Planning a hotel stay? Get ready to unlock hotel travel hacks that can save you big bucks! One hotel employee has turned to Quora to reveal tips and tricks on how to score the room upgrades, snag extra perks, and enjoy a more luxurious experience without breaking the bank.
From booking strategies to little-known amenities, these hotel travel hacks will help you make the most of your stay while keeping your wallet happy.
Front Desk Supervisor Recommendations
1. Little White Lies
Tell the clerk you’re on your honeymoon, a special occasion, holiday or the first time at their hotel, even if it isn’t. Employees are more inclined to upgrade customers who don’t ask (like Monica did when she and Chandler were on their honeymoon). They will be more likely to be open about offers, rewards, etc. Asking for these, without a valid reason, makes you seem like a ‘high maintenance’ guest.
2. Book Direct
If you can avoid it, don’t book through a third-party website. They can often have misleading information, or book you in a different location, room, or time. Third-party agents can also make it more difficult to cancel reservations.
As someone in the comments said: if you’re booking a smaller place like a B&B, research the third-party deals and then tell the smaller establishment you’d rather see them get the money. They get a raw deal from these third-party apps, and you never know, they might price match.
3. Timing is everything!
Knowing the slower days is a good idea. Those days, employees might be more likely to upgrade if they ask nicely. This is because they’re not giving away someone else’s room, and only worked on single-night bookings.
4. Ask about Discounts
Before you check in, ask what discounts the hotel offers. Some hotels offer discounts or perks for NRMA customers or other insurances, some might offer other concessions. It never hurts to ask. And as my economics teacher used to tell us…there’s no such thing as a dumb question.
5. Be a Great Customer
It costs you nothing to be kind to the customer service staff. They’re like everyone else, trying to do their job. In the hospitality industry, customer service people often bear the brunt of customer frustrations. The nicer you are, the easier you make their job and the higher your chances of receiving perks.
The internet weighed in with even more hotel travel hacks!
Comment threads are great for people sharing other things that work for them.
One person said: One small thing I’ve found is to leave a good review on the hotel’s website if you had a good experience. Say what was particularly enticing that would make you book again. I’ve found that when I’ve done this, generally, the hotel will email me with deals that don’t show up on the 3rd party websites. Most of the time they love happy customers so have an incentive to try to get you back for a repeat visit.
Another person wrote: I would also add to this for number 2, if you book with a third party you are the lowest priority to a hotel as harsh as that sounds. I have worked for different Hilton properties over the last 9 years and that’s ALWAYS the case.
Our number 1 priority is always going to be loyalty members → guests who booked direct → guests who booked via third parties. What that means is when we start assigning rooms for the evening, we aren’t purposefully giving third party bookings “bad” rooms we are just assigning our best rooms to our members first and third parties get whatever is left. I always encourage guests to book direct and have a membership even if you don’t travel a lot.
Another suggested: Look for Free Cancellation Options: Book rooms with free cancellation policies. This allows you to rebook at a lower rate if prices drop closer to your travel date without any penalty.
Another hotel travel hack: In the hotel I work at, if a guest complains about something even if it’s about something very small, we offer them a free breakfast, so that would be my hack. Hotels always wanna be consistent and get good reviews so will do anything to make themselves look good when dealing with complaints.
Others didn’t like how she advocated not being honest: “As a 43-year veteran in the hotel business, I am astonished that you would advise that people indicate it is a ‘special celebration’ when it is not. We have enough demanding/high maintenance/entitled individuals to cater to … why would you throw lying into the mix?”
Dishonesty is never a good idea. But I do like the message of kindness. Working in hospitality is a thankless job and employees are often invisible to some, and blamed for everything that goes wrong by others. We hope you enjoyed these hotel travel hacks. Do you have any more to add?
1 Comment
If you require a room suitable for a disabled person, I strongly suggest you ask what is in the room. e,g, One item people may need is supports next to the toilet or better still a toilet raiser. Another issue is some beds are very low. The are height some parents would use as toddler beds. For an adult you will need assistance to get out of bed. Make sure a non-slip floor mat to stand on after you have a shower. The floor is always at least damp and slippery from the steam. Despite what tile manufacturers advertise non-slip tiles are slippery.