Travel Deal of the Day (June 19, 2009)

If you are booking two (or more) rooms for your next vacation, be aware that you can usually receive a great discount on the second room.

The Deal:
Many hotels routinely offer discounts when purchasing two rooms for your hotel stay. Sometimes, these discounts are named "Family Plan" or "Second Room Package" - whatever the name, be aware that you generally should not pay full price for the second room as you will usually have access to a good discount when reserving a second room for the same nights as the first room. Here are some examples:

(1) Hyatt Family Plan - Hyatt offers 50% off of a second room for use by children 12 years and under - see this link;
(2) Prince Hotels Second Room Free Offer - Various Prince Hotels (a chain of three to four star hotels offering a variety of properties in Hawaii) routinely offer a second room free offer such as the offer at this link; and
(3) Some Westin Hotels offer a second room at half off package - such as this offer (see "Children are Welcome" offer).

How:
When searching for a discounted second room, do a web search for the hotel and relevant search terms (such as "second room free"; "discounted second room"; "multiple room discount"). Also, call both the nationwide reservation line and the in-house reservations department and ask for a second room discount - you will be surprised at how often such a discount is available.

The Inside Scoop:
Though some second room discounts are only intended for children of the people in the same room, other discounts/promotions have no such limitations. If two or more families are traveling together, you may be able to use these kinds of promotions to cut the cost of your trip (by booking your hotel reservations together (with one room at full price and the second room using the second room discount) and splitting the total cost of the hotel stay).