Everyone knows that costs of accommodation is an essential part of all the costs for any travel activities. In order to keep up with the travel habits, first step for budget friendly trips is to look for the ways to lover costs of the trip.
I’m one of those people – I want to keep on going to seminars I’m used to; I want to visit places I havent been; I want to return to the places I like. Well, I’m still looking for some comfort during the trip – internet access, breakfast, access gym / pool or fitness facilities… So, usually I’m interested are 2 – 3 star hotels. If it happens to find great deal – have nothing against 4 stars 🙂 But what I ‘d like to add that this rating of stars depends on country.
Here are 5 tips how to lover costs of accommodation from my experience:
1. – Check out big booking engines to see what are the overage offers for your chosen travel destination. If going to US, Travelocity is the first place to look. I know there are many other sites but the main idea is to see the options at first. What comes to hotels in European countries I’m choosing Booking. com because they have very good database for all European destinations. Lately they have added great deals ( with ‘reasonable prices‘) of Russian main travel destinations as well.
2. Look for special internet offers on hotels website. Not always but very often you can find better price there than big hotel booking engines are offering. My favorite hotel for northern Europe and Scandinavia is Scandic Hotels. Amongst special offers there is one that offers up to 35% discounted price – if to stay 2 or 3 nights. Often there are some special deals for particular hotels.
If the basic price is around 60 Euros or more, then often there are options to find offers for 44 Euros. For one of my next trips I have already made reservation for hotel in Stockholm for 384 SEK (~$60). With courtesy breakfast, fitness facilities & free Internet access this price is very reasonable for Scandinavian countries or northern Europe.
3. Actually end of previous tip is beginning of this one – look what’s included in the price. Maybe there are cheaper hotels, but if you have to pay for the breakfast or usage of internet per hour, then sometimes slightly higher price is better deal. This is why I like Scandic Hotels – always good breakfast & free WiFi access included. Holiday Inn might sounds good as well but mainly you have to pay additional for these services.
4. If you are flexible on your travel time, compare prices of hotel rooms for weekdays / weekends. Tourist oriented hotels will have lower price during the week but hotels oriented to local business & events often have lower prices during the weekend.
Once while traveling in Norway, I stayed in two hotels while in Oslo. Because with all the prices in Norway, any hotel accommodation around 600 – 700 NOK ($ 100 – 120) is already a ‘good price’. So I found that there are two special offers for different days in different hotels. With some planing of activities / attractions to see & because I was traveling light, actually is was not so complicated to use them for my stay. But I saved more than third of total original costs for 2 night stay.
5. Join the club! If you are frequent traveler or usually stay in some certain hotel brand, sign up for the rewards program. One thing is that you will earn free stays, but besides it as a ‘prefered guest member’ might receive upgrades or special amenities. So price might be the same but additonal services are nice 🙂
Often hotels have special discounts for loyal customers up to 20%. If you are a member of some airline loyalty program already, then you can earn additional miles for the stay or get some special offer.
To read more ideas how to save on hotels, check out to my website AmberTravelBox.com. If hotels are too expensive, try vacation rentals or hostels (some might be not bad at all for company of 3 or 4 people).
Traveling is one of the things I like in my life. Actually I can simply say - I love traveling. Doesn't matter what is the reason for the trip, I enjoy most of the places I visit.
Latti's Travel Blog 