Where do you find hotel and car rental deals?

crazyjeep

crazyjeep

Well-Known Member
Hey all. Watching Flying Cheap while studying for an interview this coming weekend. I am flying across the country this weekend for an interview, and am looking for deals on a hotel and car rental in Redding, CA. I am courious to where to find the best deals on a car rental and hotel in the area. I work the ramp in DTW, is it just best to call up hotels, etc to see what kind of offers they have for airline personal, or is there a site to look stuff up? Anything to make the trip the least expensive would be most appreciative.

So where do you find your deals?
 
The closest $50 motel I could find near Newark had one star and was 22 miles away in Piscataway.
 
"22 miles is only 20 minutes in light traffic! How many Americans drive 30 minutes to work?"

:)

I can hear it already.
 
My dad travels a lot for business, and he uses Priceline. He has gotten KILLER deals, I'm talking $200 a night rooms for less than $60 bucks...
 
TXTBOOK said:
My dad travels a lot for business, and he uses Priceline. He has gotten KILLER deals, I'm talking $200 a night rooms for less than $60 bucks...
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Calling the local hotel's sales department (usually it is one person) often works as well. They generally have more authority to cut deals than the front desk clerks.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Calling the local hotel's sales department (usually it is one person) often works as well. They generally have more authority to cut deals than the front desk clerks.
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x2. Just call and ask for sales and explain you're in the area for business. Ask for crew rates/special rates. I'm at a Country Inn and Suites. Avg nightly rate here is 125-140\night, but I'm here for $85. This whole season has been nothing but negotiation with sales, and fighting hotel to hotel. One thing that always worked for me too is switching hotels when I'm on location. If i get stuck with a crappy place but a good rate, I usually call a nicer hotel and sak them to match the rate, which they always have.
 
Mark815 said:
x2. Just call and ask for sales and explain you're in the area for business. Ask for crew rates/special rates. I'm at a Country Inn and Suites. Avg nightly rate here is 125-140\night, but I'm here for $85. This whole season has been nothing but negotiation with sales, and fighting hotel to hotel. One thing that always worked for me too is switching hotels when I'm on location. If i get stuck with a crappy place but a good rate, I usually call a nicer hotel and sak them to match the rate, which they always have.
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this.

also ask the FBO staff what negotiated rates they have...sometimes you get some good deals. hotels.com is decent too.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Just so you know, sometimes it doesn't hurt to "fib," and suggest you'll be there every week...
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I usually tell them our company is constantly in and out of the area, multiple rooms for up to 2-3 weeks at a time (which is actually true). I always tell them I'll usually be there for at least a week, but I make sure to pay day by day if I know it may only be a few days.

TXaviator said:
this.

also ask the FBO staff what negotiated rates they have...sometimes you get some good deals. hotels.com is decent too.
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I've had bad luck with FBO rates this year. Actually here in GA, one of the CSRs asked me yesterday what hotel i'm staying at and what the rate was and I told her. Her jaw dropped because it was $15 cheaper than the FBO rate. She didn't understand how it was possible haha
 
I can sometimes get a better deal on rental by calling Enterprise @
800 'rent a car' than I could showing up at the airport counter.
 
We use Hotwire.com a lot when going to most cities. Sometimes you won't find a deal at small cities but there is alway a deal to be had at bigger cities like NYC and the surrounding area.

Hotwire isn't perfect. It usually won't give you a choice of bed type and you have to make your plans and keep them before you book or else you'll be out a night's stay if you have to change plans.

Another trick I use is after doing a Hotwire search, on the bottom of the search list you can check four other sites with the same search parameters, press enter and then sites like Kayak, Priceline, Orbitz, and Hotels.com come up. The prices aren't nearly as low as Hotwire but you are able to see hotel names and locations as well as specific prices and bed choices. Then I search for the hotel's phone number and call them directly. I'll ask what their price is for the specific room and bed arrangement I want. Then I'll say, "Hey, you're on Orbitz for XXX dollars a night, do you want to match/do better than that?"

The answer is always yes. That way you aren't married to a room for several days if plans change and the middle man is removed.
 
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