Landing a good deal on flight tickets can be a great economic relief, but accommodation is also an important of your budget, particularly for longer holidays. Here are the best sites for land good deals on hotels, B&Bs, lodgings, etc.
Hotels.com allows you to search just one site for accommodations at hundreds of thousands of properties. You can find particularly good last-minute deals, which are updated daily. The site also offers big bargains with the site's seasonal sales, destination-specific deals and other special offers.
Hotels.com also has a rewards program that can save you a great amount of money depending on how much you use it. The site's Welcome Rewards Program's advantage is its simplicity. For every ten nights you spend at any combination of the program's 100,000 member properties, you'll earn a free night's stay worth up to the average daily rate of your ten nights.
Although Priceline.com offers standard online travel agent services, its Negotiator is customized to help you haggle for the best bargains on hotels. You can save up to 60% off published rates, and bids less than $100 a night on luxury lodgings often win, specially for last-minute bookings.
The downside to this system is that Priceline doesn't tell you which hotel you are booking until after you pay, so you won't be sure exactly where you'll end up. This kind of booking can be risky when you are visiting an unfamiliar area or staying overseas. The site uses the same system - Name Your Own Price - for flights and car rentals.
TripAdvisor is the most popular hotel-review site, offering millions of professional and amateur reviews of hotels from all over the world. All you have to do is search your destination, and the site will display a list of hotels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals and other lodging options. Use the filter to select what is closest to your search criteria. Is it hotels best for value? Is it family hotels? Or are you looking for other type of hotels, including business, romance or luxury? TripAdvisor caters for all tastes and needs.
Since the website is open to reviews from outsiders, keep an eye out for fake reviews, either from hotel on the article or its competition.
Even though TripAdvisor doesn't sell rooms or offer any bargains, it links you to other sites such as Expedia, Travelocity and Hotels.com so you can check the rates of the hotel you are reviewing.
To focus on smaller inns or B&Bs, try searching BedandBreakfast.com where you can find extensive details on even the smallest inns. If you register your email address, the website sends you promotional codes and “hot deals” in your desired location. The site also allows you to search for specific amenities, such as a hot tub and fireplace or whether you can bring your pet along.
If you are travelling in a group, you might want to check out HomeAway.com for vacation rentals. With more than a million worldwide listings across its family of sites, including VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com, HomeAway.com offers the biggest section of rental lodgings. These vacation rentals are particularly good for groups as they offer more space and amenities for prices similar to or less than hotel rates.
If you are travelling alone or with a friend or two, you can save a large sum of money by staying at a hostel. This doesn't mean you have to join the backpacker and bunk-bed lifestyle you might associate with this budget-lodging option. As a matter of fact, many hostels offer more private, hotel-life accommodation these days. If you are now convinced of getting a hostel room, Hostelz.com can help you score a good deal, offering nearly 50,000 listings in about 9,000 cities, and includes reviews from professional and real travellers.
If you want t save money than you would at a hostel, your best bet is HomeExchange.com. This website provides the largest network of home swappers, with more than 55,000 listings spread throughout the US, Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Italy. All you have to pay is $119 a year and you can swap as many times as you want.