Hotels.com is one of several booking websites that have transformed the way we make reservations for business and leisure travel. By offering rooms at over 300,000 hotels in 19,000 locations, the site is a great way to get an excellent deal on your next vacation.
Dealspotr has created the following guide to help consumers get the best deals when using Hotels.com to book travel arrangements. By following these easy steps, you can make a significant reduction in your travel costs!
Join the Hotels.com Rewards Program
The Hotels.com Rewards Program is free and easy to register for and is designed to benefit those that book most often through the website.
The site claims it only takes two minutes to register and signing up is well worth the time considering the rewards include a free one-night room and several “secret” prizes that pop up throughout the year.
How the Rewards Program Works
The Hotels.com Rewards Program is quite simple. When a consumer has booked 10 nights through Hotels.com, he or she earns a free one-night stay. For those that travel often for business or pleasure, 10 nights can add up extremely quickly.
Unlike some loyalty programs that make it difficult to redeem their rewards, Hotels.com is extremely flexible - the free one-night room can be applied every single day of the year. While there are some hotels that are not able to accommodate the free night stay, there are over 100,000 hotels that do.
Insider Tip
Even if you are only planning to book a one-off vacation and the “book 10 nights get one free” incentive is out of reach, it still makes sense to register for the Rewards Program. Members are given access to even lower rates on hotel rooms – known as Secret Prices. Many of these rooms will never show up on hotel comparison or aggregate sites.
Follow the Social Media Pages of Hotels.com
Why and Where to Follow Hotels.com
Travelers can find profiles for Hotels.com at Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The site also maintains a Youtube Channel. Keep an eye on these profiles to find out the latest on coupons and other helpful deal aggregates such as “3-4 Star Hotels for $99 or Less.” If anything, these social media pages are a great way to get inspiration for your next vacation!
Insider Tip
Tech savvy travelers can gain access to Secret Prices through a few methods besides joining the Hotels.com Rewards Program. Adding your email to the the Hotels.com online newsletter will do the trick, as will downloading the Hotels.com mobile app.
Search for Last Minute Deals
It has been common knowledge for some time that a great way to get a good deal on travel arrangements is to either book well in advance or at the very last minute. Hotels, desperate to fill as many rooms as possible, will often offer their best deals day-of or day-before. Waiting for last minute deals does put the traveler in a precarious position; the hotel could very well sell out and leave the consumer in the lurch.
If you are not picky about accommodations or you have a last-minute trip pop up, head to Hotels.com’s Last Minute Deals page. The deals are broken down into regional tabs (including international travel), which are then further divided by city. Within the individual city pages, travelers can toggle between options like neighborhood, amenities, accessibility features, and average nightly rate.
In lieu of being able to select a specific hotel, customers are instead given the option between 5-Star, 4-Star, and 3-Star hotel tiers. Only once the room is booked does the shopper discover the specific hotel their stay will be at.
Insider Tip
Be very judicious when selecting a hotel through the Last Minute Deals program as due to the nature of the program, all sales are final and cannot be reversed.
Check for Deals, Sales, and Hotels.com Coupons
In addition to the Last Minute Deals section, Hotels.com has an additional location for discounts and promotions, straightforwardly called the Deals page. On the Deals page, consumers can find promotions such as the Deal of the Day or the Fall Into Savings sale.
The Deal of the Day page lists rooms in popular cities like Las Vegas, Chicago, Orlando, and Miami. Meanwhile, the Fall into Savings promotion offers discounts on the season's most attractive destinations.
Insider Tip
Coupons and Hotels.com promo codes can also be found through third-party sites such as Dealspotr. These coupons are a great way to tack on even more savings to your low hotel rate.
Buy Discounted Hotels.com Gift Cards at Raise.com
One of the most unique websites in recent memory, Raise.com functions to give consumers an opportunity to buy and sell unused gift cards. By buying gift cards at a discounted rate, shoppers can save more money at their favorite stores. Conversely, sellers get credit to other stores or cash for selling gift cards that would otherwise go to waste.
How Raise.com Works
On the Raise.com homepage, it is easy to find the search bar and look up any store from which you want to buy a gift card. At the Hotels.com page, gift cards are available for as much as 3% off. That means for a $50 gift card, you only pay $48.51!
Insider Tip
Raise.com offers a Refer-a-Friend program. The way this program works is that when a friend signs up with your referral code, you instantly earn $5 in Raise Rewards. After that friend makes his or her first purchase, you get another $5 reward!