HOW TO BEAT THE RISING COSTS OF

HOTEL STAYS

One of the most common and popular means to save money on a hotel stay is to book your hotel as part of a travel package, referred to as bundling.

This is most often done through hotel and fl ight package deals off ered by airlines and online travel agents like Expedia and Travelocity.

By hiding their hotel rates in a bundle with another service, hotels are able to drop their prices lower than advertised originally.

You can save up to 25% off the cost of buying hotels and fl ights separately if you are able to bundle them in to a package deal.

BOOK AS A PACKAGE

Many of the large luxury hotel chains like Sheraton, Ritz and Marriott off er exclusive hotel clubs promising a more personal, exclusive and luxurious hotel stay with a raft of additional extras.

Whilst many dismiss these clubs as upselling tactics, many of them off er exceptional value for money given what extras are often included.

Be sure to check what exactly is on off er for club level upgrades – it may well end up saving you money.

JOIN THE CLUB

There are rafts of online search tools and deal tools allowing you to easily source bargains for a hotel stay across the world.

By aggregating hotel deals you are able to quickly see which one is cheapest or off er the greatest discount off its normal rates.

Combine these search tools with review sites like trip advisor to check the reputation and quality of the hotels before you purchase.

A quick review check can tell you easily which hotel deal is a bargain and which is cheap for a reason!

GET ONLINE

When it comes to getting a good hotel deal, loyalty is very important. Most hotel chains and brands off er a form of loyalty programme encouraging guests to return time and time again to incur a range of benefits and perks.

Most programmes cost nothing to sign up for initially and you can build a range of benefits and cost savings over time.

Loyalty programmes are now off ering partnership programmes with airlines and car rental companies to allow you to extend your range of membership benefits.

BE LOYAL

When travelling internationally, particularly for business, telephone costs can rack up.

With most luxury hotels now off ering free Wi-Fi to guests, take advantage of online tools, such as Skype, which off ers free international Skype-Skype calls and a heavily discounted rate on calls to landlines.

PHONE CALLS

A number of online sites now off er security in the form of refundable rates.

Book a room through one of these sites and should the rate drop before your stay you will receive an automatic refund – guaranteeing you the cheapest deal possible.

CHECK FOR REFUNDS