Luxe Hotels, Low Prices

With the hotel business booming, great deals on upscale rooms are harder to come by -- but not if you know where to look.

From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, March 2005

The great deals on plush hotel rooms these past few years got you used to lavish accommodations. Scoring low rates was often as easy as one-stop shopping at Expedia.com or Travelocity.com.

No more. The hotel business is booming, and luxury on the cheap seems elusive. The likes of Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Omni and Wyndham now put most of their best rates on their own Web sites. And along with higher room charges come the surcharges, for such things as leaving before your reservation is up ($50 on average).

But luxury at a lower price is still within reach, for both business travel and getting away from it all. Whether you like to book quickly, get upgrades, stay in nice venues overseas or take more time in exchange for better bargains, we have a strategy that will work. And if you don't mind booking a hotel in a particular neighborhood without knowing the exact hotel, you may capture an even better deal.

Exploring just a few options can land you a much lower rate, or a hotel that suits your trip perfectly. Take the case of Phil and Carolyn Jimenez of Freeport, N.Y., who decided to visit Washington, D.C., last December to tour the White House. Phil first went to Expedia and spotted a room at the Wyndham Washington for $99. Wyndham's national reservations line quoted him a rate of $119, but the same room was just $78 on Wyndham's Web site.

Next, Phil tried playing the membership card -- another strategy that's often worth a try. But Wyndham's site jacked up his rate to $167 when he entered his AARP number. With discounts like that, who can afford to retire?

Because he's a member of Hilton's frequent-stay program, Phil checked Hilton.com, where he found a $119 rate at the Capital Hilton that included a full breakfast for two in the hotel's restaurant. (He then called the hotel, which would not offer him a lower rate.) Because the Capital Hilton is closer than the Wyndham to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Jimenezes picked convenience over cost and stayed at the Hilton.

Quick savings

Have 15 minutes? That's all you'll need to nab an upscale room for less using the following method. Start your search online with Expedia, Orbitz or Travelocity. Each of the "big three" agencies drums up slightly different mixes of hotels and roughly equivalent rates.

Next, choose a hotel you like from the search results, then visit the hotel's own Web site to check for a lower rate. If a hotel belongs to a big chain, you'll generally get the best prices through the chain's site. Hotels that are independent or part of small chains, however, divvy up their deals between the online travel agencies and their own Web sites. You need to look at both an agency's site and a hotel's site to cover your bases. A case in point: Expedia recently offered a $169 room at the Monaco hotel in San Francisco if you booked more than two months in advance. The Monaco is part of the 39-hotel Kimpton chain, and its own Web site (www.monaco-sf.com) was selling the room for $149.

1 |
• 2
|
• 3
|
• 4
• NEXT >

• Print
• Comments
• Email
• RSS