In my previous career, I worked in the hotel industry. Most hotel chains have an employee rate program starting at $39 – $69 per night to stay at their sister hotels. Since I’ve left the industry I have had a difficult time transitioning myself to paying the standard rate. It can be painful, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are my top 5 tips on how to save money on hotel rooms:
How To Save Money On Hotel Rooms
1. Ask your friends & family – Just as hotels have preferred rates for their employees, they also have “friends and family” rates that are typically only $20 – $30 more than the employee rate. Most hotel employees are used to being asked for this favour, so if someone you know works in the industry, why not ask them yourself?
2. Use your corporate/government/association affiliation – The next best rate to try would be a preferred corporate rate or government rate. Or if you belong to an association like a professional sales association or an engineering association, ask the hotel for your preferred discount. Also, if you are a CAA/AAA member, you will likely save 10%.
3. Know your market – Most resort locations and sports destinations will be busy on the weekends, but they start to empty out on Sunday/Monday. Plan your trip away from the peak times and into the weekdays to save 15% – 40% off your rate. Conversely, most corporate locations and meeting hot spots are busier mid week (Tues-Thu), especially downtown hotels. You can book at some beautiful downtown locations on the weekend for 50% off their regular rate.
4. Book in advance – The trend in most hotel chains is to offer an advanced booking discount on their website. If you book more than 14 days in advance, you may be entitled to a 15% – 20% discount. Book a week in advance and receive 10% – 15% off your rate. Please note that hotels build in “fences” where the deeper the discount offered the more conditions apply to your booking. For example, the 14 day advanced purchase rate will likely have a “no-cancellation” clause, and will capture your funds immediately upon booking, rather than at checkout.
5. 3rd party websites – Take a look at Expedia.ca or Travelocity.ca to get an idea of the rates being offered in the location you are looking for. All hotels need to offer “rate parity” to these 3rd party websites, meaning that the lowest rate offered on the hotel website will also have to be offered on Expedia and Travelocity.
Now here’s the trick; hotels pay 22% booking fees for every reservation made through these 3rd party websites (similar to travel agent commissions). Check the lowest rate on Expedia and then call the hotel directly and ask for a discount. Savvy hotel operators will know that they will net more profit by offering you a $10 or $15 discount over the phone than they will by allowing you to book on Expedia.
Related: Forget The Resort! Why You Should Travel For The Experience
Ex. You book a $100 rate on Expedia – the hotel nets $78. If you book an $85 rate with the hotel directly – everyone wins!
There are many other ways to save money on hotel rooms, including using Hotwire.com & Priceline.com, and belonging to a hotel rewards program, like Delta Privilege. Maybe I’ll save those for a future post…
So there you have it, 5 tips to get the best value out of your next hotel stay. What are some of the ways you save money on hotel rooms?
Being a fairly thrifty guy, I try and stretch my dollars as far as they can go. When setting up our family budget, I noticed we were spending a bit too much on car insurance. Here are my top 10 tips to save money on auto insurance:
Tips To Save Money On Auto Insurance
- Shop around – My first step to save money on auto insurance was to obtain a couple of free online insurance quotes, as well as an over the phone quote from a local insurance agency. As it turned out, my existing premiums were still competitive in the market, so I needed to dig deeper.
- Multiple vehicles – Having multiple vehicles under the same insurer can save you 10% or more on auto insurance.
- Bundle other policies – Better yet, insure your home with the same company and save up to 10%.
- Increase your deductibles – Increasing your deductibles by $250-$500 can reduce your collision and comprehensive costs by 15%-30%. The trade-off is that you are required to pay more for small claims.
- Self-Insure the small risks – By increasing your deductibles you avoid unnecessary coverage, and since small claims increase your premiums anyways, filing fewer claims will reduce the chance of your premiums rising in the future Besides, if you are an above average driver, the savings in premiums should more than pay for your claims over time.
- Avoid Collision on older cars – Collision coverage protects damage to your own vehicle, but if your car is worth $2,000 or less, are you really going to salvage it after a major wreck?
- Low mileage discount – This may not apply to many people, but I live less than 10 km away from work, and since that is my major daily commute, the insurance companies offer a discount for low mileage drivers. This can also apply for your secondary vehicle that perhaps doesn’t get out on the road as often.
- Good driving record – Being accident and ticket free over the past 10 years has saved me between 5%-20% on my premiums. Savings kick-in after 3 accident and ticket free years
- Value of Car – Expensive cars cost more to repair and therefore cost more to insure. Check the insurance rates before you decide to purchase a car.
- Pre-Pay your insurance – Most insurance companies will charge you up to 3% to set-up a monthly payment plan. Avoid this by pre-paying your insurance at the start of the year.
Just by going through these steps again with the auto insurance company earlier this year, I managed to save $360 off our annual premiums. We now pay less than $1150 to insure two vehicles.
Do you have any money saving tips to save money on auto insurance?
Any inspirational book or seminar will tell you that you need to write down clear, concise and measurable goals in order to successfully plan your future. Almost any life goal has a financial aspect to it.
You could have a goal to have a million dollars in investments, but it’s more exciting to incorporate a vision of your life such as, “I need to save $50,000 to be able to quit my job and live in Belize for a year so I can write a best selling novel.”
Setting Measurable Goals
You can keep this vision in your mind so it’s less painful when you walk past the shoe sale and bring your bag lunch to work. I believe money should be a tool, not the ultimate goal.
Related: How To Set Short Term Goals
That said, my own goals are actually quite modest. For the next year I will:
- Maximize my TFSA contribution. This account is part of my long-term retirement strategy so I plan to contribute the max every year.
- Begin minor renovations on my 30+-year-old house that seriously needs some updating. This not only will increase its value, it will make it more attractive to me and hopefully make the house more saleable if / when we decide to move.
- Visit my elderly parents more often. They still live in their own home, but in another province and I want to check up on them in person every three or four months or so to see if everything is OK.
- I currently work part-time so I don’t technically get paid vacations. I do however get vacation pay on my bi-weekly paycheques. I am depositing this amount into my savings account to reduce the sting of not only paying for my holiday, but that I also have no earnings while I’m away.
- I want to take a course or two – perhaps upgrade computer skills and learn a new language for an upcoming trip to Europe (part of my medium-term goals).
These should all be achievable with a little more work and motivation and a little less procrastination to keep me on track. How do you set measurable goals for yourself?