What sites do you guys look for in order to find good last-minute hotel deals? From time to time I like to travel on a whim during the weekends, so I’m just looking to find decent hotels on the cheap. I understand that hotels often put last minute vacancies “on sale” on various sites, and am just curious what the best sites are.
I’ve been looking at HotWire and Kayak but my gut tells me there must be something better. Also, if I end up wanting to book a place a week in advance versus 12-24 hours in advance, how much cheaper can prices get?
Thanks – I figure there must be some “hotel deal experts” on this forum, and I’m looking forward to learning some new things.
Use Hotwire combined with Hotwirerevealed.com and you’ll be able to get last second prices and have a really good idea of where you’re staying. I use it when going to Vegas and can normally narrow the hotel done to one or two choices so I know I’ll be happy with whatever gets picked.
Sweep the Leg and King_kong, thanks for the suggestions. I’ll check them out.
Also, do either of you or anyone else have suggestions for where to find the best priced hotels in New York? Is there a specific site for this? I did try out the Hotel Tonight app and the suggested hotels are all $300+ per night. I know there are better last-minute deals than that in New York, but I’m just not sure. I’ve never looked for hotels in New York for myself since I live here, but I have friends that like to visit from time to time so I’d love to be able to give them some good money-saving tips.
I’ve never had to stay in a hotel in NYC, but I get the sense that the best deals to be had are the independent hotels who don’t use the mainstream distribution channels (i.e. Kayak, Hotwire, Priceline).
For instance, the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Tribeca has rooms tonight for $210. It doesn’t look like the most glamourous place, but then again, you shouldn’t be spending too much time in your hotel room if you’re visiting the city anyway.
You could always try your luck, and walk in to a hotel at like 2 am or something, offering to give them like 50 bucks becuase “no one else is going to come in tonight, so might as well just take the money, since you won’t be paying the maid $50 to clean in the morning.” Tried that before, and it was successful. It was only one time I tried it too, so clearly the sample size is large enough to base inferences off of.