Looking for a Hotel Discount? Try These 5 Useful Tricks

Photo credit: Diego Torres Silvestre/Creative Commons

In See How Easily You Can Find the Best Deals on Hotels, I talked about why I love Hotels.com. Yes, Hotels.com has a low price guarantee, but can you make the deal even sweeter? I tried out some of these tricks and found the answer was -- yes.

1. Find a coupon code

Before you pay, open up another browser window and search for "hotels.com coupon code." For a recent stay in Washington, I got an instant $50 off with a 10% promotion code I found on retailmenot.com. By the time it was cherry blossom season, the deal had expired but I still discovered a printable coupon for $20, enough to pay for a lunch out.

2. Get cash back with Ebates

I was bummed that I didn't think of Ebates the first time I booked with Hotels.com. If I had just remembered to enter Hotels.com through Ebates, I could have gotten another $25 back with just one extra click.

Currently Ebates is currently offering a 4-5% Hotels.com rebate, and it's free to sign up. So what are you waiting for?

3. Check which days are cheaper

Hotels.com doesn't have a way to search flexible dates, so I enter a range of two weeks. When I click Book It, I can see the breakdown of how much each night costs. It's amazing what a difference a day makes -- as much as $75 per night.

Booking this way helped me understand, for instance, that D.C. is more expensive on weekdays but Niagara Falls on weekends.

4. Browse special offers

Check out the site's Deals tab for deals you might have missed. You can see discounts offered in tourist spots across the country, or type in your destination. Recent specials on hundreds of hotels included 30% off plus one credit towards a free stay.

5. Have prices dropped?

Because Hotels.com has no change or cancelation fee (except for the actual hotel's policy), it's easy to shop around for better deals risk-free. A few days before leaving, do another sweep to see if rates have fallen. If so, make a new reservation and cancel the old.

When it was time to book a hotel in Niagara Falls to celebrate my father-in-law's 70^th birthday, I turned to Hotels.com again and found a high-rise over looking the falls for $106 per night.

Could I have found a cheaper rate if I had used a discount Web site like Hotwire or Priceline? Maybe, but you don't know what you are getting until you've already paid. For special occasions -- and traveling with kids -- I'd rather leave the surprise up to the casino after bedtime.

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