Looking to score a great deal on a hotel? The key to getting the best deals around, up to 60% off of normal price in fact, is flexibility. Whether you’re flexible with your dates, your location or the amenities you need, you can use some great sites to your advantage.
Basically, all of the site below work in similar ways. If you know where you want to go and when but don’t have a specific hotel in mind, then these sites are the way to go!
Hotwire Hot Rates are different from published price services. With Hotwire Hot Rates you enter date, location, and star rating of your choice. Then your hotel is then revealed after booking. But you’ll be guaranteed to be in the area of your choice with your specified amenities and star rating.
With Priceline Express Deals, you can save up to 60% off of your hotel stay with no bidding required. You basically just input your desired city and check-in and check-out dates and Priceline gives you a list of hotels by price and area. You’ll select the hotel that fits your needs, and then the actual hotel name is revealed after booking.
3. Travelocity’s Top Secret Hotel Deals
This one works similarly to Priceline’s Express Deals. You find out everything about the hotel you’re choosing (amenities, star rating and cost) except for the actual hotel name. Then as soon as you book (at up to a 45% discount off of 3 and 4-star hotels), the hotel name is revealed.
Plus, even though sales of all Top Secret Hotels are final, all Top Secret Hotels bookings are backed by the Travelocity Service Guarantee, which means that your booking will be right, or Travelocity will work with its partners to make it right, right away.
4. LastMinute.com Top Secret Hotel Deals
With Last Minute’s Top Secret Hotel Deals, you can save up to 35% on 4 and 5-star hotels. Just input your desired city and check-in/out dates and they’ll search over 80,000 hotels to find you the best deals. Also, if you find a cheaper price for your chosen hotel within 24 hours of booking, Last Minute will refund you the difference.
Identifying a Secret Hotel
Want to take an educated guess about exactly which hotel you’re booking before you press “book?” Here’s Wise Bread’s advice:
Begin by reading the hotel listing very carefully, looking for any distinctive feature that differentiates it from other hotels — a hot tub on the balcony, for example, or a fireplace inside the suite. It’s okay if there’s no such feature, but it will help you pinpoint which hotel it is more easily if there is.
Then, copy a snippet of the hotel description and paste it into a search engine. If you’re lucky, the search result should show you which hotel it is. Otherwise, sift through other hotel listings on the booking website that have the same star rating and location until you come across one with the same features as the secret hotel.