Travel Deal of the Day (Dec. 19, 2006)

Hotel chains are now touting the incredible rates available on their websites – usually these rates are accompanied by some claim such as “best rate guaranteed” and the rates are usually non-refundable and non-changeable. Before booking that highly restrictive rate, you must examine all of your options to ensure that you are not overpaying.

The Deal:
Think twice before booking the non-refundable/non-changeable rates available on the hotel chains’ websites.

How:
When you find a non-refundable/non-changeable rate on a hotel chain website, you should examine your options before booking that rate – here are some steps to take:

1) Examine the membership club discounts available – AAA, AARP, Entertainment Card, ABA, American Express Platinum or Centurion, etc. This may sound obvious, but the major hotel chains have made these discounts less obvious on their websites and made these discounts harder to find. On sites such as Hilton, you now must enter all 16 digits of your AAA number just to find the rate. Even though it may be a pain, check all these rates before locking yourself into non-refundable rates.

2) Check aggregator websites such as: Kayak.com (see Dec. 13, 2006 post).

3) Check out the prepaid rates via Hotwire and Priceline. If you are buying a non-changeable/non-refundable rate anyway, check out what can be incredible prepaid bargains on Hotwire and Priceline. For a guide to bidding on these sites, check out www.biddingfortravel.com and www.betterbidding.com.

4) Think about what rates may not be available online. Some hotels offer a 50% discount for the Entertainment card, but it is only available by calling. Package or promotional rates may be available in a special “package” or “promotions” section of the website. (An example of such a rate is the Marriott/Hertz buy 2 nights, get 1 free promotion mentioned in the Nov. 20, 2006 post. This changeable/refundable promotional rate is less expensive than almost any non-refundable rate that would be offered by a Marriott hotel.)

The Inside Scoop:
The most important thing to consider when booking non-refundable rates is whether rates will decrease closer to your check-in date. The rate that is the lowest at the time you book may be quite expensive when compared to the rate that is available within a week of your travel date when the hotel lowers its rates when it sees how many unsold rooms it has. If you book a non-refundable rate and the rates go down, most likely you are stuck, even if a lower non-refundable rate becomes available. So, in most cases, if it is more than two weeks from check-in, I usually book the least expensive cancelable/changeable rate and take my chances that rates will decrease or that I can find a bargain on Priceline close to the check-in date.