The three of us are headed out of town in the near future so I’ve been doing a bit of hotel researching. During my searching, I discovered something interesting that may help you save on your next hotel stay!
I started out by looking for hotel on sites like Expedia, Priceline, Kayak and the like. Those sites are supposed to be a way to get a great deal, right? Well, as I discovered, not always. There was one hotel in particular that caught my eye, and I wanted some more information, so I headed directly to their website. Low and behold, I discovered that if we booked our stay right through their website, we saved quite a bit more than booking through Expedia, Priceline, etc. Plus, we got free breakfast! (not included if booked through one of those third party sites.) Score!
To see if my theory was right, I checked out a few more hotels. I compared the third party pricing with the actual website pricing. I found that often times it was cheaper to book directly through the hotels website. Not always, but enough to make me do my research next time we need a hotel. 🙂
Do you have any tips for saving on hotels?
I have done this many times too. The rates I found on the hotels’ own websites were often lower if not the same as the ones on the other so-called discount sites. Last year, I was able to obtain a cheaper hotel rate (50% cheaper!) than what a reputable travel agent had found me for the same hotel, which once documented forced the travel agency’s price-matching policy to kick in and they gave me the reduced price too. So, some extra research when booking hotels is not a bad thing, and may pay off big time.
I have done the same, with online deals and groupons. I have called to ensure availability for my dates and have been offered direct booking at the lowest offer directly with hotels. And this way am also given regular cancellation policy and not had to pre pay!
I have found this to be true also. I now almost always book directly with the hotel.