Unless you’ve got a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend, to crash with, many of us will eventually succumb to forking over the cash for a hotel from time to time.
As we’ve mention previously, while we’ve done our fair share of backpacking, James and I tend to fall a bit closer to the hotel snob side these days. If you are going to suck it up and take a real vacation, here are some of the tips to make the most of it.
Seek out Deals. You’d be amazed where you can find deals. Back in my pre-James days, an ex of my was clever enough to find 2-for-1 nights at Holiday Inns across the UK from the back cereal boxes. (Luckily he claimed to like the cereal as well!) Newspapers are also great for this.
Entertainment Card. For those who haven’t caught on to this secret, it’s good for much more than hotels alone. They used to have a flat 50% off all rooms, but now it tends to not be quite that good at all times. It still is a great deal. The book costs $30 a year, so if you use it once on a hotel you’ve saved money. If you haven’t heard of it, the card gets you 2-for-1 on tons of restaurants, entertainment, movies, card rental, etc.
Priceline. Frequent readers will know that I’m a fan of Priceline for hotels. For the full story you can check out an earlier post. The short story is that we got a suite at the best hotel in Portland, Oregon for $100 on the second night of our honeymoon.
Vacation Packages. It can also pay to look at full packages. It really can save you money to book everything at once.
Early Bird Specials. Pay attention to specials that may be offered by hotels. When I was checking hotels for our trip to Iceland in February they have a special for 50% off rooms if you purchase 60 days in advance.
Travel Off-Season. You might get better deals for traveling at non-peak times. Also look out for festivals, conferences, holidays, etc, where the price and availability will be unbearable.
Stay tuned for more on hotel points programs!
Cheers,
Miel
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