Since I grabbed a one way ticket from New York to Milan and then Prague to Beijing for just $132, I’ve been planning out aspects of the trip. With flights taken care of for a fraction of the cost, my attention turned to the other big expense, lodging. If I was just going by myself, then staying in a hostel wouldn’t be an issue. But since I’d decided to take my mother on the trip, finding nice hotels that she would enjoy was a priority for me. Here’s one example of how I saved an extra 30 bucks on my two night stay in Rome, Italy.
I decided on the Hotel Adriano, which was a hotel in Rome with excellent reviews and known for its superb location. A search on Kayak.com provided a list of multiple prices.
Go with HotelClub.com and I’d get the room for $175/night. But go with Booking.com and I’d spend $17 extra a night, or $34 for the two night stay. And if I booked directly through the Hotel Adiamo website I’d spend over $200/night.
Due to us going in November as opposed to peak summer season, the prices were lower than expected. I could have used points at Hilton’s or Marriotts in Rome, but my mother and I really liked the location and amenities of the Hotel Adriano. The price as well, was hard to beat. At less than $200 a night for a hotel of that caliber, in Rome no less, and it didn’t make sense to use points.
Avoid too much loyalty when it comes to booking sites.
Often times people can get tunnel vision when it comes to booking trips online. When we become familiar and comfortable with orbitz or kayak, we tend to always want to use them. But just to compare, I priced out my stay with a number of different sites, and I learned that a few not only were less expensive, but one had a sizable promotion taking place.
When I searched through Hotels.com I found they were running a promotion of $50 off when your total stay was more than $300. Even though their base price was slightly higher than the lowest price, (HotelClub.com), with the $50 discount, my overall cost would come in lower.
Total including tax:
HotelClub.com : $386
Hotels.com: $357
“Only” $29 doesn’t sound like a lot. It’s not going to break the bank and it might not inspire anyone to start searching far and wide for travel deals. But every little bit does add up. And who would want to spend 30 dollars when they don’t have to?
Instead of just booking my room through the hotel’s website, I went through the travel search engines to find the best price. And then instead of booking my room through the best price I found, I dug a little deeper and went through sample bookings on a handful of travel sites.
By taking a few extra moments and a few extra steps to truly find the, “Best deal” I saved $29 off my lodging in Rome and added to the amount I’d be saving on my trip.
Compare hotels all over the internet and you’ll get better prices. Don’t get caught just using one search engine.
Remember, travel doesn’t have to be expensive. And it’s even less expensive when you know how to find good deals.
