1. How to Save Big on Hotels Travelling is in itself one of the best ways to unwind and let go off things, unless you are travelling for business purpose. However, for those on business trips also do use the opportunity of alone time to keep themselves away from all the hustle bustle of life. However, in all of this, one thing which we all tend to not care much about is how about the savings part. It always feels great to spend while you are on trip but there are ways wherein one can save on hotels as well without having to dig a hole in their pocket. One should consider the fact that what would happen if they return home only to find their wallets empty or drowning in debt. There should always be a stress free travelling quotient. Paying too much for lodging is not the best thing to do. However, there are various ways in which one can look to save big on hotels and at the same time enjoying your holiday with less stress. Always stick to your budget: Before planning for the other things of the trip, it is important to determine how much and where would one want to spend their money. When you plan about lodging or stay in a hotel, decide what all basic amenities you are look for from the hotel. Is it just the room stay or other amenities as well such as gym, swimming area and so on? If you are one of those who prefer to just use the room for unwinding and spend most of the time outside, then go out for hotels having those as good features. Some people prefer using the room only for relaxing and night stay whereas most part of the budget is used for entertainment outside of the hotel such as sightseeing and so on. Save on reservation: Now there are a lot of online travel agencies which provide you the benefit of saving money when someone else books a room. This is a new concept which has been initiated by a lot of travel agencies. For example, there is a travel site wherein if one links all of their contacts and if any of these contacts carry out any hotel booking, a certain amount gets stored in that individual’s kitty which can be later used for their own travel booking deals. Hence by making use of such deals one can look for ways to minimize the hotel expenses. Online Travel Agencies: OTAs are the new norms in the travel and tourism sectors. Instead of directly booking hotel tickets from the hotel website, one can run through the various online travel agencies which provide the same hotel details but with varying prices. Bingo, you get the best deal on instead of searching for thousands of website for a best offer. Flexibility: If one has a flexible schedule then it is advisable to stay in the hotel during the offseason time wherein the bookings are not at peak. It has been surveyed that travelling during off season helps one to save money on the hotel part which can be rather used elsewhere for enjoyment. Also off season travelling allows for a peaceful enjoyment wherein one can avoid the crowd thus making the joy of sightseeing more pleasurable. Also when you plan for staying in a hotel go in for mid-week rather than weekends since mid-week pricing are different than the weekend ones. There are certain online portals wherein one can bid for the best deals on hotel or you can get further reductions on the booking price. Make your choices wisely: While selecting the hotel location, ensure that you carry out a wise decision. Even if one is not much aware about the area, there are travel maps provided by the websites which can be easily expanded to search exactly where the hotel is located. The map also provides for other hotels in the same area but with different pricing structure based on the location. Also in attempt to saving on

2. the hotel bookings, it is not advisable to book a hotel which is far from the attraction sites or city area else you would spend a lot of time as well as money on transportation which would not be worth the deal. Investigate the area before you hit the book button, you can find out more on the public or hotel transportation facility, parking areas and their costs etc. Loyalty programs: Hotels also take care of their guests, especially the ones who always prefer their hotel among the others. For such guests the hotels have certain loyalty programs wherein the guests can score a good deal when they stay at the same hotel on their every visit. By doing so the hotels can provide a better booking rate or deal as well as an upgraded room or facilities at the same package. Package deal: There are a lot of online travel websites wherein one can save a great deal of money if they consider carrying out the packaging option such as booking of the airfare tickets, reservation of the hotel, renting a car in case of travelling there etc. By taking all of these services from one place, one can look to save a good deal of amount. Also there are a lot of reward programs offered to frequent travelers or flyers. Most of the major travel website offer loyalty program membership. They have tie ups with certain chain of hotels, rent a car companies, etc. hence providing the best option for the client. Don’t get fooled by entertainment packages: There are a lot of hotels which offer certain packages such as health package, free ticket for any local attraction, packages for spa or honeymoon but not all of these packages help you in saving money rather it would make you spend more from your pocket. Hence carry out a thorough research on the hotels as well as the attractions out there so as to see if all of this package provided by the hotel would make sense before you blindly go ahead with the deal. Credit card offers: Keep an eye on credit cards which are affiliated with the hotel reward programs. Wherein when one purchases through card they are given certain reward points or a free one-day stay. In some cases, one can also receive double or additional points for using a certain type of card at an affiliated hotel. But do not go about racking up the credit card bill in lieu of earning credit points since it won’t help in the travelling budget.