Book A Hotel

How to book a hotel room on the cheap!

In tough economic times, most people think they'd better put travel plans on the back burner – it's simply too expensive. Not. The travel industry is feeling the crunch right along with you. They absolutely want your business and are ready to make a deal in order to gain you as a customer. Hotels are no exception. Here we offer some tips on how to book a hotel room at the best possible rate.

If you're an independent traveler, looking to book a hotel with a certain ambience, such as art nouveau, sleek and modern or whatever, go online and search for hotel booking service websites for your destination. Take a look at the images of the hotels. When you find one you like, in keeping with your budget, write down the address and phone number.

While hotels are hungry for your business, your attitude does matter if you are to get the best price. The hotelier wants to sell a room and you want to book a hotel room at a good price. Call the hotel direct. In order to achieve your end, put on a smiley face. Be a diplomat.

Ask to speak to an on-staff person who can book your hotel reservation. The idea here is to avoid being shifted off to an off-site reservation agent, where you have no negotiating power. Once you've got a conversation going with a real live person, you have an advantage. So, be nice.

You want to establish a good rapport with this individual, who will respond favorably to a friendly potential guest. A demanding style generally produces nothing in the way of savings. You'll more likely be given a lesser quality of room in a noisy location and pay full price.

So how do you build good rapport? Let's say you heard from a friend that this particular hotel was a lovely place to stay. Express your enthusiasm to experience their hospitality for yourself.

Let them know if you need a single or double, how long you'd like to stay, along with the dates. Ask if they have any business traveler's rates, or any specials they can offer you. They'll understand you're looking to book a hotel room at their best rate. Many hotels have arrangements with tour guides. While you may not get much of a discount, the hotel may be willing to throw in a free tour in lieu of cash savings.

If the rate quoted is too high, let them know that's the problem, what's keeping you from making a reservation now. Something like, “I was so looking forward to staying there, but I'm afraid that's a bit out of range of my budget...” The hotelier knows that a booking is slipping through his fingers and won't want the call to end there. That's when you get the best rate you're going to find at that hotel.

If you want to book a hotel overseas, the cost of the phone call might make a dent in your savings. In this case, ask a full service travel agent. Better yet, find one specializing in your destination. They're always on top of the best hotel deals, tours and out of the way gems. They also make frequents searches on hotel press releases and thus know where the best deals are. That agent wants your business.

You can search for press releases yourself, online. An example search string might be 'travel press release your-destination'. This is a good way for an ordinary traveler to turn up some hidden deals.  Using these tips can save you substantial amounts when you book a hotel room. This means more money for other activities, or just a big cash savings. You can't beat that.