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The Easiest Game of All: Saving Money on your Hotel Bookings

 If you've been paying attention to my posts, you'll probably notice several themes.  The theme I want to talk about today is Paying Attention-and perhaps even being a bit regimented in your spending.  These two things can help you save major $$$ on your hotel bookings, and I swear, it's not as horrible as it sounds!  

Here's the game:  Whenever I book a hotel, I always make a note of it in a regularly-recurring calendar entry that shows up every other week in my calendar called, 'Check Hotel Pricing' in which I make a note of the hotel, dates, price I paid, platform (Expedia, Marriott, etc...), and any other relevant information-room type, free breakfast/parking included, pre-paid, coupon used or anticipated cash back-so I can truly understand the price paid.

Then, every other week-like clock work, I go to the same platform I booked on (and sometimes other platforms, if there's a particular promotion to double check on), and re-check the pricing of the booking by re-searching for that hotel/dates/features/etc.   Sometimes, the price is higher-which is not a bad thing because it means I've booked for a low price already.  Often, the price is lower, and I will re-book and then cancel the original booking.  I may do this again and again and again over the course of 3, 6, 9 months...but if 5 minutes of my time is going to reduce the price of a 4-night hotel stay in Tokyo from $1300 (with 8% cash back) to $1100 (and 9% cash back)-like what literally happened to me on a search 15 minutes ago...that is time well spent!  At an hourly wage of $800 an hour, I'll play that game all.day.long.


I also do this with car rentals, and have had similar success for the same level of effort.

My one caveat:  If you're going to pay this game, make absolutely sure that your booking is 100% refundable.  If it is, you are free to play the game!

So, what are you waiting for?  Put that bi-weekly reminder in your calendar, go find all of your old hotel bookings (and the details I mention above), and get to re-searching.  I guarantee that unless you are a hotel-pricing-wizard, you will find savings after just a few weeks of this effort!

...and then once you do, drop me a line in the comments and let me know about the *newer* amazing offer you just found! :)

Happy Hotel Shopping!

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