Tips to get cheap hotels and holiday home deals

If you’re looking for a hotel room or vacation home rental, Booking.com should be your first stop. It was launched in 1996 and is one of the oldest and best hotel search engines for booking rooms, apartments, hostels, holiday homes and other types of accommodation.

Booking.com’s simple interface allows you to quickly find a hotel room that suits your needs. But dig deeper and you’ll discover a lot more under the hood. From price matching to loyalty rewards, you can get great hotel deals.

Become part of the Genius Rewards program

Once you’ve booked five separate trips on Booking.com, the site will promote you to a Genius member, its travel rewards program. Becoming a member is completely free, it’s all about making these five reservations. It’s totally worth it, as Genius unlocks 10% discounts at several Booking.com partner hotels.

Genius Rewards membership also has several other benefits. Some hotels offer free airport transfers for Genius members, as well as welcome drinks and a two-hour extension to check-in or check-out.

That’s why joining a rewards program is one of the best ways to save money on hotels.

Use free cancellation (and search again)

In the Booking.com search results, filter the list by hotels with free cancellation and no advance payment. This way you can save a lot of money. How?

You are not the only Booking.com user who does this. In fact, this is one of the biggest draws of this site. So users often book multiple rooms and release them later.

When you book a room without cancellation fees or any advance payment, you will be given a date after which you will be charged for the room. Search Booking.com again the day before the deadline.

In my experience, you are more likely to find travel deals at the last minute, closer to your travel date. You will now be in a position to pounce on them. Once you get a new offer, vacate your old rooms, which is easier without the rigamarole of asking for a refund.

Booking.com has a price match guarantee, which means that if you find the same hotel room for a lower price somewhere else, Booking.com will change your price to match the lower price.

Booking.com appreciates this price match until the date of your stay, so in case the price drops, go to your listing and click “Have you found this room cheaper elsewhere?” You will need to confirm that all conditions are the same (travel dates, cancellation conditions etc.) and then submit the claim. If everything matches, you will receive a refund from Booking.com shortly.

To find cheaper prices elsewhere, try the Gopher Chrome extension. When you see the final price on Booking.com, Gopher automatically checks to see if a better price is available elsewhere. If you find it, make a reservation and file a claim. It is one of the best ways to find cheap hotels or hostel rooms.

 To save on transport, check the map view

In general, hotels outside the main tourist hotspot will be cheaper than hotels in the main area. But even if they’re cheap, you’ll end up spending on transport costs and even have to cut your evenings short if late-night taxis are too expensive.

In fact, you will end up saving money and having a better time if you get a room that is closer to the tourist center. Booking.com’s map view allows you to check hotels based on their location. Every time you zoom in or out or scroll through zones, Booking.com reloads the available properties in that zone.

Take your time and do it. You can almost always find a great place to meet all your needs while still being close to where you want to be. The map view also allows you to apply filters on the fly and check basic information about a hotel by hovering over its price tag.

 Pay attention to the date suggestions

Unfortunately, there’s no hotel booking site that lets you search with flexible dates or shows you the cheapest month to travel like Sky-scanner does for flights. But Booking.com has a handy trick for that. Before you plan your trip, check Booking.com for your dates. You may see a bar at the top of the search results that says “Prices may be higher than usual on the selected dates.” Booking.com will suggest similar travel dates two days before and after that are cheaper.

If your travel dates are flexible, click on the furthest suggested dates. Look at the bar again to see if the rates will go even lower if you change the dates further. Keep trying until you see the cheapest possible time to visit the place.

Save filter settings and check full prices

Usually Booking.com shows the price including taxes. However, sometimes there are a few hidden taxes that hotels charge you when you get there, such as city tax or some fees that are specific to the location. Booking.com Power Tools is a Chrome extension that reveals the full price, including hidden fees.

It also adds a neat feature to save your favorite filter settings. You can save multiple filter “presets”, each for different types of travel situations. This is a useful feature when you are planning a trip across cities and with different people.