The challenge: Which web site
should be used to shop for hotels for travel within the US? Where do you
quickly and easily find the lowest prices? I took some of my hotel stays in
the US and compared prices for trips over the next few months. I included
AAA, AARP as well as corporate discounts, and priced a room for one or two
people for trips of one to seven nights. If you really don't care about the
specifics of your hotel, give Priceline
or Hotwire a try. There are very
helpful message boards that are a "must read" before bidding, so visit
Bidding For Travel and
BetterBidding first.
Bottom line: Use
Kayak and
Travelaxe Pro in combination. Both Kayak and Travelaxe Pro have excellent
user interfaces with lots of filters to make searching easier. They sweep other sites for
prices and then take you to the site with the lowest price. Kayak has
the ability to remember your prior searches (if you login) so hotels that
you examined or reserved before are listed first. Even if you know where you want to stay,
it pays to shop around because the
hotel's web site provided the lowest price in only 60% of the inquiries.
Kayak
and Travelaxe Pro rarely take you directly to the hotel company's web
site to make the reservation. So be prepared to forfeit your frequent
guest credits unless you want to do extra shopping or pay more. This
is because most hotels give frequent guest credit only when you make reservation
directly on their
web site. Never the less, present your frequent guest card when you
check-in, it may increase the chances of a room upgrade. For domestic
airfare searches, Kayak usually takes you directly to the airline's web site
(something you want to do in almost all air travel situations).
Travelaxe Pro is a program that you download to your PC (no Mac version). It
updates itself when necessary and does not include any "spyware" or
malicious code. The only
"downside" is that it takes a few minutes to complete a search
because it depends upon other web sites for prices. Some of those sites
can be slow to respond and until all sites have returned results, the lowest
price may not have been found. A few of the sites searched by
Travelaxe Pro do not have "real time" prices so you may find that a rate is
no longer available. When that happens, go back and select the next
lower price and try again.
Join their frequent guest programs:
Although I don't usually stay in the same family or chain of hotels, by
joining frequent guest programs, I've been upgraded many times. It's worth
the time and effort.
If you are looking for advice about which hotel is
best for your trip, I suggest the forums at
TripAdvisor and
Fodors. There have been
articles written that suggest some reviews have been authored by hotel
employees. I suggest that you check both sites for the most complete story.
Tips to save more: If the hotel
that you prefer is priced too high, you may find a cheaper hotel
near-by. The mapping feature of these sites can be very helpful in finding
something next door or across the street.
Full payment for your reservation is often required
to get the lowest prices. Severe cancellation penalties and charges for
changing a reservation are the norm for the lowest prices. If your
hotel allows you to easily cancel your reservation, it
may be worth checking at least once a week to see if the price has dropped.
If it has dropped, cancel and re-book at the lower price.
When calling reservation centers, you MUST ask for
their lowest available price, not just AAA or AARP.
Resort charges may be buried in the
reservation at "resort" hotels or properties. You may discover them
only when you check out. I strongly object to resort charges because
they are usually "mandatory" but not included in the results during initial
inquiry and comparison. If there is any doubt about them, call the
hotel before you make a reservation and inquire. Ask about resort
charges when you check in. When I encounter them, I speak to the agent
or the manager and ask them to be removed.
How to get a hotel room when they're all
booked: Trying to leave Chicago O'Hare, it was 4:30 PM and snowing
heavily. The airport was closing; very few flights were getting in or
out. I called our corporate travel department and asked them to find a
hotel room for me. There was nothing available within 20 miles! I
remembered that most non-guaranteed room reservations are canceled at 6:00
PM. I went to the luggage area and viewed the board that displays all of
the local hotels. I started calling the hotels (using my cell phone
because the attached phones were in use) and asked how many non-guaranteed
reservations they had. The first hotel I called was on the airport property
and while they were officially full, they had more than enough
non-guaranteed rooms to assure a room for me.
How to get a good hotel rate when you're
stuck due to weather: Very few airlines will pay for hotels unless you have elite status or unusual circumstances. Most
"walk-up" hotel rates are near the maximum even if you try AAA or AARP.
However, if you use the words "distressed passenger rate" and are
kind/courteous at the check-in counter, you may get a lower rate. That
translates to "take pity on me, please." Don't try this if it's 80
degrees and sunny.
Hotel's lowest rate guarantees:
many hotels are claiming that the lowest prices are available on their web
site or through their reservation centers rather then via various other web
sites. The fine print often stipulates that group discounts (AAA, AARP,
etc.) can not be considered in the low rate guarantee. I find that this
exclusion makes the guarantee worthless.
$20 or free upgrade at Las Vegas hotels: For
$20, you may receive a room upgrade. Check the results from others and
learn how it works at
http://www.TheTwentyDollarTrick.com/. Have you ever called a Las
Vegas hotel and been asked "what brings you to Las Vegas?" This is the
time to mention your anniversary, birthday or other special celebration.
When you check in, the agent will look at the notes taken during your
earlier phone call and may offer a no-cost upgrade.
Want to delay your check out? Many
hotels will allow you to delay your room departure without charge if you
ask. Call or visit the front desk as early in the day because they may
be able to accommodate only a few guests. It helps if you are a member
of their frequent guest program.
Hotels
have reduced the number of rooms that they sell at a discount to other web
sites and consolidators. This poses real challenges for these sites; their
best option is to promote packages of airfare and hotel to mask the
individual component prices.
Credit was given (in red text) for a web site if
it had the lowest of price (or close) without visiting the hotel's web site.
