I am about to book hotel for my next week plan. Though its not fixed yet so I haven't booked it yet. But I am checking price almost daily. They keep changes always. Sometimes we may found good deal like it. As yesterday I got really good price but as my plan is not fixed I missed it. So do you check price like this for booking? We should do this because like this we can surely have good deal.
Try using Trivago. It is quite useful ad in it compares prices for the same room from many sources. You can get the cheapest deals from it. It helps save money and you get to read the reviews too so that you have an idea of what to expect when you reach there.
@Decentlady Hi.. Yes I am seeing lots of ads about Trivago on TV. So I started with that only. But what I see it is not covering all the sites. The hotel I was looking for, I got the cheapest deal for it on make my trip. But make my trip price wasn't listed on Trivago. So I guess Trivago is not covering all sites. It may be useful if they covers all. Like this we can miss some good deals.
You are right with the changing prices of hotels in online booking. Our usual site is booking.com which served us many times in good stead particularly with the prices. What we do is to check the hotel prices every day for 1 week and we will have an idea of the optimum price. And we usually make the bookings 2 or 3 months in advance so the prices are still low. We have already proven that booking online is cheaper than booking directly in the hotel.
@Alexandoy Are you saying direct booking (from directly going to hotel) can be costly? I always thinking that online booking may result in paying more. Not sure. Have you experience anything like this? Right now I have to book one hotel, but I am avoiding or delaying because of the same reason as I am not sure if directly booking will cost me less or more.
@naruto100 Yes. When we were in Kuala Lumpur last year, we booked thru booking.com for 3 nights in Majestic Hotel. And since our flight was at around midnight and the checkout time is 11 am, we decided to extend our stay. We were surprised with the charge of 1 day that is around 20% more expensive than our online booking. When we asked the manager why so, he reasoned that online bookers are given discount privileges because they bring guests to their hotel.
It all depends on demand of the rooms like in any other tourist industry like air-booking etc. I have checked it often that the rates keep changing if you click at the same room in 20-30 minutes because when they get more hits at the same room they feel that they can get better rent for their room. I share another secret with you, if you enter 6 guests at the same time they will quote higher rates compared to two guests because they feel that they are in demand. If you do not try the same hotel for next two days the rates will go down again.
@naruto100 Ohhh 20% more!! that's really too much. Well, in that case better we go through direct booking only. I thought direct pricing may be low in compare to online. Though I have call to the hotel about pricing and they have mentioned the same price as I saw in the online booking site. So in my case it is equal. But yes better be aware of such things. Thanks for sharing your experience. @Ray1 Wohaaa.. I will try it. Though I am about to go there in 4 to 5 days. Do you think I should try it out by not opening site at all in next two days. Or price may be increase if date of booking will come near. Not sure about it. But thanks for sharing it, I will try out with my next booking. Though I can still try out for this one too.
Whenever I plan on going on a vacation or visiting a place my most visited sites for hotel booking are Jovago and Trivago. These gives a clue of nearest hotel to my proposed location. I can get different hotels with varying price, some of them quite cheap, others moderate prices and then luxury apartments getting into any depends on your pocket and how much you've budgeted for the stay. Though the accommodation prices may fluctuate sometimes but rare.
@naruto100 That is possible both ways, since it's not a travel time back in India due to exams going on almost everywhere the chances are the hotels are not getting as many bookings so the chances are the rates will go down. However it depends on locations in particular. If you saw upward trend in last couple of days and you think that the place may become over crowded, book now.
@Ray1 I don't know if I will found crowd these days as I am not sure. So I wonder what should I do. About pricing, yes it has increased in compare to last two days. But it also may happen because as you said like I am checking out price since last couple of day so may be that's why the price has increased. Not sure. Though I am about to book today or tomorrow.
Hotel booking prices are one of the most flexible things I've seen. It reminds me of airplane tickets. What I usually do is check it every night before midnight up until a week before I make the arrangements. It does not always end up being lower than what I want but it sure is beneficial to be updated.
@Belovedad He he. That's really true. This is first time I have gone for online booking, so I have noticed it now. So that means if we want to book hotel then better we keep checking price from quite before so that we can grab the lowest price. By this way we can have good and low deal for our booking. Actually I got my booking in quite good deal in compare to normal direct booking as I checked it through phone calling at hotel.
Exactly what I am saying. But you should also be aware of the fact that you might wait too long and the price might go up slightly so you end up losing out. Normally you save though so it's worth the wait.
@Belovedad Actually I got the good deal but yes it could have better if I haven't waited for long. They were offering even less price few days back but look like I have waited for long and missed it. So yes grabbing the perfect deal on time is important too. You are quite true in this case too.
Well it is really really frustrating, until that one day when you are on the receiving end of a good deal. Then, it all seems worth it, for a little bit at least.
Prices change every day, but you can always look for general trends. Of course, one big trend is the time of year. For instance, if you want to visit Florida, then you'd obviously get better deals in the fall, spring, and winter. However, the downside of such deals is that the weather may be too unpleasant for the various activities associated with a certain place. For instance, in Florida, the weather might be good for walking on the beach in a t-shirt, but too cold for swimming. In another example, summer hiking is great in Colorado, but there won't be skiing.
@larryl332 Well, sometimes we can get some really good deal like this. Actually I got one good deal already in compare to direct booking. So yes it is worthy. Yes to grab best deal we need to keep checking but I won't mind it because I am getting online everyday from office and from home too. I just need to check price and that is quite easy for sure.
It is wrong that prices change like that on a daily or even a weekly basis. The news reported last week that some parents in the UK had received fines for taking their children out of school to go on a holiday during term time. It is wrong to fine the parents as I think it should be the holiday companies and hotels etc that charge more during school holiday time. Prices should be the same all year round. Trivago is a good site to go on if you are looking for the best deal on a particular room. You can read reviews that others have written after staying in a place and check out the ratings. You also can see the cheapest price for a particular room.
@janemariesayed Yes I know about Trivago. But it is not covering all the sites. In fact for my recent booking I got the best deal from some other site which wasn't listed on Trivago. About changing price, it is like that from starting. In peak time they used to peak the prices too. And in off time they reduce it. But I wonder why they change price almost everyday on this online sites.
