The following post is by MPFJ staff writer Travis, who blogs at Enemy of Debt where he candidly shares his family’s financial struggles, failures and successes. As a father and husband, he provides a unique perspective on balancing debt, finances, and family.
The point of a vacation is to get away from the stresses of everyday life and relax. Unfortunately, planning the vacation is not a stress free activity. Taking time away from work, arranging travel, accommodations, and transportation can all take their toll on a person’s state of mind. One might think that booking a hotel room would be a relatively easy task. Unfortunately, even once you decide on a hotel getting the best value for your money has a difficulty factor ranking right up their with negotiating the price of a car.
This is especially true when the hotel IS the vacation destination. For example, my family and I are planning a vacation to a water park destination a few hours away from home. The hotel we like to stay at includes both an indoor and outdoor water park, as well as an indoor amusement park. We spent hours navigating their website in an attempt to book our room, and learned a few things that could make a significant difference in our vacation budget.
1. Investigate Room Types
Hotels have several types of rooms. The first thing to do is to familiarize yourself with all the types of rooms available, and identify which ones will work for the number of people you have in your group as well as how you plan to use your room. Sometimes we’ve required a kitchen to do our own cooking, and sometimes we don’t. Some rooms have a pull out sofa that we normally assign to our son. It allows him to stay up later and play video games on the biggest television in the room while the rest of us retire to bedrooms with a door and sleep undisturbed. As we read the descriptions of the room types, I wrote down which ones would work for our family.
2. Collect Information on Packages
Hotels and vacation destinations may have packages available that can help you get the most out of your vacation dollars. We found that the hotel we had chosen were offering special family packages, as well as various types of two night package specials. I again wrote down the packages that best fit our vacation plans.
3. Search For Online Specials
Many web sites, not only for hotels but also many retailers, have a tab labeled, “Coupons,” or “Online Specials.” Our vacation destination had a “Specials” tab that stated all guests between May and August received free tickets to a water skiing show. I printed off the page and included it with all our vacation information. We had been to the show previously, and would love to see it again.
4. Explore All Options
We wanted to get an idea as to the cost, including taxes and fees, of different room/package combinations. We filled in our information as if we were actually going to make a reservation, selecting each combination of room and package that we were interested in. Things got a little confusing here, because the website allowed me to pick between “Package Prices” and “Best Rates.” However, the best rates were the standard room only prices, while the package prices were discounted prices. The term “Best Rates” was misleading, as they certainly were not the least expensive option.
The lesson here is to ignore what the words say, and simply get a price for every room and package pair. As before, I wrote down the price of each room/package combination that we were interested in.
5. Call the Hotel Directly
Once I’d compiled a list of room/package combinations that work for us that also fit within our budget, I called the hotel directly. I had to be careful to ensure I was actually talking to the specific location. When dealing with a hotel chain many times I ended up talking to their central reservation office. One can verify they are talking to the actual location, and if not ask for a direct number. Usually the direct number can also be found on a hotel or resort’s web page. Once I was connected with local hotel, I inquired about any specials they have have that aren’t listed on the website. I also asked a series of questions to find out if they give any discounts for corporate rates, AAA or Costco Members.
The more questions you ask, the better chance you have at finding additional discounts, or having the hotel reservation agent tell you about a deal that you may not have found otherwise.
In my experience with this specific vacation destination there were dozens of combinations of rooms, packages, and specials. I don’t think that the hotel is purposely trying to make it difficult or confusing for potential guests to find the best deal. I think that the hotel adds ideas as they come up with them, as well as matching discounts offered by other hotels in the area.
I also don’t think that my experience with this vacation destination is unique. I believe that there are other hotels and resorts that have the exact same problem with their reservation system. The good news is that by following these steps, you can navigate the even the most confusing reservation system and find that gem of a package that helps you stretch your vacation dollars to the max, and finally get that relaxation you deserve!
How about you all? Have you tried and succeeded in lowering your hotel vacation costs by using any of these tricks? What other tips can you give other readers to lower their hotel vacation costs?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/uniquehotelsgroup/5691503052
