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Condé Nast Traveler on how to get the best deal on hotel rates

June 12, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

The best hotel sales are largely unannounced, knows Condé Nast Traveler Senior Editor Lisa Gill. Hotel companies target specific subsets of travelers - loyalty program members, holders of certain credit cards, people who've registered on their websites - and alert them by e-mail.

At luxury properties, rates vary substantially according to occupancy. A room could be $550 one week because there's a big group, and $250 the next because they have significantly more availability. For top-end hotels that have on-site reservations desks, call and ask the manager when, during your travel window, the hotel will be emptiest and thus have the lowest rates. If you need to get into a sold-out hotel, find out when cancellation penalties kick in for the date you want to arrive, then call the property on the morning of that day. You can scoop up rooms made available by people who've just canceled.

Do not rely on the Internet alone when searching for discounted hotel rates. Call hotels directly and ask if there are any last-minute deals available on a room. The rate listed on a hotel's website is not always the lowest rate that the hotel will offer. If a hotel has a large amount of rooms open for a night and it's less than 48 hours before that date, a manager at the hotel may be willing to reduce the rates further than what the website advertises. Do not be afraid to ask for a lower rate. The worst the manager can do is say no.

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