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Use an online travel broker
first
Start by doing a search on www.expedia.com
www.ebookers.com or
www.tavelocity.com to get a bench mark
for the average price. Find a hotel you like. Then check the hotels own site and
see if they have special offers. The same room is not sold at the same price.
Now try the hotel comparison sites
www.travelsupermarket.com www.hotelscomparison.com
. Remember that many countries have room taxes. Some websites include this, others do
not. You also have to watch out for sites that list results with rooms as 'On Request'.
This is not a firm booking price.
Try
a hotel blind bidding site
Hotels use these type of sites to get rid of unused posh hotel rooms at large discounts.
It is very useful for US hotels. What is strange about these sites are you are not told which hotel you’re booking until you pay.
You must agree to get the hotel room before you bid. You can be lucky and pay
only 1/3rd of the normal price. Try
www.priceline.com. The hotels offer the large discount on unsold rooms as
they know they are guaranteed a sale.
Priceline’s best if you’re flexible, and want to stay in a large city or resort. How does it works? You pick a city area & star level, name your price and see if any hotels accept it.
The system is not perfect. At the moment you cannot specify what size the bed is
or if it is non-smoking or a smoking allowed room in those countries that still
allow smoking in Hotels. I have in the past e-mailed the hotel after making the
booking and requested a non-smoking room. I have not had any problems yet. Of course the aim's to find the smallest cheapest, acceptable price, so start low, e.g. £20, then keep raising your bid till it's accepted, but you can only bid once-a-day. If your bid is not accepted it does not matter as you do not have to pay anything if you loose. The site does give you suggested price guides for the criteria you select. The Loophole: There are techniques to get more bids per day, either by bidding with a partner
so long as you have separate e-mail addresses, or adding more areas of a city.
On a trip to San Francisco I managed to get a £230 room for £57.
As an alternative try www.lastminute.com
and check out their discounted 'top secret' rooms. They do not tell you where
the hotel is until you've booked it. For North America
www.hotwire.com also sells secret hotel rooms.
Travel agents Thomson and Thomas Cook often sells unsold hotel rooms and apartments at huge discounts
normally for off peak times.
www.thompson.co.uk
www.thomascook.co.uk
Special Spanish
hotels
Whilst not the cheapest hotels in
Spain the Paradors can offer something special. They
offer luxury
accommodation in
Castles, Palaces, Fortresses, Convents, Monasteries and other historic buildings
www.paradores-spain.com
Other Websites by Craig Moore:
(e-mail =
craig.moore@blueyonder.co.uk
)
Free Desktop Wallpaper
- Moore's Travel Guide -
Moore Train Photos -
www.flyfishing-flies.com -
www.moore-familytree.co.uk
Flyfishing Guide to Fishing Flies
- Moore Aircraft Photos
-
Wimbledon Tennis Guide -
Carp Flyfishing Flies -
Saltwater Flyfishing Flies
Campfire Songbook -
Sopwith Aviation WW1 History -
Hawker Siddeley Aviation WW2 + History -
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