How to Save Money on Hotel Bookings: 11 BEST Hacks
Looking to save money on hotel bookings? This guide covers 11 of my tried and tested techniques to staying in beautiful places for less
I absolutely love finding beautiful hotels to stay in. Such a huge part of my excitement for going on trips comes from opening the door to a new hotel room.
But one thing I love even more than finding a great hotel, is saving money on them. And over the years I’ve become a bit of an expert on finding the best deals for the most beautiful places. So if you’re wondering how to save money on hotel bookings, you’ve come to the right place.
*Some links in this post are affiliate links. It won’t make a difference to what you pay, but I may earn a small commission if you purchase something I’ve recommended. I’m really grateful for your trust in my advice, and if I wouldn’t recommend it to a friend, I won’t recommend it to you.
1. Use Booking.com on your mobile
Booking.com is my favourite place to book hotel stays. I love the fact that you can easily compare loads of hotels at once and filter by the things that are important – swimming pools, good reviews (this is a big one for me), air-con etc.
Plus, I prefer the UX of the site over other comparison sites (that might sound so pathetic but it makes a difference to me lol, especially when I’m scrolling through for hours).
Flexibility is really important to me too, and the majority of hotels on Booking.com offer free cancellation and don’t require upfront payment.
Something that I don’t think is that widely known, is that you can usually save more than 10% on your hotel booking when you use the mobile app instead of desktop.
Here’s why they do it:
Over half of all bookings on Booking.com are made on a mobile device, so the platform offers hotels an opportunity to capitalise on this.
They receive a badge next to their property to help increase visibility and number of bookings, in exchange for offering a discount of at least 10%.
And here’s what it looks like on your mobile:
Just look out for the green badge that says “mobile-only price”. In these examples the savings are well over 22% vs desktop, that’s HUGE!
2. Use cashback sites to get money back
This is my second favourite hack and one that I don’t think loads of people know about. Affiliate marketing in its most basic form is when a company pays other people (such as bloggers and influencers) to promote its product or service.
Each time a sale is generated from the promotional activity, the blogger makes a commission.
There’s also affiliate websites – TopCashback and Quidco are my favourites. They work in exactly the same way, except as well as the website making money, you’ll also earn commission on any purchases you make through the site.
Whenever I’m booking a trip, I’ll check these sites first to see if the hotel features. You won’t usually find boutique hotels on affiliate websites, but bigger companies like Booking.com and Hotels.com are always featured.
All you have to do is search the affiliate site for the website you’re intending on purchasing from, and follow their link through to book your hotel.
The amount of money you make depends on the time of year and any offers running at the time, and is always paid out after your stay.
If you’re thinking, what’s the catch? There isn’t one. It genuinely is free money just for booking through these websites. The incentive for companies to use affiliate marketing is to capitalise on users they might not otherwise reach, and you can reap the rewards!
Double check that the you’re actually saving money before booking through a cashback website. Sometimes, the price will be inflated to make up for the money they’re having to pay out. I always compare the cost of booking directly vs booking through a cashback site before confirming.
3. Join comparison sites reward programmes
Most hotel comparison sites will have a reward programme allowing you to either get nights for free or discounts off stays.
If you travel a lot the discounts you get can be huge, I’m at level 3 of the Booking.com loyalty programme and I always book our hotels because I save SO much more than my boyfriend.
We can be searching for the same place right next to each other and the difference in price is crazy.
Hotels.com have a loyalty programme where you stay 10 nights and get 1 free. I personally prefer getting discounts every time I stay which is why Booking.com suits me better.
4. Be flexible on when you can stay
It’s no secret that hotels charge a premium for weekend stays, and a lot of the best hotels also have 2-night minimum stays Friday-Sunday (I hate it too).
Your best chance of staying in beautiful hotels on a budget is going mid-week during their off-peak periods, when they’re not as busy and more likely to drop their prices.
If the price isn’t discounted, they might throw in some extras like a free dinner.
5. Look for last-minute deals
If you’re really flexible on when you stay, keep an eye out for last-minute deals on same-day travel. We booked to stay at The Rectory last year on the same day and got £50 off the room price.
The hotel knows they’re unlikely to fill the room so late in the day and they’d rather have the room full at a cheaper rate than not at all.
Websites like lastminute.com are the perfect place to find a great last minute deal.
6. Ask for hotel vouchers as presents
As I get older, the list of things I want for Christmas or for my birthday is becoming much smaller. I’d rather receive an experience where I can make memories than a gift I don’t really need.
Recently I’ve been asking for hotel vouchers from friends and family – once you’ve saved up a few, it’s a great way to get “free” stays in beautiful hotels you wouldn’t normally spend your money on.
Mr and Mrs Smith is my favourite place to get vouchers for as there’s so much choice.
7. Book during sale periods
If you’re a planner and know exactly where you want to stay in advance, your best chance of getting a deal is whenever hotels have sales.
The biggest sales will usually be around Black Friday and the beginning of the year and you’ll either get a % discount off the price, or another night added to your stay at no extra cost.
Did you know there’s also a day called Travel Tuesday? It’s on November 28th and it’s a great chance to get huge savings on hotels.
8. Check out websites with secret deals
Use websites like secret escapes to find heavily discounted luxury hotels. Although it’s for “members only” it’s free to join.
The idea behind it is that hotels don’t want empty beds, so they offer rooms at a discounted rate, and you benefit.
It means being flexible, and you won’t always have a lot of choice around where you stay and when. But if that isn’t important to you, you can save a lot of money.
9. Message the hotel and ask if you can book direct
Something I’ve found to work really well on Airbnb is asking if you can book directly with them on their website.
You don’t have to pay the extras Airbnb charges, and they don’t have to pay the platform fee. Win win.
Some people jump at this but others don’t like doing it because they enjoy the security a booking platform provides. But if they’re already operating a business independently and are just using the service for extra bookings, it’s usually not a problem. Don’t ask, don’t get.
If you’re messaging someone on Airbnb about doing this, they block any words that they interpret to be you trying to book off the platform. They’re not stupid. So you just have to be smart about what you say.
10. Look out for new openings
Often when a new hotel opens it’ll offer an introductory rate whilst it builds up its reputation and reviews.
This is a great time to get discounts on luxury hotels that would normally be really expensive. Whilst this won’t be the case for every hotel (look out for smaller, boutique places that don’t have an established brand), it’s a great way of bagging a deal.
And don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you need to scour the internet trying to find new hotels, there’s lots of brilliant websites that have done the hard work for you. Here’s some of my favourites:
11. Get a credit card that rewards your spending
Although a credit card doesn’t directly make the hotel cheaper, there’s lots of brilliant cards that give you cashback, or reward you in points.
I have a British Airways American Express card, and every time I book a hotel, I use it to pay. In return, I get Avios points I can use on flights. If you travel a lot, this is a great way to get rewarded for what you’d be spending regardless.
Hopefully you’ve found this article useful and you now know exactly how to save money on hotel bookings. Happy searching!
