
When planning your next vacation, think about these tips to get the best deal on hotel rooms:
- 4 months out – as a general rule of thumb, you want to start looking for a hotel room around 4 months before your expected trip. ...
- Hotel Loyalty programs – most hotels offer a loyalty program that is free to join. ...
- Check your Credit Cards – one of the benefits of many credit cards is discounted hotel rentals. ...
How far in advance should you book a hotel room?
The ideal amount of time to book a hotel room is only 15 days before your trip, according to a 2021 NerdWallet study. Looking at more than 2,500 hotel room rates between 2019 and 2021, NerdWallet found rates were about 13% cheaper when booked 15 days before compared to four months before.
When is the best time to book a cheap hotel room?
Due to the way hotel prices work, your best approach for booking a cheap hotel room is to act both early and late. Because it’s still common that hotel reservations be cancelable and refundable, typically up to at least from a week prior your reservation, there’s no harm in booking early and then still shopping around.
How early can you book InterContinental Hotels?
InterContinental Hotels Group. How early you can book: 350 days for non-Kimpton hotels, 355 for Kimpton properties IHG has 13 different brands with more than 742,000 rooms spread out over 5,000 hotels in 100 countries. It allows bookings up to 350 days in advance regardless of whether you’re using points or dollars.
How far in advance can you book Radisson Hotels?
How early you can book: You can book Radisson hotels up to 730 days in advance when using cash and up to 270 days in advance when using rewards. Rewards program: Hilton Honors. Hilton has over 6,500 hotels in 119 countries spread out over 18 different brands.

Do hotel prices go down as the date gets closer?
Since hotels are always aiming to maximize their occupancy rate, many will decrease their rates if they aren't meeting their expected targets. That's why you'll often see hotels dropping their prices a few days before a check-in date or on the day of arrival.
What days are cheapest to book hotels?
According to the website's data, a Sunday check-in is the cheapest, followed by Monday and Tuesday....Kayak's Global Hotel Study Findings for Domestic Travel.Cheapest day to book a hotelFriday/SaturdayCheapest hotel check-out dayFriday4 more rows•Apr 9, 2019
Do hotel prices go up the more you look?
Hotels.com and Expedia (also common ownership) return hotel lists in differing order, and they steer some apparently random user groups toward higher-priced hotels. Everyone sees the same prices, however, so the researchers conclude there is no price differentiation.
Do hotel prices go up the later you book?
The ideal amount of time to book a hotel room is only 15 days before your trip, according to a 2021 NerdWallet study. Looking at more than 2,500 hotel room rates between 2019 and 2021, NerdWallet found rates were about 13% cheaper when booked 15 days before compared to four months before.
How far in advance can you book Best Western?
As with Best Western, you can book up to 350 days in advance if you’re paying in dollars. But if you’re using your Choice Privileges Rewards, you can only book 30 days out, though elite members can book awards further out — up to 100 days in advance for Diamond members.
How far in advance can you book a Starwood hotel?
You can currently book a room at one of the 11 Starwood brands up to 550 days in advance using points or dollars. (Please note that some hotels don’t load their availability online that far in advance, but you can call them to request it.) Expect that to change once the Starwood and Marriott loyalty programs merge.
How many Hyatt hotels are there?
Hyatt Hotels has 11 different brands. It operates almost 700 hotels in 56 countries. You can book award and cash reservations up to 395 days in advance.
How far in advance can you book a hotel with Club Carlson?
It allows you to book hotels using cash an astounding 1,095 days, or exactly three years, in advance! When using your points, though, you can only book up to 270 days in advance.
How much back can you get on a restaurant card?
Plus, earn up to $100 back in statement credits for eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants with your card within the first 3 months of membership.
How far in advance can you book Omni?
Although Omni isn’t the biggest brand, it does offer some of the nicer rooms I’ve personally stayed in. Omni Hotels allows you to book up to 13 months in advance, using either points or dollars.
How early can you book Hilton?
How early you can book: One year . Hilton Hotels has more than 5,000 hotels in more than 100 countries spread out over 14 different brands. You can book up to 365 days in advance using points or dollars.
Do you have to book a hotel in advance?
Most hotels do offer rooms to walk in travelers, so you don’t always have to book a hotel in advance. There are some situations that you may be able to get a better deal with a walk in instead of booking a room in advance.
Can you get a hotel room without a reservation?
Most hotels will tell you that they prefer guests to make a reservation. This has more to do with the hotel and less to do with the guest.
How far in advance can you book a hotel?
Most hotels will allow you to book rooms a year in advance. This comes in handy if you enjoy your stay at a hotel location and know that you want to return the following year around the same time.
Travel Tips for getting the Best Deals on Hotels
In booking a hotel, timing truly is everything. There is a sweet spot to securing a hotel for a trip and for getting the best deal.
Saving Money on Hotels
Staying at a hotel can be a very large part of the expenses associated with a vacation. They can also be an expected expense for a business trip or visiting family.
When to book a hotel in advance?
In this case, the prices are lowest around three months in advance of check-in and are likely to increase after that—especially for those who wait until the last minute.
Why not book at last minute?
The problem is that it doesn’t necessarily guarantee the exact type of room you prefer: the closer you book to your check-in date, the more likely the hotel is to be booked, so you may not end up in your top-choice room. If you’re only interested in the hotel and don’t care what kind of room you get, booking last-minute is probably your best bet in these cities.
Is it a good time to book a hotel?
As it turns out, there may actually be a “right” time to book your accommodation in order to get the best price. According to a new study from travel research app Hopper, the best time to book a hotel depends on your destination city. Here’s what they found:
How Far In Advance Should You Book?
It may feel counterintuitive, but the key to getting a good rate is often waiting until the last minute to book a hotel room.
What is the best time to book a hotel?
Oftentimes, the optimal time to book a hotel is “shoulder season” ― the time between the high and low (aka peak and off-peak) seasons.
What Time Should You Book?
If you’re able to book at the last minute, even the time when you make your reservation can affect the rate. In fact, being spontaneous and waiting until the very last minute can pay off in a big way.
What Time Of Year Has The Best Rates?
Although hotel rates vary by day, the season also makes a big difference.
What Days Of The Week Should You Stay?
For example, if you’re able to be flexible with your dates, you may want to consider staying over a Sunday night.
How Else Can You Save?
There are many other ways to find good deals on hotel rooms. Consider opting into email lists and loyalty programs from your favorite travel websites, Dohmen recommended, and pay attention to sale days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
What is the biggest misconception about booking hotel rooms?
Ultimately, the biggest misconception about booking hotel rooms is “that there’s a simple rule to it.”
When is the best time to book a hotel?
According to SkyScanner, the absolute best time to book a hotel is one or two days before check-in or on the actual day you’re staying. In some cases, you can find rooms at as low as half the price of the original offer as this is when the cancellation policy window for most hotels is. Hotel rooms get cheaper closer to the check-in date.
What is the cheapest day to book a hotel?
Whilst Orbitz have discovered that the cheapest booking rates are offered on a Friday and the most expensive day to reserve a hotel is a Sunday, Priceline has found that Sunday was actually the best day to book, with Monday following closely behind.
What days should I stay?
When it comes to the cheapest day to book a hotel, avoiding Fridays and Saturdays can substantially lower prices with the added benefit that you should get easier access to local attractions and amenities too by steering clear of the weekend crowds.
What season should I book for?
Avoid big holidays when everyone is traveling and choose the low or shoulder seasons if your biggest goal is to save some cash.
Can you plan a vacation based on location?
You may not be able to plan your vacation activities based on your exact location (which may be important to you if you’re in a big city, for example) and instead you may not be able to research the finest eateries nearby.
Do hotels have more seats than visitors?
Unlike flights that have a limited number of seats (which means that airlines can hike up the price the closer it gets to the departure date), there are normally more hotels than visitors. Hotels would rather have a room filled by guests paying a discount price than no guests at all.
Is it cheaper to book a hotel before or after the date?
According to reports, it’s the laid-back last-minute bookers who get the best deals. Researchers found that bookings made just before the date of stay were routinely cheaper than bookings made a long time in advance.
When do hotels start reviewing bookings?
Some hotels that cater mainly for local business travelers may get most of their bookings in the three weeks prior to the date of stay. That type of hotel may not start reviewing their advance bookings until two weeks prior to the arrival date. But if it is a hotel which typically gets most of its bookings sooner (eg, it specializes in providing accommodation to international tourists who typically book further in advance), then it will start reviewing the booking trends sooner.
How long do you have to review a hotel?
Many hotels allocate blocks of rooms to large tour operators and travel websites, and require these companies to either confirm or give back a certain percentage of the rooms allocated to them at various times prior to the date of stay - typically review dates might be 90, 60, 30, 15 or 14 and 7 days prior to stay. Maybe one of these companies ends up giving back a large chunk of rooms on one of these review dates, causing the hotel's projection to switch from one of being comfortably full to suddenly/unexpectedly being uncomfortably empty.
How to hedge hotel reservations?
One way to hedge is to book rooms that allow for cancellations as close to arrival as possible. That guarantees a room that can be cancelled/rebooked if rates drop. Some hotels charge one rate for non cancellable reservations and a higher rate for cancelable reservations.
What happens if 10% of rooms are discounted?
But if the 10% of rooms it discounted sell early, then the other 90% may stay at full price until a 'review period' when someone makes a decision 'Oh gosh, the hotel isn't filling as fast as we thought, maybe we should release a few more rooms into the discount category'.
Can you get a discount at the front desk?
You might try getting a small discount from the front desk clerk, since you won’t be eating breakfast, etc. But, it’s “a toss of a coin” whether you will get a break.
Do hotels open reservations in advance?
It would depend upon an individual hotel/property to open their reservations in advance and in a time frame.
How far in advance should you book award travel?
That’s because airlines typically release a first batch of award space when the schedule opens (between 330 and 362 days before your flight), and then again right before the flight.
Why wait a few days before booking a flight?
So why not wait until just a few days before your flight to book? Because airline fares are guided by specific fare buckets that are only available at certain preset dates before your flight. Only the most expensive fare classes (Y, B and M) are typically left a day or two before departure. The cheaper fares are reserved for purchases made at least 21 days before your flight.
How long before departure does TPG have to book?
If you notice a deal for your destination, book it before it’s gone — regardless of whether it’s four or ten months before departure.
How much back can you get on a restaurant card?
Plus, earn up to $100 back in statement credits for eligible purchases at U.S. restaurants with your card within the first 3 months of membership.
Do airline tickets expire?
Furthermore, airline tickets have strict expiration policies — they typically expire within a year of when they’re issued.
Is demand for airfare halting?
Also, demand for airfare has basically come to a halt. Airlines are going to need to convince people to take to the skies again once this is all over. Expect to see some uncharacteristically good deals, in both coach and biz, which should be booked when they’re announced — regardless of how far in advance you’re planning.
Is it a science to know when to book airfare?
Knowing when to book airfare isn’t a science. There’s no formula, and the advice is always changing.