“When all else fails, take a vacation”
(Betty Williams)
This section of the blog with tips and tricks travel, aims to help save your travel budget on a romantic getaway, on a family vacation, on a route with friends. We hope that our experience on how to find cheap hotels on the internet, will help you to squeeze the most out of your budget on your next trip; Because after all, there are certain hotels that are in themselves a travel experience….
We have several tricks to find cheap hotels and also accommodations with very interesting discounts: There are several tricks that always work and that will save you a good money in the reservation of your accommodation for your next vacation.
In this article we are going to give you many simple and basic tips to book hotels at the best price and also, we include a discount coupon, courtesy of Booking.com, so that your next reservation in your accommodation, will be much cheaper. Let’s go with the best tips to find hotels at the best price!:
1NEVER GOOGLE “CHEAP HOTELS”
Surprising right? Yes, 99% of travelers do it and large hotel chains and booking websites know it.
- Google is a service that benefits from the advertising of its advertisers and logically, the large hotel chains want to position themselves at the top of the list, therefore, it is not the best way to look for cheap accommodation.
- In the top positions of the searches, as you can see, not precisely the best cheap hotels come out, but the brands and companies that pay to appear first in the search engines. Try it and see the results…
- Instead, use hotel price comparators to find the best deals on vacations and accommodations but, equally, do not stay with the first results.
- The first positions, both in Google and in search portals, correspond to “recommended hotels”; That is, those hotels that have paid the portal to appear in the top positions and that are not necessarily the best, nor the cheapest.
2BE FLEXIBLE IN YOUR TRAVEL DATES TO FIND HOTELS AT THE BEST PRICE
Try to avoid high seasons, parties, bridges and local festivals. Although it is common sense, logically, on those dates prices skyrocket.
Even so, if your dates are fixed, there are always possibilities to find the best cheap accommodations: For example, in a weekend getaway, do not include Friday night. Try it and you will see how booking only on Saturday nights, or Saturday and Sunday, the average rate per day decreases considerably.
For reservations of many days, we advise you to avoid the weekend as much as possible. And if there is no choice, call the hotel directly and negotiate a better rate for long stay. You will be surprised at the results.
3ALWAYS APPLY FILTERS IN THE CHEAPEST HOTEL SEARCH ENGINES
If we are already clear about our place and travel dates, we mark our destination in the hotel search engine to get the cheapest accommodations and filter the following options or ranges:
Price
We indicate in the search filter the minimum and maximum that we are willing to pay for each night of stay.
Location
Eye!! We recommend selecting “center”, unless you are well informed of peripheral neighborhoods that are well connected and that logically, will have cheaper accommodation. At that point we must assess if it compensates, since sometimes transport is more expensive than the difference we save by looking for a cheap hotel further from the center. It will require a little research on your part: you value.
Services option
We mark those services that are essential to us. There are times when we overpay for extra hotel services, which we don’t really need. For example: if we are doing urban tourism, why pay more for a hotel offer with a pool, which will not give us time to use?
If we remove all those extras, we will see how the prices of the accommodations go down, returning results of only the hotels according to our real needs and therefore, it will help us get the best price.
Sort results
Then, ask the search engine to order the price from lowest to highest and by user score and that’s it!: In the top positions you will have the prices of the best cheap hotels with the best rating and best price.
4ALWAYS BOOK IN ADVANCE TO FIND ACCOMMODATION WITH GOOD PRICES
Another great tip on how to find cheap hotels is to book in advance. Yes, you read that right: the best prices always appear between 6 months (summer seasons) and 4 months before the travel date.
We do not say it, but the statistics: The farther the destination, the more time you will have to book. Why: Hoteliers want to secure early bird seats with good deals and get plenty of discounts on accommodation. As we get closer to the travel dates and the hotel fills up with reservations, prices go up.
But there are also exceptions: The opposite can also happen; That is, that the expectations of hotel sales are not met, that the dates of high season are approaching, and then we will see that hoteliers take out last-minute hotel offers (we have seen it quite a bit during periods of crisis / pandemic in beach hotel offers). That brings us to trick 5.
5ALWAYS BOOK ON PAGES THAT ALLOW FREE CANCELLATIONS AND WITHOUT PENALTIES
Let’s imagine that 4 months ago we have booked our dream hotel, but it turns out that for reasons x, it has not been filled and the travel date is approaching. You will see that there are hotels that take out “bargain deals”, usually at 24 0 48 hours before your date of entry to the hotel.
As we have free cancellation, we can always play it safe: make a new reservation at the price of the new offer and cancel the previous reservation.
Therefore, we recommend always checking the prices of the hotel even if we have already booked it months ago, sometimes we find good deals on last minute rates in hotels: Always book in hotels with free cancellation to benefit from these last minute offers in the accommodations.
6READ THE FINE PRINT WHEN BOOKING HOTELS WITH OFFERS: ANOTHER OF THE BEST TIPS ON HOW TO FIND HOTELS AT A GOOD PRICE
Reading the fine print well can avoid many dislikes: Sometimes, the final price of the hotel reservation does not include local taxes or taxes and when validating the purchase mysteriously appear supplements that scandalously increase the final price of the reservation, or worst of all, when paying at the hotel after your stay.
Value, in that case, other hotel prices that, although more expensive initially rate, will be cheaper in the end, by carrying all the extra charges included in the rate, which is shown from the beginning.
TRICKS ON HOW TO BOOK HOTELS WITH CHEAP RATES IF YOU TRAVEL WITH CHILDREN
An important detail to take into account when finding the best cheap accommodation deals for travelers traveling with children, are the charges that apply in hotels for the extra bed; For example, a double room sometimes makes it more expensive than if you book a triple room directly.
Other times, children under 12 years old (especially in Asia), stay for free if they share available beds with adults. Look at what type of bed is offered in the room, and if they are king-size beds, do not hesitate: it is a huge expense that you will save and that your budget will appreciate considerably.
The same goes for the breakfast option, if it is not included in the reservation: There are times when there is no possibility of breakfast in the surroundings and if it is an expense that you must pay every day, it will increase your accommodation budget considerably. In that case it will be convenient that you stay in another hotel that if contemplated it.
HOW AND WHERE TO FIND CHEAP HOTELS?: THE BEST PAGES TO BOOK ACCOMMODATION AT GOOD PRICES
7OPEN YOUR MIND AND EVALUATE OTHER OPTIONS TO FIND CHEAP ACCOMMODATION
Other options such as: Bed & Breakfast, apartments, or guest houses, and also “hostels” or hostels: you will enjoy a good atmosphere and save a lot of money.
Many hostels also have offers in double rooms with private bathrooms, at prices infinitely lower than a standard hotel. Value this option to find a very cheap place to sleep, without giving up your privacy.
You will find very authentic places at a good price that, due to their size or few rooms, cannot be offered in the big search engines. We love these options because they allow us to enjoy in a closer way the hospitality and attention of the local people.
We usually find very good deals in this type of accommodation, where, for example, we could rest in a family villa with swimming pool in front of the rice fields, on the island of Java, for only € 40 / day (all 3) with breakfast.
GET THE MOST OUT OF BOOKING WHEN LOOKING FOR ACCOMMODATION AT A GOOD PRICE
Booking is an excellent search engine that allows us to find many offers in the best hotels. For us, it is the best hotel search engine, since you can find nice and cheap hotels. But, to find good deals, there are two necessary filters you should use to find the best rates:
The filter that refers to the price range and that of special offers
If you activate both, you will be surprised by the results, especially in cities with a greater hotel offer such as Lisbon, London, or Madrid.
Feel free to apply the review filter
We have verified that an accommodation must have a score of at least 8, to meet all our expectations.
Do not hesitate to take advantage of the minimum price guaranteed: Booking will improve the price if you find a better offer in other search engines.
Benefit from their loyalty program (Genius)
This program offers nights with discounts or extra free services, from which you will get a greater benefit the more hotels you book with them.
Claim, claim, and claim!
Their customer service is very good. We had a problem with an offer from a hotel in India, which they did not want to respect from the hotel claiming that it was a wrong rate, and Booking forced them to respect it. When we got there, we found that, in addition, they gave us the extra bed of the child for the inconvenience. And if that agreement had not been reached, Booking indicated that they would look for us a higher category accommodation.
And finally, look for the best discounts on cheap hotels in your dream destination, with the discounts offered by Booking, up to 15% in some cases, from the blog.
HERE’S A GIFT: A BOOKING DISCOUNT COUPON!:
Again, here’s another little gift: Benefit from being our reader and use THE DISCOUNT COUPON OF UP TO 15% WITH BOOKING to search for hotel deals for your next trip
We hope that with all these tricks and discounts on how to find the best affordable hotels on your next vacation: Finally we wish you: Happy travels.
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