card is charged at the moment you make the booking everything is confirmed and arranged for you immediately.
And once the booking is complete the hotel check-in voucher is sent to your email address and can be printed out for presentation to the hotel on check-in. If you lose your voucher, don't worry, simply go to your email and print another one. Bookings can be altered or cancelled at any time however if the booking is changed within 72 hours before the check-in date there may be an administration fee charged by the hotel and this will vary from hotel to hotel.
HotelWorld [http://www.hotelworld.tv/] is one of the more popular hotel reservation sites. Hotel World has a fast, secure and easy to use discount hotel reservation service where customers can search for over 70,000 hotels in 126 countries.
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