On Wednesday, we did flights – today it is all about saving money on the accommodation.
Here are our 6 top tips get ensure you are getting your money’s worth with accommodation when on holiday.
Choose Your Location Wisely
If you’re heading to a big city or popular location, be aware of the convenience tax. The convenience tax is something we have just made up but you will ALWAYS pay more to stay in a central location closer to the tourist attractions than a hotel on the outskirts of a city. But a couple of other factors that should be considered – are you familiar with the area? If not, is it safe? Are there reasonable transport links to the location of the hotel? Do these run 24/7? If the answers to those questions are yes, it may be worth expanding that location toggle on search engines to open up the radius of hotels by a few more miles.
Revisit the Same Hotel
Similarity to frequent flyer programs, hotels reward loyalty. If you stay at the same group of hotels when you travel, you can often benefit from reward rates, free stays AND points (and in most cases a upgrade for free).
Similar to airlines, some of the larger hotel groups may also have a credit card associated with them so when you make a purchase with their card, you receive points toward a free hotel stay.
Consider an Alternative to Hotels E.G. Airbnb
There are lots of other alternatives to a traditional hotel – hostels, Airbnb’s, couchsurfing, family run BnBs, or even camping are cheaper alternatives.
Review what’s included in the deal.
Some hotels charge extra for breakfast, water, car parking, using the phone/internet and iron just to name a few – make sure you are aware of all the extras you might have to pay for before using the services.
Monitor Sites For Deals
Hotels.com, Trivago and Expedia are all great sites for monitoring the sea of hotels out there for the best deals. Also consider sites such as Gropon and Wowcher as they buy hotel rooms in block packages and sell them off at reduced prices.
Use downtime days/periods to your advantage
Plan your trip around a Sunday night, even if it means taking an additional day off work. These are often downtime days for hotels, so hotels put their costs down as they work on a demand driven model. Additional benefits of travelling off season come in the form of hotels being less crowded too.
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