She goes all Mitt Romney and outsources it to her sister. If you need to do it yourself, then use Brunette’s process.
General stuff to consider in advance:
Our process is based on our mutually exclusive goals of spending as little as we can and staying in high-end properties.
How much does this hotel stay matter to you? Is it somewhere you’re spending one night on your way to somewhere else or will it be a place you’ll use as a base for a while? Aside from being sure you’re somewhere safe, clean and near food in your price range, one-night stands with hotels are like one-night stands with humans: As long as you don’t catch something deadly they aren’t the end of the world.
Do you have any absolute non-negotiables relative to hotel stays? Non-smoking rooms are our line in the soot. As in life in general, never assume – specify and verify (this could potentially also apply to one-night stands but we’re off that analogy now).
What other things matter to you? Don’t assume that in countries other than the States that all hotels have air conditioning, wi-fi or even accept credit cards without charging you an extra fee for that service.
When you get to a website to begin your search for a property that meets your needs there is often a checklist on the left side, where you can click on options such as airport shuttle, restaurant, pool, exercise room, non-smoking rooms, pets allowed, wi-fi, hookers in the lobby, etc. to narrow down the search.
Also think of things you may want to request such as a quiet room which probably translates to not facing the swimming pool. If you need a handicapped access room it’s probably best to call and speak with a human.
How do you plan to pay?
Points or points + cash?
We are huge fans of Starwood’s awards program. And September 4, 2012 is your last opportunity to get one of their cards with a 30,000 miles bonus. There isn’t even a fee the first year so if you’re reading this and don’t have one of their cards, just get one now. Seriously, it’s that good a program and we have stayed all over the world in amazing properties using this program. It’s worthy of its own blog post but given that today’s the next-t0-last day for the good deal we threw it in here. ( And no, we aren’t paid, given stays or in any way at all rewarded for recommending this card – and that’s just wrong!)
So, if you have points with Starwood, Hilton, Marriott, etc., see if you can find a property where you’re going and pay for it with points or points and cash. (SPG has a points and cash option for many but not all properties and we’ve used that option when it’s available to really stretch our points.)
For example, we’re going to Barcelona next week and will be staying at the Sheraton Four Points Barcelona Diagonal for free for 5 nights. To do that we spent 24,000 points total.
Would we rather stay at the Le Meridien Ra Beach Hotel and Spa? Oh yeah, we would! But that property for 5 nights would have cost us at least 80,000 points and we don’t have that many. So we’ll stay at the Sheraton which has good reviews on Trip Advisor and we’ll be fine, if a tad pouty due to the lack of a swimming pool.
To compare to another hotel program the Hilton Barcelona would have cost us 123,557 points for the same 5 nights. Blonde has a Hilton card but they charge so many more points for comparable properties and have some exceedingly annoying blackout restrictions so she’s unlikely to renew that card.
Another program is Marriott’s where we would most likely select the Renaissance Barcelona which would be 125,000 points. There also is a points and cash option for this property. It was annoying to figure out the price for that option online so if you want to research it you’re going to have to do it yourself! The Starwood properties in Barcelona don’t have any points and cash options available for our travel dates and it doesn’t appear that Hilton has that payment option.
We always check hotels out on Trip Advisor (more on that later). In this case the four properties mentioned above are rated as follows:
- The Sheraton is #52 of 534 hotels rated in Barcelona and gets an overall grade of 4.5 stars 5 nights =24,000 points
- Le Meridien is #63 of 534 hotels rated in Barcelona and gets an overall grade of 4 stars 5 nights = 80,000 points
- The Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona is # 43 of 534 hotels rated in Barcelona and gets an overall grade of 4.5 stars 5 nights = 123,557 points
- The Renaissance Barcelona is #127 out of 534 hotels in Barcelona and gets an overall grade of 4 stars 5 nights + 125,000 points
Only sensible conclusion? We got a good deal at a good hotel! The lowest rated of the four properties is the most expensive in terms of points so do your homework unless you can get your sister to do it for you. (Much like when you were in high school.)
Paying with cash or credit (no points involved):
Go to a site like TripAdvisor, Expedia , Kayak or Booking.com and enter the name of the city, to see what shows up and what properties may be flagged as having a special price. Once you find a hotel that meets your non-negotiables in terms of location and services, it can be well worth it to also check out prices on additional websites such as Priceline and Hotwire. And always, always, check on the hotel’s own website. Starwood guarantees that you won’t beat the rates on their site and we never have. Also, if you book directly with the hotel chain and there’s an issue chances are you’ll get a better response than if you booked through a third party. And check for discounts you may be eligible for such as AAA, government employee, corporate or AARP (go ahead and fess up to save some money).
Sometimes there’s an option of pre-paying to get a special (usually non-cancellable) rate, generally on the hotel’s own website, so check that option out. If you want the option to cancel, be sure to check the hotel’s policy and expect it to apply to you! Booking.com’s website clearly shows the different rates for cancelable versus non-refundable prices. We’ve used booking.com quite a bit and have found some good properties and prices through them and excellent customer service the time we stupidly left our passports in a hotel safe in Italy.
Before booking anything you can’t cancel, check reviews of the hotel. We basically rely on Trip Advisor because it has a lot of reviews and we’re used to it but booking.com has lots of reviews too. We also throw out the highest review that claims it’s the best place in the world and the lowest that says it’s hell on earth. The reviews might provide information you wouldn’t have had otherwise, such as whether the beach is good for children, the hotel caters to a gay clientele, there’s construction in process or there are multiple dead bodies in the pool. Also see how recent the reviews are to increase the odds that they’re still relevant. Note: If you can’t find a review of the property, it’s a real gamble!
Sometimes a convenient option is to book a vacation that includes air and hotel through airlines or sites such as CheapCaribbean.com, AmericanAirlines Vacations, or Qantas Vacations.
Before you go:
If you aren’t already a member of the hotel’s rewards program, sign up when you book it, because it may entitle you to some perks such as a free beer with 4 Points Sheraton/Barcelona (whoopee!) . Small Luxury Hotels give you a free breakfast for being a member and that is a very good deal that can save you some money that could better be spent on alcohol (for example).
Read your reservation carefully and see if the dates are correct, if you need to bring a printout of your reservation and to decide how you’re going to get there. You might want to map out on Google or some other site how to drive there from where you’ll be starting out that day or contact the property about hotel shuttles, car service or a friendly donkey.
If you have questions, ask them before you go. You can ask on the travel sites mentioned earlier or you can email the property itself. We prefer to email the property as there’s more likelihood that the info is accurate and current but no guarantees. Be sure you understand any insidious and annoying little charges that will be lurking for you such as a “resort fee” (to stay at a resort, what crap!), internet access (more often free in less expensive properties than higher-priced ones), use of an exercise room and probably soon it will be extra to get a toilet that flushes.
Isn’t this all a lot of work?
Yes, it’s a nuisance and can require some boring time farting around on the web. But it’s well worth it to use up two hours at home instead of staying somewhere you’re miserable on a vacation you’ve been looking forward to taking. And, like airfare, it’s just smarter to spend the least you can for what you want.
Now get that Starwood card!