TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / OCTOBER 2017 57
When booking on Airbnb, you’re dealing directly with the
property owner (or renter), and rates can be negotiable,
especially if you’re traveling at the last minute. While
lowballing could misfire, a reasonably discounted offer
might score you some savings.B
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#30
22 Compare
Online Prices
If you prefer to
book online,
“always compare
rates quoted on
aggregator sites
and booking apps
to those on a
hotel’s own site,”
says miles expert
Dave Grossman.
“I’ve seen some
amazing deals,
but have also seen
cases where it
would have been
significantly
cheaper to book
directly with
the hotel.”
Hertz promotion
shaved 15 percent
off the base rate.
Check to make
sure that the offer
is valid at your
rental location
before booking.
18 Use a Discount
Aggregator
While car-rental
companies will
sometimes offer
significant
discounts on
unreserved cars,
check out
aggregator sites,
too. Carrentals.
com has some of
the best deals, and
it allows you to
sign up for price-
drop alerts.
19 Cast a Wider Net
Renting a car at
the last minute
in a major city
is notoriously
expensive,
especially on
weekends.
Consider
taking public
transportation
to the suburbs,
where name-brand
agencies often
charge less.
20 Rent Your Car to
(and from) Others
Rather than pay for
long-term parking,
let your idle car
earn you money
while you travel by
renting it out with a
local service.
Carshare.hk has
more than 20,000
members in Hong
Kong who rent
cars from local
car-owners, while
Rent a Car Club is a
peer-to-peer car-
renting network
based in Thailand.
23 Ta k e Yo u r
Chances
Travel sites like
Hotwire and
Priceline have
offers for unnamed
hotel properties
(and car rentals)
that aren’t revealed
until you commit to
a purchase. Some
of their best deals
can arrive at the
last minute. Put on
your blindfold and
leave it to fate—
you can often be
rewarded with
as much as
60 percent off
published rates.
24 Be Willing to
Hotel-Hop
Consider packing
light and staying at
more than one
hotel. Once you’ve
arrived at your
destination,
upgrading to
another property
with steep day-of
price reductions
on vacant rooms
can be
cost-effective.
25 Enlist a Travel
Agent
Sometimes a
hotel’s website
will indicate no
availability for your
preferred dates,
but a good
consultant has the
connections to get
a last-minute
reservation.
26 Become a
Member
Online travel
agencies, such as
Booking.com,
Expedia, Kayak,
and Hotels.com,
give their members
extra savings of
10 percent or more
on last-minute
bookings.
27 Use an App
Find spur-of-the-
moment hotel
deals by using
three great apps:
HotelTonight can
be used to book up
to one week ahead
of travel and has
special Geo Rates
that target users
based on their GPS
location, One:Night
offers same-day
bookings for
dozens of luxury
properties, and
Secret Escapes
has last-minute
deals for upscale
hotels—
sometimes as
much as 70
percent off
published rates.
28 Go Off-Peak
Some cities have
visitor patterns
that you can work
to your advantage.
Seaside spots will
be popular for
local weekenders,
so cheaper to book
during the week. If
you plan on visiting
Asia during Lunar
New Year, make
sure you book well
in advance to beat
the celebrating
crowd.
29 Install Honey
The Web-browser
extension Honey
searches the
Internet for promo
codes to help you
save on ret ail sites
such as Amazon,
Ta r g e t a n d M a c y ’s.
Its newly launched
travel site (honey.
travel) offers
exclusive
discounts of up
to 55 percent
on hotels.
21 Contact Hotels Directly
Call and ask to speak to the manager
or front desk (not the reservations
line) to ask for the best available rate.
First check the price listed online for
your dates, then ask whether the
hotel can do better.
WHERE
TO STAY