My summer vacation plans involve a three-night stay in a hotel. With a little research and enrollment in a loyalty program, I managed to get a really good rate.
Before booking, I used a visitor’s brochure and the Internet to look up a dozen hotels/motels/inns in the city where I’ll be staying. The rates ranged from $59 a night to $120.60 a night at mostly chain hotels, and a couple others, all in the same area.
This is one of those vacations where I don’t need a fancy room, just someplace clean because all I’m going to do is sleep and shower there. So I quickly ruled out the $120 room and gradually narrowed my options to the $59 room or one for $59.99. Both places had favorable online reviews and offered rooms with two beds, a microwave and a mini refrigerator plus a free breakfast.
The $59 hotel didn’t offer a AAA discount. The $59.99 hotel did, taking the rate to $53.99, which was looking really good. Then I decided to see what would happen to the rate if I joined the hotel chain’s loyalty program. Membership in the program was free and dropped the rate even more, to $50.99 a night.
By doing a little research, I was able to find several places to stay that were well within my budget. By joining one’s loyalty program, I was able to save enough money to buy myself lunch each day or a nice dinner if I decide to splurge one night.
Great idea — I had no idea about loyalty programs! We also like to take a look at airbnb.com. These are people’s homes and they rent out a room or a floor or the whole house at times. When we traveled to Cincinnati, we stayed in a huge home, complete with an indoor pool, access to the kitchen and common areas and our own bedroom all for $68 a night!! Beats a hotel for sure!
[...] options if you’d like something a little more cushy (I know I would!!) Also, the author of Cheap in Erie suggested checking out loyalty programs to get some lodging [...]