How to Get the Best Rate on a Hotel Room

Here are a couple tips I found in a recent promotional copy of Bottom Line Personal on how to get the best rate on a hotel room:

You always get the best rate by calling the hotel's local number, not the 800 number, which usually links callers to an off-site, centralized call center.

Rooms are more expensive in the morning. The best time of day to make a reservation by phone is right after 6 pm. This is when hotels wipe out the no-show reservations that were unsecured by a credit card.

Ok, a few thoughts on these:

1. I've heard that you get the best rates by calling locally, but I never do. I usually book online. It makes it much easier. Then again, for personal travel, maybe I will start calling the hotels directly.

2. So is this suggesting you don't make a hotel reservation until after 6 pm on the same day you need the room? Yikes! What if there's a convention in town and you can't then find a room? Sounds like a losing idea to me!

3. And who in the world actually reserves a hotel room without giving out a credit card number to hold it? Does anyone do this?

Comments

[BradM]

I'm getting married in August and started hunting for honeymoon spots and came across a way that currently that has saved me some money on the hotel I wanted. (I could of reserved a room at a discount hotel, but not what I envisioned on my honeymoon). My Uncle gave us the bed & breakfast for our wedding present. He mentioned that he booked an upgraded room for the basic room price because he had mentioned that he had enjoyed his experience so much when he visited there.

So I tried it at the hometown upscale chain hotel and called their local number.
I told them I had heard very good complements about their hotel from a few friends and that they had booked the room at X price (which was about $20 a night cheaper from what they had put on the internet). After a little wrangling (mentioning another hotels price) and the Managers approval I got the price I was looking for.

[Gene Crowley]

Here's another reason to book online. My wife works for the State of Alabama and most major hotel chains offer a governmental rate for their rooms. Often, their websites show those rooms as available but if you call their local number they aren't available but they will be happy to book a room at their standard (and much higher) rate. Of course, she books them online and never had a problem with those rooms being available once she arrives at the hotel.

[Lodging]

While hotel rates are continuing to climb in 2007 due to a healthy business travel market, occupancies are not expected to grow due to new room supply coming online. I think that you'll find more hotels eager to discount over the next 2-3 years if you take the time to ask directly.

[rocketc]

I have never heard of a hotel reserving a room w/o a credit card. Does Bottom Line Personal live in the mountains of West Virginia? (no offense to any Mountaineers)