Who doesn’t love to get away for a little while? What you may not love is spending a lot of money on a hotel room. It’s not much of a vacation if you’re stuck in your room without any money to spend on attractions. Thankfully, there are ways to save money on hotels.
Plan Your Trip During the Off-Season
One of the best tips for saving money is to avoid peak-season. For example, spring break is usually peak-season for most beaches. On the other hand, fall is peak-season for areas that see beautiful fall foliage. Research the area you want to visit and see when hotel prices are the cheapest. In really popular areas, waiting a few weeks can save you hundreds of dollars.
Schedule Your Trip to Avoid Weekends
Taking your vacation mid-week can save you a lot of money. Hotel prices are usually higher on Fridays and Saturdays. Also, tourist areas are more crowded on the weekends. Plan your trip for Sunday – Thursday and you’ll not only save money but also not have to deal with the crowds. This can make your trip much more enjoyable.
Compare Prices
You can compare prices on your own or use a website (like Trivago) that does it for you. With that said, you can sometimes negotiate a better deal on your own than with a website. If you find two hotels you like, put them against each other. Tell one hotel that you can get the other room for less and go back and forth until you get an awesome price.
Use a Promo Code
You can also find promo codes to use when booking your hotel room. Many of these codes are to be used with hotel booking sites like Expedia and Hotels.com. However, these codes can save you a bit of extra money, such as $40 off when you spend $300 or more on 3+ nights. Make sure to read the fine print to see if the code is worth using.
Consider a Bundle
Vacation bundles can sometimes save you money. You’ll want to compare your costs both bundled and not to make sure you are indeed saving money. Some people often turn to travel agencies, but again, make sure you know what the regular price would be so you can see if the agency is actually saving you money.
A vacation doesn’t have to cost an arm and leg. You can save money on hotels. All you need to do is invest a bit of time comparing prices and traveling during the off-season during the middle of the week.
Sofia
Great tips Corrie. Forgot to mention tracking price drops after booking using free services like Pruvo. Saved me $232 on a hotel I booking in Prague in July