Save on Hotel Stays
Posted by Gail | Filed under Smart Shopper
It’s cold outside and as the snow flies Canadians’ thoughts turn to escaping the winter. Or maybe you’re planning a ski trip to fully embrace our fabulous winter weather. If you’re planning on swapping your bed for one you’ll rent for a couple of days or even a couple of weeks, I have some tips for you.
I practically live in hotels. When it’s shooting season, I spend two nights in a hotel every week. I’ve seen it all. On book tour at the beginning of this 2012, I slept in some else’s bed 32 days out of 58. On book tour right now for my latest book, Money Rules, I’m going from coast to coast. I’ve seen the inside of just about every hotel chain in Canada. And some of the “extra charges” make me gasp. If you want to save on a hotel stay, here are 9 tips:
Beware of extra costs where you least expect them. See that bottle of water on the desk. See the label hanging on it. Read it before you turn the cap. That bottle of water could cost you up to $14. Go get yourself a bucket of ice.
Steer clear of the mini-bar. The hotel industry’s version of the grocery store checkout lane, mini-bars count on impulse purchases. The markups are gargantuan. Find out where the closest convenience store is and buy a stash of water, juices and snacks.
Don’t touch the phone. The phone rates are exorbitant. Sometimes local calling is free. But long-distance… oy!
Read your room-service bill. Most room-service bills add a 15% gratuity along with a delivery charge. If you order room service, don’t make it more expensive by tipping if there’s an automatic charge.
Parking can cost a fortune. I’ve had to pay upwards of $30 a day for parking at hotels in major city centres. If you’re willing to stay a little further out from the hub, you can get free parking. Over a four-day stay, that’ll save you $120, which will buy you a VERY nice dinner.
The Internet isn’t free everywhere. But it may be included if you pick the right room package. Check out the daily Internet fee and then see if booking a slightly better room that includes Internet access will save you some money.
Sign up for points. Every chain has a loyalty program. It may take a while to accumulate enough points, but even if it takes a couple of years, enough points could make your next family vacation considerably cheaper. If you’re a member of AAA you might be eligible for better pricing if your hotel has a reciprocal arrangement. Some hotels have reduced rates for people “of a certain age” – yah, getting older does have its benefits – or if you’re a veteran or a member of the armed forces.
Be aware of your destination’s peak periods. You know about trying to get a room during March Break. But what about if you have to go to a city where there’s a big convention happening at exactly the same time. You’ll pay through the nose for a room. When the Film Festival is on in Toronto, room rates double!
Book your weekend stay at a business hotel. The same rules of demand and supply can help you get your room at a substantial discount if you book with the property tends to empty out.
If you don’t travel all that much and don’t know where to even start, book through an online discount site like hotels.com or Travelocity and save big-time. You’ve seen the ads. Would Captain Kirk lie?
March 14, 2013 at 6:53 am
Make sure to check out B&B’s they’re not always cheaper but you often get a bunch of free bonuses. (Plus they are often run by some very interesting people!)
March 14, 2013 at 6:56 am
Awesome tips Gail! Might come in handy this summer:)
March 14, 2013 at 7:15 am
I always try to find a hotel that has a breakfast included (sometimes just cold). It helps – plus sometimes I sneak a whole piece of fruit or a muffin back to the room for a midday snack
March 14, 2013 at 7:31 am
+! on B&B’s. When we travel outside of cities, B&B’s are it. And they are often less expensive than hotels.
March 14, 2013 at 7:48 am
When travelling to popular tourist spots, try picking a hotel that is a little further away from the main sightseeing locations. If you have access to a car (or the public transportation to and from the other location is excellent), stay in the next town over or in the outer limits of the city. Generally the hotel prices will decrease the further away you get from the “hot spots”. Of course, this will increase travel times but, if you are willing to get up a little earlier to compensate, you can save yourself some money. In some of the places I’ve been, the difference can be as much as $50+/night.
March 14, 2013 at 8:21 am
I also look for discount codes online. Travelzoo usually has some. Redflagdeals sometimes does too. It can save us a lot of money. I’ve also used Wagjag and Groupon, and confirmed with the hotel beforehand that the vouchers will work for us.
March 14, 2013 at 8:23 am
Great tips – all of which we use! We never pay for parking – always look for a hotel that doesn’t charge. With two kids, we always look for a hotel with breakfast – so much easier eating there, and we can take a few pieces of fruit, etc. for a snack later on. My husband works for the gov’t, so we always ask for a gov’t rate – not always cheaper, but most times does give us a discount. As long as he has his ID on him, we get the better rate.
March 14, 2013 at 8:44 am
The other thing we do if we’re staying someplace for more than a couple of days, is get a self-contained unit with a kitchen. Not only do you get more space, but you can cook your own meals. Even by eating breakfast in and packing a lunch and snacks but still eating dinners out makes the extra bit of money spent on accommodations worthwhile. And, the bonus is, we eat healthier.
March 14, 2013 at 8:57 am
I have stayed at 2 B&B’s. One I went back to numerous times. The other was a gong show. We didn’t have a door on our bedroom, there was a curtain. On the other side was the extremely steep staircase to get down to the kitchen, go down the hall, and go through her hair studio to use the washroom. The owner was very ….interesting? Research well before going.
March 14, 2013 at 9:08 am
Don’t neglect Air BnB!
I’ve used that service for two trips: one to Vancouver and one to Ottawa. Both experiences were fantastic. You can either rent out a room, an apartment/condo, or an entire house, the choice is yours. Often, they are located in the heart of downtown and you’re paying a fraction of what it would cost to stay in a hotel.
Example: for a friend’s wedding in Vancouver, the going hotel rate was ca. $150/night; my husband and I paid $75/night to rent a room in someone’s condo. It was a private room, with its own bath, and the owners were super helpful in giving us tips to the local hotspots/restaurants. And they had lovely scones, fruit and coffee waiting for us every morning.
I’d use this service again in a heartbeat.
March 14, 2013 at 9:45 am
Always check the room for bedbugs, especially in major cities. Bringing them back with you can cause a lot of grief not to mention the expense of replacing things you may have to toss later (spoken from experience).
March 14, 2013 at 9:50 am
Most hotels have it that their own website offers the best rate. We check the grocery stores where we are planning on staying, some will deliver at no charge or minimal charge directly to your hotel. A cooler and ice can be just as good as a fridge if maintained…
March 14, 2013 at 9:53 am
Calling the hotel directly to make a reservation can get you access to rates not published (being nice is mandatory for this) and calling the hotel directly after you have a reservation can get you a very nice room upgrade (remember to be nice).
If you travel a lot, stick to the same hotel chain and sign up for their rewards program. That will garner you benefits from room upgrades, free breakfast and evening hor d’orves, and free internet as well as room availability guarantees.
Avoid eating in the hotel restaurant. It is almost always horrendously overpriced. The breakfast buffet is a prime example – who wants to pay upwards of $30+ for breakfast? Do yourself a solid and scope out what is around the hotel. Decent, less expensive dining options are typically within a short walk of a hotel.
March 14, 2013 at 10:08 am
We’re trying out airbnb for our upcoming trips to Ireland and England. We’ve rented flats before in paris (not using airbnb) and it worked out great. Personally if I never stay in another stuffy hotel room ever again I’ll be quite happy.
I actually prefer to stay right where the action is when I travel, particularly since we travel to cities I don’t want to drive in (Paris, I’m looking at you).
March 14, 2013 at 10:32 am
I just saved $23 a night by not making a reservation. I called the hotel to ask if they would honour a lower price found online. They said no but if we did a walk in, the price would be $99/night vs $122/night for making a reservation on their chain website.
March 14, 2013 at 10:42 am
Be careful using ice from hotel ice machines in your drinks. Often the ice contains harmful bacteria. Instead, if you need to cool something, use the ice bucket to submerge the bottle or fill the sink with several buckets of ice to chill multiple drink bottles.
The suggestion to take fruit or muffins from an included breakfast for a later snack is not a good one in all hotels. Sometimes is it considered dishonest. On two different occasions, years apart, I witnessed tourists being stopped as they exited the dining room with extra food and being required to pay for what they had taken to eat later. With everyone watching, I don’t think they would do it again.
March 14, 2013 at 11:17 am
If you’re travelling in the summer time some universities will rent out the empty dorm rooms for cheaper than a hotel.
March 14, 2013 at 11:21 am
I’m pretty sure you aren’t allowed/supposed to use your govt employee id to get a discount if you aren’t on business. I work for fed govt and that’s pretty clear in the rules.
March 14, 2013 at 11:23 am
Don’t forget this important one!! Check your credit card statement later to ensure no unauthorized bills were processed. Just this month I found a $260 charge from a hotel we stayed at!! I knew that it was wrong, and called the hotel. They called back later and said they found the accounting error and that our credit card would be reimbursed. $260 is a big mistake…think of the amount of groceries I can buy with that!!
March 14, 2013 at 11:38 am
We just did a 4 week roadtrip through the U.S. and it was great! We found that if you stop at the visitor/information centre as you enter the State/city they had discount booklets that included hotels at much cheaper rates than we were quoted or could find online. Also, sometimes it’s worth it to pay a little more as we found out when we stayed in a Drury Inn (only in the U.S. and not in all States). Their standard rate is $100/night BUT it includes a hot breakfest (egss, bacon, sausauge, waffles, biscuits, grits, bagels, cereal, fruit, yogurt) a social hour from 5:30 – 7 (3 FREE alcoholic drinks per person, hot snacks such as penne in meat sauce, nachos & cheese, salad, meatballs in tomato sauce…a meal really) AND from 3 – 10pm there was free popcorn and soft drinks available as well. The rooms were clean. There was a fridge and microwave in every room and the rate included 60 minutes of free calling in the Continental U.S. or 15 minutes free International calling. Can’t beat the price or the service!
March 14, 2013 at 12:04 pm
My CAA membership has come in handy for travel deals. I was able to book a four night stay at a budget hotel in Arlington TX in December because the deal was “buy 4 nights, get the entire stay 50% off”. I ended up paying $33+tax per night for a family of four!
Plus, CAA also gave me a great deal on our van rental for $20+tax per day in Florida.
March 14, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Like amelia I’ve stayed in university rooms and it was way heaper. and since the conference was at the university it was handy. Years ago in New York I stayed at the DeHirsch Residence (cross between a university dorm and the Y) – then it was $48 a night – yes in Manhattan!!!) for a single. Pretty spartan but safe, comfortable and I was too tired at night to do anything but sleep. It was also an easy walk to museums etc. I’ve also stayed at a University Women’s Club – in Toronto – which included breakfast – for about half what the nearby hotel cost.
March 14, 2013 at 3:04 pm
When we decide to go away, we checkout those online group sites to snap deals.
If you are going to Niagara Falls, there are a LOT of these deals.
We snagged a hotel room and a dinning voucher for just $75 on a Saturday night.
We are heading to Montreal again and we used a Friends and Family discount on our 5 start hotel room (big savings!) IF you know someone, ask for the discount code.
The best and most awesome hotel I have stayed at was the Fairfield by the Marriot in Winnipeg. Indoor giant water slide, breakfast, comfortable, clean and friendly service. If you ever find yourself in Winnipeg, I would recommend that.
March 14, 2013 at 5:21 pm
My husband travels regularly for work and generally stays in one of two chains so he’s signed up for both their rewards plans. On our summer 2011 vacation we stayed free for 6 nights in San Fransisco in a suite that normally went for $269/night and included a full hot buffet breakfast. The evening before we checked out we picked up our rental car for our early start down the PCH, so paying $40 to park it for one night was all that stay cost us. (Renting a Chrysler 300 was only $8/day using his Hertz rewards also earned from work travel). And of course we all flew out to the coast on our Aeroplan points… Boy do I love rewards programs!
March 14, 2013 at 8:46 pm
Does anyone know of a website to find package deal for concerts?
Gail, I wish I had known you were in Halifax on Saturday. I went to Costco on Sunday : (
I hope you enjoyed your time in Nova Scotia.
March 15, 2013 at 12:51 am
Use your connections. Some hotels have friends and family rates that are unreal. I’ve used them twice as a friend of mine is a bartender at a local hotel that has locations all over North America. I saved 60% off the regular rate both times.
If the room would otherwise be empty the hotel is usually happy to have the business and I made sure to give a gift to my bartender friend as a thank you to let him know just how appreciative I was.
March 15, 2013 at 2:11 am
If you happen to be military or retired military there are certain hotel chains that give you a discount regardless if you are on business. Delta is one. Via also give a 25%discount. Just Google for the discount code. One of the best sites to check out for hotel and travel discounts is trivago.can. You input where you are going and the Site does a search of a bunch of discount sites and you can pick your best deal. Used it a bunch of times and always get a good price.
March 15, 2013 at 5:53 pm
There’s also another site where the money spent on special service or something instead goes to charity. I don’t know if you have heard of it.
March 19, 2013 at 1:40 am
Just be careful booking through some of the third-party websites like expedia or hotels.com. They’re great if you’re absolutely sure of what you want, but if you wind up changing your plans you can’t get a refund.
March 19, 2013 at 4:18 pm
Hotwire is good too, where you don’t find out the name of the hotel until you’ve booked it. Have used it several times and all the hotles were nice. Like Expedia etc above, though, you don’t get a refund.
March 19, 2013 at 4:50 pm
We used the Vacation Rental by Owner ( VRBO) website to stay in Carmel Ca. It was wonderful complete with a full kitchen and laundry. Staying locally gives you the flavour of the area, and as an added bonus they lent us a set of golf clubs. It was less expensive than a 5 star and was wonderful with all the amenities of home.