Booking hotels - book early or late

[wazza888]

Will be spending some leisure time in Hong Kong/Singapore in late April/May. Thinking about 9 days in HKG and 5 in SIN. What is the general consensus of booking early and securing the rooms probably at a higher rate or wait unit closer to the departure dates. Langham Place in Hong Kong and Conrad in Singapore. Thanks

 

[Cynicor]

The Conrad has the weekend sale currently with very good prices. If not staying on a weekend, many will book a flexi or AAA rate in advance and monitor the prices, locking in an AP if nothing cheaper comes up. It's a bit of work, though!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Will be spending some leisure time in Hong Kong/Singapore in late April/May. Thinking about 9 days in HKG and 5 in SIN. What is the general consensus of booking early and securing the rooms probably at a higher rate or wait unit closer to the departure dates. Langham Place in Hong Kong and Conrad in Singapore. Thanks

for HKG I always like to book as far in advance as possible. Some hotels offer special advance purchase rates/weekend deals plus leaving it late can mean a convention or trade show has everything solidly booked (as in no rooms anywhere! happened to me a couple of times). A friend had a similar problem in Singapore last year - trade show and nothing available.

 

[samh004]

I'd have a look if there's going to be anything big on when you're there and take that into account. If it's a dead time, then you can always wait and see, but having not checked a location (but booking flights) and getting burned by nothing being available, I'm a little more wary these days.

 

[drron]

We always plan our stay well in advance.I book all hotels then at a rate that can be cancelled without penalty.If the rate goes up you win,if the rate goes down cancel and rebook.Another win.
Have been seeing some real anomalies on SPG.com recently when the flexible rate is actually cheaper than the prepaid.

 

[Sprucegoose]

We always plan our stay well in advance.I book all hotels then at a rate that can be cancelled without penalty.If the rate goes up you win,if the rate goes down cancel and rebook.Another win.
Have been seeing some real anomalies on SPG.com recently when the flexible rate is actually cheaper than the prepaid.

Sage advice. I have paid for hotels and haven't stayed there....... I stuffed it up on a non flexi rate that turned out to be dearer.

 

[Berlin]

many will book a flexi or AAA rate in advance and monitor the prices, locking in an AP if nothing cheaper comes up. It's a bit of work, though!

That's precisely what we always do and closer to the date of stay you're either really happy that you booked so far in advance (sometimes the rates go up by more than 100% of what you've locked in as a AAA rate early on) OR suddenly some super cheap advance purchase rate comes up which is even better. By the way, decent hotels almost always refund or re-book your AP rates if you can't make it due to higher powers. Had this happen at W (a day delay due to storm), Hilton (NZ ash cloud) and just recently at Intercontinental (fog in Wellington) and was always asking very politely and was super grateful when they happily refunded the lost night. Not sure what would happen in your run of the mill Accor hotel though...

 

[Pushka]

I use booking.com as soon as I know dates as there is no payment required until you arrive at the hotel. I book the rooms that have free cancellation so at least I know I have a room, and can cancel without penalty. Then closer to the dates I do another check to see if prices have fallen, sometimes through the hotels direct website. If so, then I cancel the booking.com booking and book direct. We did this for our trip through Europe and all worked great. They also have an iPhone app which shows all your bookings on your phone. Very useful as you don't need to keep checking the paperwork.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I use booking.com as soon as I know dates as there is no payment required until you arrive at the hotel. I book the rooms that have free cancellation so at least I know I have a room, and can cancel without penalty. Then closer to the dates I do another check to see if prices have fallen, sometimes through the hotels direct website. If so, then I cancel the booking.com booking and book direct. We did this for our trip through Europe and all worked great. They also have an iPhone app which shows all your bookings on your phone. Very useful as you don't need to keep checking the paperwork.

while booking.com is good, I also like to use a price comparison site such as openroomz.com. they compare across a range of agents (including booking.com and hotel websites) and list all the prices currently available. my last hotel was $100 cheaper through this method than what booking.com could offer.

 

[wazza888]

Thanks all for your contributions guys. Might just book in advance with free cancellations allowed and monitor the rates until I depart. Cheers.

 

[Pushka]

while booking.com is good, I also like to use a price comparison site such as openroomz.com. they compare across a range of agents (including booking.com and hotel websites) and list all the prices currently available. my last hotel was $100 cheaper through this method than what booking.com could offer.

Yep. I'd agree with that too. Even today I cancelled a booking.com for July this year. It was great to have the freedom to cancel without having paid anything upfront. I think that's the main benefit of it - you have accommodation so you can cross that off the list but also cancel freely if you find a better offer at a later time.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yep. I'd agree with that too. Even today I cancelled a booking.com for July this year. It was great to have the freedom to cancel without having paid anything upfront. I think that's the main benefit of it - you have accommodation so you can cross that off the list but also cancel freely if you find a better offer at a later time.

I see your point. Openroomz doesn't book anything for you - they just list other providers and their room rates (including those that can and can't be cancelled. The hotel I found for $100 less still came with the ability to cancel - but of course with the added benefit (given I will almost certainly be staying there) that I have locked in a super rate!

 

[Cynicor]

Remember for some chains, bookings through aggregators/wholesalers like booking.com will not earn points or confer status benefits. Claim best price guarantees instead if you can, and book direct.

 

[wazza888]

I'd have a look if there's going to be anything big on when you're there and take that into account. If it's a dead time, then you can always wait and see, but having not checked a location (but booking flights) and getting burned by nothing being available, I'm a little more wary these days.

I was told that its a long weekend in China (01/05/13). Expect higher hotels rates and lots of mainland chinese in Hong Kong.

 

[cdchi1]

If booking early, make sure you also check the rate available if you book direct through the hotel (try the hotels website).

If you have good travel insurance, you can book early direct through hotels websites and often will be entitled to significant discounts (at least in Europe I've found that to be the case).

Usually these discounted rates are non-refundable and require the entire amount to be prepaid...so if no show, no refund and the entire amount is lost...hence the need for good travel insurance.

Sometimes though if booking early and staying for a few days, the hotel might have a 'long stay' offer available only to direct bookings (though sometimes made available to booking websites too).

Last year I spent 2 months in Europe and booked ALL my hotels bar one direct and 6 months in advance, using non-ref rate discounts where available. Worked out MUCH cheaper than using a booking website, and I reckon I ended up with better rooms as well due to booking direct (apparently thats a myth, but on my experience I'm not so sure). For instance, I often put a request to have a room with a balcony...most of the case, my request was met.

This year doing the exact same thing, 2 months in Czech, Turkey and Greek Islands mid Aug-Mid Oct. About to start searching for hotels now.

Cdchi1

 

[Limewood]

We go to HKG at least once year, always book way in advance as we attend trade shows there, at those times many hotels fill up fast, also as said booking 6 months out can get good deals at times. Usually sat at The Kowloon Hotel Club floor, we also book direct with them as they have us on file and give us abetter price than others.

 

[vetrade]

hotelscombined.com probably works similar to the openroomz.com mentioned - and it usually includes the prices for direct bookings with the hotels.

 

[mella2007]

I've stayed at Langham Place and normally find their rates get more expensive as time goes on. They often have get one night free suite deals available when they have a special deal on, so keep checking

 

[MEL_Traveller]

hotelscombined.com probably works similar to the openroomz.com mentioned - and it usually includes the prices for direct bookings with the hotels.

yes! I just found hotels.combined yesterday. I like it. It offered even cheaper prices on expedia.com.au than expedia.com.au did!

 

[JohnK]

I generally plan months in advance and I know what sort of price I want to pay for a room.

If I have stayed at a city before then I will more than likely stay in the same 3-4 hotels I have stayed in the past and again I know the cheapest price and that is when I book. If I have left things late then I take the best possible price at the time.

hotelscombined.com probably works similar to the openroomz.com mentioned - and it usually includes the prices for direct bookings with the hotels.

I have used them for a while now. They are generally good with Agoda and I can get ~AUD2 discount per night on Agoda's rates and recently noticed a discount with HotelClub as well.