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TravelStrategies:*Booking Hotels/Table  “Standard” hotel rates are usually the same, regardless of whether you are shopping on the hotel’s own website or using a third-party travel website like Expedia. In most cases, contractual arrangements force everyone to charge the same basic rate for the room.
The trick is to find and take advantage of several types of “non-standard” rates. These special rates bypass contractual limitations and are therefore allowed to be less expensive than the normal "best available rate".
TravelStrategies:*Booking Hotels/TOC Jump to:Better than "the best available rate"There are several different basic strategies for finding a better hotel deal.
At chain hotels, you’ll find special “member rates” that are lower than the rates available on third party travel websites like Expedia. You'll need to join the loyalty program to access these rates, but joining is free, doesn't take much time, and provides a number of additional benefits. Furthermore, booking direct is often the only way to get loyalty points for your stay and guarantee access to any of your member benefits. Get Extra Benefits and Cheaper Rates Just by Signing Up for Hotel Loyalty Programs. For all hotels, the hotel website is often the only place that provides access to AAA, senior, corporate, military, and other discounted rates. More than likely, the hotel’s website also includes some additional promotions or packages, which can often be a better deal than the standard rate. For example, you might be able to get a free night or discounted rate on a multi-night reservation, a well-priced package that includes parking, breakfast, or other benefits, a discount on an extra room for the kids, or a special promotional rate.  The AAA rate is usually available through the hotel's website. But if a US-based hotel is not showing a AAA rate, you can try calling in. Sometimes they actually offer a AAA rate; other times they will give you a discount anyway. You can also get good deals by becoming a member of AARP (the American Association of Retired People). Surprisingly, anyone can join, and the membership fee is only $15/year. While AAA offers discounts on a considerably larger number of hotels, the AARP rates are occasionally lower, so it can make sense to belong to both organizations. Join AARP to Save Money on Hotel Rooms (you don't have to be over 50). At private deal websites, you can find rates that are sometimes 20%, 30%, or 40% lower than the prevailing rate. Each site has its own set of deals, so it can be worthwhile searching multiple sites.   It may seem risky to book a room without knowing exactly what hotel you’ll get. However, it isn’t that bad. Before you book, you’ll have access to most of the critical information you need: the neighborhood where the hotel is located, its “star” rating, its Trip Advisor rating, the size of the beds in the rooms, Hotwire’s own user ratings, and whether the hotel has the key amenities you need. And with just a little bit of extra effort, you can usually determine exactly which hotel you'll be getting (before you commit). On many trips, NOT booking via Hotwire simply translates into paying too much for your hotel room (even when you factor in the fact you don't receive loyalty points and benefits). Because Hotwire's rates are non-refundable, we often book a fully-refundable "backup" reservation ahead-of-time and then switch over to a less-expensive Hotwire reservation when it gets closer to our travel dates. Several different luxury hotel programs are operated by credit card companies and are available to anyone who has one of their cards. Chances are, that you have (or will soon have) access to multiple of these programs. In addition, each of the high-end hotel chains has their own program, which they make available via luxury travel agencies. Even in today’s internet era, when it comes to luxury hotels, you can get a better deal by working with a travel agent, rather what you can get yourself online. Save More with Non-refundable Rates
Not long ago, the typical rates listed for hotels were always “refundable rates”. You could change or cancel your reservation up until a deadline that was close to check-in time. Nowadays, more hotels and websites are displaying non-refundable rates, either as a lower cost option or as the only option for booking the hotel. Make sure to always check the cancellation policies when comparing rates.
Trip cancellation insurance may seem like a possible solution. But be wary. Most policies won’t cover the cost of a cancellation unless you (or someone you need to take care of) is very sick and you have the paperwork to prove it. You’re not covered if your plans change, recent events make you uncomfortable to go to your destination, you can’t take off from work, or you just want to switch hotels. TravelStrategies:*Booking Hotels/Box Always check the "standard" rateNever book a room without first checking the prevailing rates on a "hotel aggregator". Not every deal you see, even on the best hotel booking websites, is really a “deal”. Before you actually book your room, you need to check the normal hotel rates, so you can be sure you really are getting a lower price.</li> The best way to get a sense of the different hotel options at your destination, ensure that you never pay more than the going rate for any specific hotel, and possibly uncover rates that are lower than they should be, is to search on a “Hotel Aggregator” website. Aggregators compare hotel prices from many different travel booking websites with a single search.  Of the different aggregator sites, we like Kayak.com best. Unlike other aggregators, they have the side benefit of being a decent source of private deals (which are allowed to undercut the hotel’s normal best available rates). Just be careful when looking at the rates shown on their website and apps. The main price above the “View Deal” button on Kayak is not necessarily the lowest available price they’ve uncovered—you need to scan through the smaller price listings on the left instead. However, for many trips we wind up using TripAdvisor.com instead. While its private deals aren't as useful as Kayak's, TripAdvisor has more extensive reviews and user-submitted photos. Like Kayak, you need to scan through the individual prices for each hotel to make sure you are seeing the lowest available option. An exampleA real-world example may be helpful. We’ve chosen relatively expensive hotels for this example, but you’ll see similar results with less expensive options. We'll recap the results at the end. Best available rateFor Saturday night, March 9th, the “Best Available Rate” for the Park Hyatt Chicago on Kayak was $227. Notice that the rate was consistent across a variety of online booking sites, as well as Hyatt’s own site. It turns out that Kayak’s pricing was slightly out of date, and when you visited Hyatt or tried to book through various travel booking sites, the rate had risen to $236.  Unfortunately, this is a nonrefundable rate. The refundable rate was higher and isn't displayed directly in the hotel listings of tools like Kayak or TripAdvisor; but like the best non-refundable rate, was also consistent across the web. For the same date, the "Best Available Rate" for the less expensive, but very highly rated, Loews Chicago Hotel was $144.  Rates on the hotel’s websiteUnlike most other chain hotels, the Park Hyatt’s own website didn’t offer a special “members rate”. And it wasn’t offering any particularly attractive promotions. But it did offer a AAA rate, which gave you a fully refundable reservation for the same price as the normal non-refundable rate. If you wanted to book a non-refundable rate, the AAA rate would save $39 (14%).  For the Loews Chicago, the hotel website provided a few package rates that would save you money under various circumstances, as well as a AAA rate that was $7 (4%) cheaper than the Best Available Refundable Rate of $159.  But most of the time, especially for chain hotels, the hotel’s own website offers even better rates. For example, at the Waldorf Astoria, members of the Hilton’s rewards program could save $17 (5%) on the refundable rate or $30 (9%) if they were willing to extend the cancellation window from 2 to 4 days.  Private Deal WebsitesLooking for “private deals” through goSeek.com uncovered a rate of $216 for the Park Hyatt, a relatively small savings of $20 (8%). That discount wouldn’t have been enticing enough to book through a third-party site, instead of Hyatt's.  goSeek didn’t find any private deals for the Loews hotel on that date. But, for the more expensive Waldorf Astoria Chicago, goSeek uncovered a rate of $266, a significant savings of $74 (22%) over the Best Available Rate and $57 (18%) over the Hilton Members Rate. goSeek’s premium members ($20 per year) could access a rate of $232, saving $108 (32%) off the Best Available Rate!  HotwireHotwire’s rate for the Park Hyatt was $162, a savings of $74 (31%) off the standard non-refundable rate and substantially lower than any other rate for that hotel.  There are only a limited number of secret “Hot Rate” hotels available on Hotwire, and the Loews Chicago was not one of them, but Hotwire did have a secret rate of $214 for the Waldorf Astoria. This rate was a massive $126 (37%) cheaper than the regular rate and even cheaper than the excellent “private deal” that goSeek had uncovered.  Hotels.comBecause of the excellent rates we were able to find on Hotwire for the Park Hyatt and Waldorf Astoria, it wouldn’t have made sense to book through Hotels.com, just to receive 10% in rewards. Even if we hadn’t found such good rates, we probably would have still been better off booking directly, paying a few percent more, but getting to take advantage of Hyatt or Hilton’s loyalty program. But for the Loews Chicago, Hotels.com was a slightly better choice for anyone who wasn’t interested in one of Loews' special packages. 10% rewards is a little better than a $7 (4%) AAA discount and an even better deal for people who would have been willing to book the lower non-refundable rate.  Luxury hotels programWe discuss Luxury Hotels Program in their own guide, but these programs were an attractive option for these particular hotels, especially the Loews Chicago. For example, by booking through the Amex Fine Hotel and Resorts (FHR) program, you don’t necessarily get a particularly good rate, but you do get free breakfast, late checkout, a room upgrade, and some sort of special additional benefit, usually a type of $100 hotel credit. At the Loews Chicago, the rate was the same as the normal Best Available Rate, but the room came with the standard Amex FHR benefits (like free breakfast) plus a $100 food and beverage credit. For most people, these benefits are worth far more than the $7 AAA discount or 10% in Hotels.com rewards.  At the Park Hyatt, the Amex luxury hotel program offered the normal extra benefits plus a more flexible $100 credit. But many people would still have preferred a $162 rate through Hotwire, rather than paying $275 to get access to the Amex program’s extra benefits.  RecapIn summary, here are the rates we found at each of the hotels. The Hotels.com rate is adjusted to reflect a 10% rebate.
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