Ten Tips for Finding a Cheaper Place to Sleep

toptraveller - Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - 05:42 Tags: General Visiting • Travel Tips

Cheap Room RatesSomeone just asked me how I found a such a cheap room when they usually pay five times as much. The answer is that I make it a priority. People spend a lot of time keeping the cost of a flight down. Very few people would pay for a business or first class ticket on a pleasure trip, and most would take a cramped seat on an airline with a lousy reputation for service, just to save ten dollars. Yet they may pay little attention to the price of their accommodation, and routinely pay high prices because they believe there is no choice.

Since room costs are daily expenses, savings really add up when you cut just a little off of the price of a room. On a two week trip, a ten dollars a night is $140 that you can spend on souvenirs, good food, or another trip. If, like me, you travel for long periods, even a one dollar savings adds up to $365 per year.

So, how can you find these inexpensive rooms?

1) Research alternatives.

Instead of just booking the same grade of room you always get, do some research and find out what all the options are. And I mean all the options, not just cheaper versions of your old standby. Look at budget hotels, hotels with common showers and toilets, home stays, home exchanges, hostels, housing in university dormitories, camping, and rooms in convents and abbeys. Seek out information about all the choices available to you.

Guidebooks aimed at backpackers, such as the Lonely Planet series, the Rough Guides, Let’s Go, and Moon will teach you about options you didn’t know existed. For Europe, the Frommer’s guidebooks include some very basic options, and are going to be emphasizing home stays and other alternatives in the future. These guidebook series also have web sites.

2) Only pay for what you need.

I like to be centrally located, and will stay in a dump that is convenient rather than a poorly situated but nicer place, even if the price is lower. Others don’t mind walking an extra mile or half. They have different needs.

Cheaper but convenient, and even comfortable, alternatives do exist, sometimes in amazingly good locations. In Singapore I stay at a backpacker place, across the street from the Bugis Mall, Bugis Metro station, and the Intercontinental Hotel. I pay about eight dollars for a bed in an air-conditioned dorm with facilities down the hall. Rooms at the Intercontinental are $200. Would I like to stay there? Sure. Am I willing to pay over $190 more to stay there? No. Am I willing to go two blocks down the road to historic Raffles Hotel and pay $500 or more? No.

You may decide you need a private bathroom, air-conditioning, and a little space to walk around. But if you go for the 24-hour room service, chocolates on your pillow, and fresh flowers in the room, you are indulging yourself rather than sheltering yourself. That’s fine, as long as you know that you are paying for extras, not a room.

3) Look around when you get there.

Either arrive without a reservation, or book a room for only the first night or two. When you arrive, look around for cheaper places.

4) Bargain.

Especially at the low end of the price range, ask if there is a discount for staying longer. If you are a returning customer, ask if they can give you a better rate. Make sure to ask about the absolutely cheapest bed available. I’ve been sold on a private room when there were dorm beds available, not so much because someone was trying to make more money, but because the proprietor assumed an older woman wouldn’t be willing to take shared accommodation.

It helps to know the rates of other nearby places. I get a rock bottom rate at a motel in St. Petersburg, Florida because I stay there every year, and because I always know the rates for their competition just up the road. I prefer my regular motel, and they always match the other rate or beat it by a dollar or two, unless they are full. This can work even at top hotels, I‘ve been told.

5) Talk to other people.

Tell people you are looking around at places to stay because you are coming back in a few months. . Ask them where they are staying, then ask if they mind telling you what they are paying. If it’s a good rate, ask how they got it.

6) If you must have luxury, try the bidding sites.

I’ve tried them for moderately priced places, and my bids are always rejected. Friends have gotten incredible rates on luxury properties, though, especially at business hotels on the weekends.

7) Consider packages.

Sometimes booking a package, especially one combined with a flight, is close to the same price as the hotel or flight alone. Most packages will allow you to extend the return date to as late as thirty days after departure. You can use the hotel at the beginning or end of the trip, and travel independently the rest of the time.

8) Use the booking services at the tourist information center in the train station or airport, sometimes.

In some countries these are great, in some they are awful. When they are good, they will save you a lot of money and time.

In Spain, the woman behind the desk knew the occupancy status of every hostel in Madrid. In the Netherlands, I stood in line for half an hour before I heard someone say that they only handle expensive hotels there. For Europe, most budget guidebooks will tell you which countries have services are genuinely helpful, and which are just travel agents trying to make as much off of you as possible.

Make sure you know what the booking fee is. Separate fees are generally charged by those places that aren’t taking commissions.

9) Check the internet.

The internet can give you a quick idea of the variety of rooms and the relative costs. Really basic places are usually listed only on hostel sites, and the cheapest places may not even have an e-mail address.

Be careful about on-line reservation services for hostels and other really low cost places. Some charge flat fees that can be as much as half the cost of a room. If you are only staying one night in each location, those fees can drastically increase your costs.

10) Experiment.

Step down a class or two for a night. Try a mom and pop motel. Stay in a place with the bathroom down the hall. If you don’t like it, don’t do it again.

If you make lowering your accommodation cost a priority and change your mindset to consider and try alternatives, you too can find a cheap room on your next trip.