Their conclusion: often, but not always.

They tested 10 different bookings and found that the average price was 60% percent lower than the price offered by the hotel directly.

It some cases, however, you can end up paying more than the standard price if you are not cautious.

You also need to be wary about extras.  In some cases the auction offer excluded the cost of making the reservation, tourist taxes and cleaning costs, which have to be added to get the actual price that you will pay.

Clearly then, you should first check the normal cost of the services that you are looking for, and then ensure that you do not bid more than that.  It is all too easy to get swept up in the excitement of an auction and to pay more than the going rate.

If you book late you can often save money, but there is always the chance that your preferences may not be available.  The reason is that hotels make no money from empty rooms.  If there is a convention in town, well, then you lose out.  But you may be able to snag a bargain.  Certain areas have off seasons and establishments that keep their doors open may be very generous indeed with their rates.

For instance, Cape Town in South Africa, has wet winters.  They call it their Green Season and pricing is much better than it is in the height of summer.  You may be able either to enjoy a holiday that you could otherwise not have afforded at all, or else you may be able to stay in a higher class of hotel than you would otherwise have been able to go to.

Be sure to read the terms and conditions of the auction reservation as they may be more restrictive in some cases than a regularly made booking.

• We provide authoritative travel information,
• We give you expert DIY travel advice,
• We demystify and explain travel processes,
• We explain how to benefit from industry systems,
• We show you how to save time,
• We help you save money.

Today we highlight three special features on this web site that you can access straight from the main menu above:

Our Online Check-In page conveniently saves you time.  Select the Online Check-In page from the menu above then click the Check In button next to your chosen airline.  You will be taken directly to the online check-in page for your flight.

Our Book A Room page saves you money.  To make a hotel booking at competitive rates straight from DIY Travel Expert, select the Book a Room page from the menu above.  Insert your dates and destination into the search block and get best rates at a wide selection of hotels worldwide.

The Contents Page saves you time when locating valuable information on DIY Travel Expert.  You can now access any article through a complete listing of the topics of every one of the informative articles on the site.  (This can be used together with the comprehensive search facility, or you can just click on any article to read it.)

Bon Voyage!

Weekend rates

Many hotels offer a lower rate on the weekends, from Friday through to Sunday nights.  The reason?  Hotels in major cities get their regular trade from the business travellers on weekdays and so lower their prices to get higher occupancy on the weekends,

Long stays

A seven day stay is clearly going to bring in more revenue for a hotel than two or three nights.  So, to make it more appealing, they may offer a lower rate.  Or if they don’t, be sure to phone and negotiate.

Operators and travel agents

Travel agents that have a national presence and tour operators are able to negotiate discounted rates with hotels due to their larger buying power.  Even though you may have found a good price on the internet, be sure to check what rate an operator can get you.  Sometimes their rate may be the same but it could include, say, breakfast.  Or the rate could be even lower.

The price you get via the Internet may often be best for hotels in the United States, but in other countries such as China an operator will frequently beat rates obtained, because of the way business is done there.  (Some Chinese operators are online but there is no guarantee that they quote their best price there.)

Negotiate

Phone and negotiate.  We aren’t just suggesting calling and asking, “what is your best price”?  You need to try harder than that.  Get a comparative price at a different hotel chain that is of the same standard as the one you want and then ask them to match it.  In many cases they will.  It’s a tough economy out there today and everyone wants business.

Want to book a hotel now?  Click here

[This is a real booking.com search box, not just an image]

Direct website

It is often hard to find the hotel’s own home page on the web.  Many sites include the names of hotels in their pages and this results in them being ranked higher in the search engine than the hotel’s actual site.

You may need to hunt through the search results a bit in order to get the direct link.  Once you have the right page, check to see if they have the option to book online and check out the rates for the dates that you want.  Be sure to read the terms and conditions of the rates you are looking at, as cheaper rates almost always mean additional restrictions.

It is important to look for any specials on the site and note what dates they can be booked on.  Sometimes if you change your intended date by just a day you can save money.

Online hotel booking sites

Sites such as booking.com offer good rates and hotels give them better rates on occasion than you can get directly, due to their huge buying power.

Price comparison sites such as skyscanner will give you the best price from a wide range of hotel sites.

Sites like hotwire specialise in “last minute booking” specials.  You can get up to 50% off the price of bookings made at the eleventh hour.  The risk is that they may not have a room available at the specific hotel you prefer on the day/s that you require it.  You may therefore need to be a bit flexible in your arrangements.

Phone in

Phone the hotel directly and ask for reservations.  Request “the best rate that they can offer”.  While you may expect that they would give you the best rate automatically, that is not the case.  They usually have various different rates on any given day and they may offer you the “rack rate” (the standard price to the public), but not mention any specials that they are running.

Senior citizen discounts

If you’re from about 55 or over, ask if they have a senior citizen rate.  The age at which this discount is offered varies between hotels, and some do not offer a senior’s discount at all.  But there is no harm at all in asking!  Be aware that if a hotel is running a special, they won’t allow you to stack one discount on top of another, so select whichever is the cheapest.

Children

Children under 12 stay free in the same room as their parents in many hotels around the world.  In some places, this age is extended to 16 or even 18.  If you don’t mind having your children on a sleeper couch in your room and are keen to save a buck, be sure to ask what their policy is for children.

Meal costs

While checking the different rates, be sure to make meal comparisons.  It often works out cheaper to take a rate that includes breakfast than to take a lower rate that is room-only and then paying for breakfast, unless you are planning to have breakfast at a café down the road.  From our experience, when travelling overseas, try to get meals included in the up-front price.  It saves money for souvenirs and for fun activities that will make your journey memorable.

In some tourist destinations, for instance on the Indian Ocean island paradise of Mauritius, one can get half-board, which includes breakfast and dinner.  Since the hotels are designed as full-service destinations that frequently include all the entertainments you may desire, this is often the cheapest option.  If you intend seeing the sights during the day you may only need to find lunch on the road, or you can return to the hotel in the afternoon and have a drink and a Club Sandwich to tide you through to dinner.

Some resort destinations, where there is little other than the resort itself will offer full board (including lunch) but since this usually means they have an effective monopoly, they often just have a flat rate that includes all meals.  Cruise ships use a similar principle.