5 tricks for hotel bookings at a lower price

There are two major avenues where you can save on expenses when you are travelling: Your place of stay and your mode of travel. Not maximizing on your savings will only have you paying more for the service or experience as compared to other travellers. 

If you are in Mumbai, and you have not got the chance to explore the best hotel deals in Mumbai, here are some tips to reduce the price of your hotel bookings: 

• Monitoring price drops

One trick to booking rooms at low prices is to wait for price drops. For example, it is often noticed that Tuesday afternoons see the biggest drop in price. At the same time, Friday evenings see a steep increase in the price. If you are making a booking during the weekdays, the price drop could be greater than compared to the ones done during the weekend. Keep a close eye on the comparisons and book your room as soon as you see the drop. 

• Going against the crowd

Do not rush your bookings for a hotel, just because it is peak season for that location. You can benefit from going against the crowd. Book your stay during the off-season. This way, you will be able to save money on accommodation, as there will not be any steep increase in the prices. Non-peak seasons may also have a lot of hotel deals in Mumbai, which you could take advantage of. 

• Hiring a good agent

This is an easy and reliable way to get your work done. A travel agent has a certain rapport with hotels already established. Their involvement will make the process much faster for you. When the booking for a particular hotel is made, the agents will also get a cut of the deal. Although this might seem like an expensive process, the discounts that will be levied will be reducing the cost and will help you score a good deal. A lot of the best travel companies have associations with the best hotels. Just pick a location and they will take care of everything. 

• Making a note of the cancellation period

A hotel’s cancellation period is usually 24 to 48 hours before to the scheduled stay. At times, last-minute cancellations increase the availability of the rooms for a lower price. Yes, this might be a little tricky, as you do have the risk of losing availability to the bookings of good rooms at the hotel. But if you feel like you can wing it, go for it. Maybe you could get the deal of a lifetime. 

• Contacting the hotel directly

This is contrary to the above advice of hiring an agent. But, in some cases, this might actually work for you. You can also take this step to cross verify the rates mentioned by your agent. Call up the hotel desk and ask them about the rates. All hotels have fully functional websites and you can go ahead and book your rooms on them. The hotel can help create an exclusive package or offer you good hotel packages in Mumbai. You can request for things like late checkouts and other facilities. 

If you want the booking experience to be seamless, and enjoy the best hotel deals in Mumbai, book a stay at The Leela Mumbai, one of the finest hotels in the city.