Had your heart set on a particular hotel for ages?
Well, this is a super simple and less known way to make sure you are getting the cheapest night at a hotel.
I use it all the time on my bucket list hotels (sometimes just for fun with no intention of booking) and there is no better feeling than scoring a night for much less than the dates on either side of it!
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How I Find the Cheapest Night at a Hotel
1) Search Google Hotels
Google Hotels is so underrated. I rarely hear anyone talking about it but it’s very useful for scoping out the best prices.
What I do is head to Google Hotels and either type in the destination I’m hoping to visit. However, if I already know the hotel I’m after, I’ll just go ahead and type in the name of the hotel.
Sometimes I find it doesn’t suggest the correct place but just finish writing what you’re after and hit enter – it will come up.
You will need to select dates to get the search going but just put any in. I’ll show you how to change them after.
2) Select a Hotel
If you’re searching by place, scroll to see what hotel piques your interest. Once you’re happy, click ‘View prices’ on the place you’re after.
3) Click on the Check-in Date to See the Calendar View
This is where the magic happens.
Once you’ve been taken to this new page, click on the check in date and a calendar will pop up. Here you will see not only the price for the date you’re searching for, but it will also show you the prce for every other night too!
Now you have the fun task of scrolling through and seeing where the cheapest prices are!
4) Check the Price on Third Party Websites
Now, you could end your search here as Google Hotels will pull up a whole list of third party websites, such as Booking.com, Expedia, etc. that will offer the hotel at various prices.
But be wary of the prices listed first. These are sometimes listed because they’re ads and often you can find the price cheaper by looking down the list.
Google Hotels has got much better at this price comparison element but if I’ve got the time, I do like to check on Trivago too.
If you want to be really thorough (and being thorough is how you know you’ve got the cheapest rate going) it can also be worth clicking through to the actual websites and logging in. Sometimes you’ll be offered a further saving or perk, such as late checkout or free breakfast.
For this, you may look at sites like HotelTonight, Secret Escapes and Travelzoo who Google and Trivago don’t compare.
If you’ve found a great price on a website you haven’t used before, I like to check the ratings on both trustpilot and feefo as well as checking what people are tweeting the company directly – that can often be telling!
If you do go for it, I recommend purchasing with a card that gives you protection should anything go wrong – for example Section 75 may help protect you if you pay for something over £100 using a credit card and some debit cards have chargeback schemes.
5) Search for Voucher Codes
This one doesn’t work all the time but when it does, it’s sooooo sweet.
I simply google the website I’m looking at by some keywords and I also go to Twitter and search there too.
For example, if I was looking for a code for Hotels.com, I may type in:
“Hotels.com discount code”
“Hotels.com voucher”
“Hotels.com promo”
Just got 10% off at https://t.co/BAbdmaaWGE (doing the North Coast 500 around the Scottish Highlands in July!) by using the code: AFGENUK618
— Chelsea (@cheapholidayexp) June 21, 2018
Booking Dates: 18 June - 01 July
Stay Dates: 18 June - 31 December
🏩https://t.co/DAIkrfLgI9🏩#vouchercode #discountcode #promocode
Don’t get too excited lads, that’s an old code!!
Make sure to check the terms and conditions because sometimes if you use a discount code, you may not get other perks such as loyalty points which is often the case with Hotels.com.
6) Check Directly With the Hotel Before Booking
So, you’ve found the cheapest price possible?
Well, before you go ahead and book it is definitely worth checking directly with the hotel first.
Firstly, they may have a cheaper price directly on their own website and if not, they may be able to match the price over the phone, webchat or over email – just make sure you’ve screenshotted the cheaper prices you’ve found and have a link to prove it!
If they’re offering the exact same price as third party sites it can also be worth asking how they could better their offer to make you book direct since third party website often have additional perks such as loyalty schemes.
It’s also good to book direct because you’re much more likely to get a free upgrade by booking this way. Speaking of which…
7) Check for Cashback
This tends to mostly work for third party sites but it can work for booking direct with big chains too.
The last thing I’ll do is check whether there’s any cashback available. To do this, you’ll need an account with either Quidco or Topcashback – or both!
I personally always leave this until last because I think it’s more important to save money up front as sometimes, the cashback doesn’t come through. You may also find that by going through the cashback site that you can’t find the same low cost anyway (for complicated reasons I’ll gloss over for now), but it certainly doesn’t hurt to check!
And that’s how I find the cheapest hotel night out there!
