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August 19, 2021
We may be biased, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn’t love to take off on holiday for a week. The excitement of making your London hotel booking, packing your suitcase, saying goodbye to your responsibilities for a while, and going somewhere your time is all your own. Needless to say, no matter whether you’re an adventurer, relaxer, or visiting family overseas: holidays are needed now more than ever.
Simultaneously, many of us have been hit with difficult times, making the typically expensive holiday seem like an unbelievable dream. Between the flights and trains, luggage, taxis, activities, food, hotel room, and now the PCR tests to top it all off, you can rack up quite a large tally even before taking into consideration the many people expecting souvenirs and the sunglasses you’re bound to lose and need to replace.
So, how do you, as holiday-goers, navigate this situation? As London’s leading independent hotel group, we felt compelled (and qualified) to share these top insiders’ tops into booking an affordable holiday. Our number one top tip for booking an affordable holiday is to find the best hotel offers and packages. Here’s why we think hotel packages are the bee’s knees...
Bigger savings
Thanks to the fact the hotel is filling more slots at their various outlets or experiences alongside the hotel room, the room discounts on a package tend to be larger. This is simple logic: the more sold within the package, the better the total discount is. So sure, you may be able to get a reduced rate on a simple room booking, but the overall percentage of room savings will be higher as part of a package.
Discounts at essential outlets
You’re probably planning on doing the things included in the package anyway! Do you plan to eat, drink, visit a spa, go to a salon or the gym during your stay? It makes sense to book these as part of a package, meaning every element of your stay is provided at a discount. Not only will you make savings on your room, but on some of the best hotel spas and fine dining restaurants London has to offer.
Savings on your day trips
Maybe your hotel room comes with free facilities anyway, so the prospect of in-house discounts is not so exciting. However, if you wanted a discounted experience at an out-of-hotel attraction, unless you get it as part of a package, you’d have to call the vendor and negotiate the deal yourself. Grouped with your hotel package, the hotel staff have already done the work creating a deal at the attraction, saving you time and gaining a better rate than you’d be able to gain otherwise.
Save by going luxe
The hotels most likely to offer packages are ones located amidst exciting activities to offer guests and entice them to stay there. That’s why you’ll actually find you can make more savings when booking a room at a luxury hotel using central London hotel deals than springing for an affordable room that comes with none of the benefits you’d like.
If you’re still looking for a way to save money, here are another five tips to save more money when you’re out there...
1. Best Available Rate
The BAR (Best Available Rate) is the rate shown on the hotel’s own booking page. For the hotel, this rate is offered at the lowest because there is no need to offset any agents’ commission. While price comparison sites claim to find the best deal at the luxury spa hotels London has to offer, often the hotel’s own website is truly the best place to begin searching.
2. Location can be deceptive
Don’t dismiss a central city or beachside location because you think the accommodation there will be unaffordable. With hotels in hot competition with each other to stand out, you’ll find some surprisingly great deals and offers at mid-range hotels with excellent locations. Rooms at some of the best located 5-star hotels in central London are within your reach (look at The Wellington and The Rochester by Blue Orchid Hotels, for example).
3. Book on a private browser
We won’t pretend to understand it ourselves. Still, those Cookies websites placed on your browser work sneakily to get you to spend more money than you need to on many sites. The longer you spend looking at flights or on hotel comparison sites, the more the prices will tick upwards. To stop the browser from seeing you showing lots of interest in the page, use incognito mode or make your choice on your computer, then use your phone to complete the reservation.
4. Book for longer periods
Once you’ve booked over three days, some hotels will begin discounting initial days to fill rooms. In this sense, if you’re choosing between a longer holiday or two shorter ones, it may make more financial sense to choose one long holiday!
Pick a lovely suite or apartment that contains all you need for independent, self-contained living, and settle in for a more extended stay that gives you more time to relax as well as saves a couple of those hard-earned pennies!
5. Out of season
Booking out of season is the foremost way to save money on your holiday. The popular times such as school breaks, bank holiday weekends and the Summer see a surge in bookings and a resulting increase in prices for flights and London hotel offers. So unless you absolutely can’t travel at any other time, avoiding the more desirable seasons can save a lot of money on holiday.
Also to consider is that each country has its own out of season period, depending on the climate, location and destination activities. The peak of Summer and the Christmas months tend to be the most popular travel times for the majority of the world. Another thing to note is that popular events will affect prices, so it’s worth checking the calendar before booking.