Where To Find The Best Hotel Rooms Discounts Now

I previously used last minute reservation sites, and often found great hotel deals in all price ranges, especially within the 14 days just prior to arrival. Lately, however, it seems that things have really changed.

Here’s the bad news on last minute sites:

Wotif and Need it Now, no longer have the great deals that they used to. I mentioned this before, and it seems more true now than ever.

Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.Com and others are coming on strong, but are still generally lacking great deals. I think it’s because the hotels pay an exhorbitant charge to these agencies when we use them.

Travelzoo has occasionally good last minute deals including hotel rooms. I’ve found these not so much in their newsletter, but directly on the Travelzoo site. They tend to change very frequently and take lots of checking. If they are good they are gone fast, while I’ve found other offers don’t seem to be bookable at all.

Priceline and Hotwire can be great, but to get their best deals, you won’t know exactly where you are staying until after you pay. For me, that’s a deal breaker. Others who use these sites successfully have suggested bidding for a hotel that’s rated one star higher than you would otherwise accept as a way to counter the unknown factor.

What is causing the change in discounting practices?

Hotels are desperately trying to find the best way to park the most heads in their beds without paying from 10-30 percent in exchange for having an online agency sell their last minute inventory.

As the travel industry continues to contract with the economy, hotels are much in the same position as airlines.

With fewer people traveling, it becomes ever more essential to fill each room at the greatest possible rate. A huge part of that equation is removing expensive middle-men.

Five Tips on Finding Hotel Deals in Today’s Market:

1. Check the hotel sites directly. These sites continue to get better. Marriott is a good example of an excellent site, and is among the most popular of the direct booking sites.

2. Search the Internet for discount codes for the hotel brand and city you are interested in. Just be sure it’s a publicly available code. Otherwise you could have the rate refused upon arrival.

3. Costco, AAA and AARP, among others, have negotiated deals that are sometimes worth looking at.

4. Never hestitate to call a hotel property directly and ask about available discounts, or if you see a better deal on another site. It’s possible they will negotiate.

5. Always have a cancellable reservation on hand from the beginning of your travel plans. Then keep checking all of the likely sources so you can change if something else pops up. As an example, for our upcoming trip to NYC, I’m on reservation number three. Each time I’ve changed reservations, the quality of the hotel has gone up, while the cost has gone down.

What hotel booking tips and tricks are working for you?