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Saving on Hotels in Winter

Posted by (Seattle, WA, USA) on

Hi Everyone, I just got done with booking all of my lodging for a 13 day trip through France/Italy/London and I've learned a great tip to save money that I wanted to share that especially apply during the low season.

Tip 1: Always check with the direct hotel site for special winter rates! These rates were not shown on Expedia, Venere, eBookers, or any other site I went to except for directly on the hotel site. Experiences may vary by hotel but for example, I booked a Tripadvisor Top 15 hotel in Paris for 99EUR a night while the lowest rate through an OTA was $235USD! Of course, the special winter rates are non-refundable but if you're already set with your itinerary, the risk is relatively low!

Tip 2: Other types of rooms may be available directly through hotel. Often times, I find rooms (smaller or no-frills) that are advertised directly on a hotel's site that's not distributed through the OTAs. This led to me saving about 50EUR a night for staying at a very nice hotel with just a few less amenities (no minibar, etc.) which worked fine for me since we are going to be out and about!

Hope that helps.. all in all, by doing a lot of online looking around, I saved about $400 USD than if I just went to the usual suspects and booked.

Posted by
95 posts

Roger, have you ever tried Priceline.com? You can book 4* hotels in most major European cities for less than $100, often only $60!

Always do your homework on www.biddingfortravel.com before you bid on Priceline.com!

Posted by
11507 posts

Roger I am totally with you on this, I never use agencies like Venere etc,, although I always LOOK at them, read their reviews and check their rates, but so far have always found better deals on hotels on websites.
I have done this for the last 6 or 7 hotels I have used in Paris.
This is also very valid for summer rates, as many if not most hotels in Paris seem to have "L'ete Promotions" summer sales ,, lower prices in last part of July and through August.

I haven't used Priceline, and I won't, I like knowing exactly where my hotel is,, I am picky about location.

Posted by
8 posts

Hi Ken,
Yes, I have used Priceline and I actually booked my London leg with Priceline for a 4* hotel for 2 nights. The problem I'm finding is that with European hotels especially, the star ratings are not very accurate. The same problem exists in the US but I believe to a lesser degree as most of the properties booked are the chain ones that have standard finishes/quality. So my London hotel, I chose 4* and bid up a few times till $90 which was accepted. The hotel however was definitely less than ideal although compared against their rates I saved about 30%. I would say that that differential isn't worth enough when I'm on vacation for an unknown property.

Posted by
18 posts

Not to get off track, but why would you want to stay in a big hotel while traveling in Europe? I agree with Rick when he says that you can connect with Europe better by becoming less Americanized and staying somewhere less grandiose. Just my $02.

Regardless, enjoy your trip and thanks for the heads up on hotels.

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