Best bargain - when to book?

[dinoman]

My parents and I are taking the cruise out of Vancouver in late May 2010 and planning to stay 3 or 4 days pre-cruise in the city. There are lots of information on how to get the best hotel bargain in the forum and I'm interested to know how early in advance did you guys book the hotel in order to get the bargain you've got? Thank you for your help! :o

[Keith1010]

Some people will book hotels through sites such as priceline to get good rates.

 

I don't do this and book through the hotels directly. What I do is book early and then continue to monitor the rates. If they go down I followup and get the lower rate. In this environment I have done well with this appoach. In fact, I see your location listed as Hong Kong and on our recent stay there in April the hotel price went down multiple times and each time we obtained the lower rates.

 

Keith

[dinoman]

I know the rate-monitoring tatic is frequently used in cruise booking but I don't know it also works on hotel booking as well. Just like air ticket, once you booked a hotel room it doesn't matter whether there is a better deal or not you just stick to the booked rate. I tried a few hotels and the rates I've got so far are not so competitive or qualified as a 'bargain'. Some say last minute booking gives you the best deal and others say early birds catch the worms. I think constant monitoring is the key.

[5waldos]

Except most hotels have a 24 hour cancellation policy- cancel at least 24 hours before you scheduled arrival and there is no charge. So, if that is true for your hotel, simply rebook at the new rate and cancel the previous reservations. Use variations on your name since it isn't a problem with hotels.

[Bowie MeMe]

I did the constant monitoring and rebooking at the Crowne Plaza in Istanbul and the price went down almost $100/night as did the airport Hilton in Madrid. I have also had the preferred hotel go up and then I congratulated myself on booking as early as possible. I book on the best rate that can be cancelled up to 24 hours (NOT THE LOWEST RATE BUT THE BEST RATE THAT CAN BE CANCELLED) then I monitor. I have also booked on what I think is a good rate and quit looking because I was satisfied. All these methods fit the booking situation at that time.