Your checklist to savings…
With just a few key strokes, you can turn a good hotel deal into a steal. Sometimes the best ways to save on travel don’t require any crazy tricks, or repelling upside down into the hotel database to name your own price, sometimes it’s the simple stuff that unlocks the most meaningful and instant savings. Here are 5 simple but highly effective ways to save money on your next hotel booking…
Have you ever been on a website that teases you with a “give us your email address to unlock better prices”? You should listen. Hotels and booking sites aren’t allowed to publish certain prices publicly, but by entering your email address, you technically become a member – which makes it private. Private rates are up to 30% lower than public rates and can unlock savings with just a few key strokes to add your email address.
Score An Instant 10% Hotel Rebate
Whatever you’re about to pay, why not get 10% back? Hotels.com offers a free room for every 10 you book. Whatever your average spending on the 10 booked nights is – that’s what your free night is worth. No red tape, restrictions or anything else. If you’d prefer cold hard cash, you could always use a site such as TopCashBack, or eBates – which often launch cash back deals for up to 12%. That’s cold hard cash back in your pocket.
Are you a member of AAA, AARP, RAC or any other acronym based group? If you’re not, many can be joined instantly for less than $15 a year. These groups receive special rates at most hotels, especially when booking direct with the hotel. So even if no other special discounts exist, you can still save 10-15% on the rate by using a discount such as AAA. And don’t tell anyone, but most hotels don’t even actually check to see if you’re a member!
Did you know that switching from one version of your favorite booking website to another can save $100’s? By clicking in the corner of a web page to change to a different country version, or entering a .com instead of .co.uk etc, you can see drastically different prices. The more you play around, the more savings you’ll potentially discover. If you want to take it to the next level, use a VPN to make websites believe you’re in another country!
Use Special Cash And Points Hotel Rates
Got some points laying around? Perhaps not enough for a free night, but enough to help? Cash and points rates are totally underrated. Even if you don’t specifically have any hotel points, you can convert Amex, Citi or Chase points into points with various hotel chains. This can turn a $300 a night hotel into 10,000 points and $100 per night hotel. You can use cash and points rates with Marriott, IHG, Hyatt and more. Much better!
I’ve actually used ExpressVPN to save on airline tix but never thought to try with hotels. Go figure…