Why Spend More? 12 Basics To Save On Hotels That Everyone Should Know

Posted on by Tracy Nicole
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Hotels prices keep going up.

How can you save money?

I don’t believe in paying a lot for hotels.

In the past, I spent little money while staying at mostly Hilton and Marriott hotels.

In the future, I plan to pay nothing at all by being a reseller (or as close as possible to it).

Reselling is popular in the points and miles community.

Of course, reselling is a trade off of time for money, but the point is you don’t have to spend a lot on hotels.

There are easy ways to save a lot of money.

You can combine the following methods to save even more.

12 Easy Ways To Save On Hotels

1. Join a Hotel Loyalty Program

After you join a hotel loyalty program, you get points for all your stays.

For instance, Marriott Hotels earns 10 points per dollar.

A $150 hotel would give you 1500 points.

Before Marriott got rid of award charts, a category 1 Marriott hotel costs 7500.

You can still get Marriott hotels for free with around 10,000 to 12,000 points.

I have gotten these after a couple of stays when I combined points, credit card categories, and promotions.

RELATED: 7 Reasons Why You Must Sign Up For Hotel Loyalty Programs

2. Sign up for Hotel promotions

After you are a member of the hotel loyalty program, sign up for their promotions.

For instance, the current Hilton promotion earns 2,000 points for every stay.

Most major chains like Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt run promotions every quarter.

3. Get status with a hotel

Hotel status can give you extra points.

The following are status levels in the Hilton program:

  • Member
  • Silver
  • Gold
  • Diamond

Again, you get 10 points for all Hilton stays (except Home2 Suites and Tru By Hilton where you get 5 points).

In addition, you get the following for elite status:

  • 2 points for Silver
  • 8 points for Gold
  • 10 points fo Diamond

So the earlier $150 hotel at a Hilton would be 1500 base points and another 1500 for Diamond.

If you had the American Express Hilton Surpass Card that earns 12 points per dollar, you would get another 1800 points.

With the current promotion that we mentioned earlier, you get an extra 2000 points again.

That is 6800 points for one Hilton stay if you are a Diamond member with the Surpass card (1500 base points, 1500 for Diamond, 1800 for Surpass card, and 2000 for promotion).

Hilton hotels start at 5000 points although there are not many of those.

They are enough 20,000 ones though, so you would be 1/3 of the way to your first free stay.

Just keep in mind that the sweet spot in the Hilton chain is 40,000 point hotels.

Those are probably most of the ones you think of too.

You can also use something called cash + points which I will explain later in the post.

This was one of my favorite ways to redeem Hilton points.

So, a 40,000 point hotel could be redeemed for 20,000 points and $50-$80.

4. Get a hotel credit card

As mentioned earlier, the Hilton credit cards can get you extra points.

First, the sign up bonus on one of the three personal American Express Hilton cards are enough for your first free stay.

Second, the category bonuses on these cards can add to your points as I mentioned earlier.

So, if you had the Hilton Aspire card, you would get 14 points per dollar if you paid for your stay with the card.

If you got the no-fee card, you would still get 7 points per dollar.

5. Follow hotels on social media

Hotels offer promotions to their social media followers although they are not as generous as they used to be.

A couple of years ago, Marriott had a promotion where they gave a lot of points for following them on Twitter during football season.

I got 12,000 points.

That was enough for me to stay at a Category 2 Element hotel for free.

The regular price for that hotel was over $150 after taxes.

Just for following Marriott on Twitter, I got a $150+ hotel free.

They don’t usually offer promotions like that anymore though.

6. Have a AAA membership

If you stay at hotels enough, the AAA rate will save you about $20 a day.

Make sure to buy their lowest priced Classic card at $52 though.

7. Save On Hotels By Using Cash + Points

If you are a member of a hotel loyalty program, use cash and points.

This is where you divide your redemptions in half by paying cash for part of it.

So, you will need half the points.

Not all cash and points rates are the best, but some are.

This was one of my favorite uses of Hilton hotels in the past again.

Make sure to do the math though again.

One year, I stayed at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square for a couple of days.

The cash rate was over $350 plus taxes per day.

I paid $80 and 20,000 Hilton points.

As you saw earlier, 20,000 Hilton points is pretty easy to acquire.

In the earlier example, we showed how someone would have almost 10,000 points after one stay.

If you made that stay a couple times, you could have 20,000 points.

8. Save On Hotels By Pre-paying

If you know you won’t cancel, pre-pay.

A good idea is to book the flexible rate.

Hotels have a no cancellation policy, within 1-3 days before arrival.

You can book the pre-paid rate.

Later, if the pre-paid rate is cheaper during the no-cancellation period (1-3 days before arrival), you can book the new lower rate.

Then, cancel the original reservation

Sometimes, this will be the same as the AAA rate though which gets you the flexible rate.

9. Sit through a timeshare presentation

If you can deal with the aggressive sale’s pitch, sit through a time share presentation.

I have seen offers for 4-5 days for $150 at places like Myrtle Beach or Orlando in the Hilton chain.

I have not had time to try this yet, but I am sure I will one day.

Another idea is to sit through one of the phone presentations that pitch timeshares.

At the end of the call, you can decline the timeshare.

I did this recently with IHG and got 500 points.

I called back and did it couple more times until they did not offer it to me again.

10. Travel in the Off Season

Peak season will always cost you more.

For instance, summer in Europe will always be more expensive as well as winter in the Caribbean.

Forget peak travel season for your destination with all the crowds, and travel in the off season.

I did this one year in Chicago.

I went to Chicago in November.

Chicago winters are brutally cold.

November is not as cold as Chicago gets though (usually).

I had my choice of any Hilton and Marriott hotel on Michigan Avenue for $90 plus taxes.

It was the week of Thanksgiving though.

Those hotels usually start at $250 and up plus taxes.

That is usually over $300 after taxes or more.

So, I saved $200 and got the most prime location in Chicago: Michigan Avenue.

I choose the Hilton Chicago, but all the Hiltons were the same price.

I actually could have been at a Hilton on the Magnificent Mile, but it was only my second trip to Chicago.

I did not know better back then.

The Hilton Chicago is across the street from the famous museums (got upgraded for free to a view of Grant Park as a Hilton Gold), but not on the Magnificent Mile.

I thought since it was their flagship property, it would be in the midst of everything.

Always read Trip Adviser first!

11. Travel in mid-week or weekends

Hotels that are popular with business travelers are cheaper on the weekend, so you should book the weekend.

Hotels that are popular with leisure travelers are popular on the weekends, so book through the week.

12. Save on Hotels by Staying in the suburbs

I used this tactic a lot in the past.

Hotels farther from the center of the city are cheaper in expensive markets.

Places like Boston and New York are typically $300 and up in the center of the city.

For example, a hotel in midtown New York averages $300 and up plus taxes.

I just saw the Hilton Meadowlands for around $100 in the suburbs of Jersey right by a train stop that would take you into New York City.

This was one of my favorite tactics in the past.

I used it so much that I actually ended up making sure I stayed in prime location in every major city later.

With points, there are ways you can pay little or even nothing for prime location though too.

You just need to do some planning and build your point’s balance.

For instance, I stayed once at the Hilton Curio Ames Hotel in Boston for 35.000 points and $150 cash.

The hotel is usually over $400 with taxes.

I think a great program for expensive markets like Boston and San Francisco is the Hyatt
program.

If you have a Chase Ultimate card like the Sapphire Preferred/Reserve or Ink Preferred, you can use less points for Hyatt hotels through Chase.

Staying in the suburbs is still a popular tactic that I use when I don’t care about the location.

If you don’t care about location, you could save hundreds.

Instead of $400 after taxes for a hotel in a market like Boston, you could pay $100 plus taxes for a Hilton or Marriott hotel in the suburbs.

RELATED: The #1 Trick I used In The Past To Save On Hotels

Summary

Not spending a lot on hotels is one of my favorite things to do.

I have had over 30 free or partially free stays in my 5 years in the points and miles hobby.

That is not as good as I can do either because two of those years were technically years that I took off travel.

During this time, I only stayed at a few hotels.

I am used to staying at 50 hotels a year.

I probably would have had over 50 free hotels without the two years off.

My preferred chains are Hilton and Marriott too, so nothing shabby.

Just keep in mind that close to half of my redemptions are points + cash though too.

I say that so you know that you can get the best properties and spend little money.

Again, in the future, I plan to spend no money on travel at all by reselling.

I am used to staying at 50 hotels a year though too again.

I am a blogger!

The average traveler would not need to be a reseller.

I like to travel frequently again.

Again, the point is that you don’t have to spend a lot on hotels.

So try some of these tips.

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119 thoughts on “Why Spend More? 12 Basics To Save On Hotels That Everyone Should Know”

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