Wanting a bit of luxury without blowing the budget? Find out how with my top tips for booking a cheap luxury hotel!
Contents
- Finding Luxury on a DIY Budget
- My Top Tips for Booking a Cheap Luxury Stay
- 1. Book at the Right Time!
- 2. Stay Out of Season
- 3. Choose Cheaper Destinations
- 4. Choose Boutique & Soft Brand Hotels
- 5. Get Free Upgrades
- 6. Sign-Up to Loyalty Programs
- 7. Use Points or Rewards with Bank, Insurance and Credit Card Providers
- 8. Use Cash Back Deals
- 9. Book Non-Refundable Rates
- 10. Use Specialised Hotel Booking Apps
- What Are Your Best Hacks?
Finding Luxury on a DIY Budget
It’s not very often that I book a luxury hotel. Being a DIY traveller on a budget, I tend to book mid-range options for my family of 5.
However, even us budget conscious travellers want a bit of luxury now and then. Of course, I’m not about to spend a small fortune for a few nights in a hotel.
The good news is – you don’t have to! You can enjoy a luxury stay with the right timing and tools.
Over the years, I’ve picked up a few clever tricks to enjoy 4-5 star hotels, without the premium price tag.
Whether its a city break or a beach holiday, here’s how I find amazing hotels for less – and how you can too!
My Top Tips for Booking a Cheap Luxury Stay
Some of my content may contain affiliate links for companies I use and love and recommend to awesome readers like yourself. If you take action, (i.e. subscribe, make a purchase) after clicking one of these links, I’ll earn a small amount of pocket money (at no extra cost to you), so I can buy a coffee while creating more helpful content like this.
1. Book at the Right Time!
Last Minute or In Advance?
- We find as a general rule that you should book far in advance for popular places that you are visiting in the height of season, and find last minute deals for out of season stays.
Where to Find Last Minute Deals
- Last minute deals, out of season, are easy to find on apps like: Booking.com and Super.com. Super.com has less choice than Booking.com but I find their last minute deals are slightly cheaper than Booking.com.
Choose the Cheapest Check-In Day
- It varies but generally the cheapest check in day is Sunday – avoid Fridays and Saturdays.
🌟 Use Price Drop Alerts
- Kayak will show you the cheapest days to book in the city you choose and send you price drop alerts when the price dips.
2. Stay Out of Season
🗓️ Best Months to Book a Cheap Luxury Hotel
Depending on the country, we find that (excluding school holidays), January and February tend to be cheapest. March, October and November are good too.
Out of season, hotels are competing for customers, which means you will get the best deals and perks.
| 🌟 Top Tip! Add a Luxury Stay at the End of a Budget Stay – We can’t afford a luxury stay for the whole length of our 2 week holiday – so we book a luxury stay just for a few days at the end of our break for a luxurious treat. Note: We do this at the end so the budget stay doesn’t seem so bad! |
3. Choose Cheaper Destinations
You can get luxury hotels at much lower prices in cheaper destinations. For example, you’ll get more for your money in Exeter than Bath and more in Budapest or Prague than Vienna.
This also works for staying in a less popular area. Look at hotels away from the centre.
🔗 Blog to read: See my Prague Luxury Hotel Stay Blog here!
Cheaper Luxury at the Beach
Turkey, Greece and Portugal have some of the best value luxury hotels in Europe.
Long Haul
Long haul cheaper luxury hotels can be found in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Mexico. Of course you need to offset this with the cost of your plane ticket.
4. Choose Boutique & Soft Brand Hotels
A boutique hotel will often give you fabulous luxury and a personal service that you might not receive at a larger luxury hotel. We find our boutique stays on Booking.com.
🔗 Blog to read: Our riad stays in Marrakech have been superb! Read about them here!
- Try Soft Brands like Autograph Collection (Marriot) or Curio Collection (Hilton) – they are cheaper than their parent brands but still luxurious.
- Find smaller boutique hotels on Mr & Mrs Smith or Tablet.
5. Get Free Upgrades
Book Hotels That Give Free Upgrades
🌟 Check the reviews! When searching for a luxury stay, we always see if free upgrades are commonplace across the reviews – if they are, we book. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t get a free upgrade using this method.
🌟 Mention Special Occasions
Always inform your hotel if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary. Message ahead and let them know if it’s for a special occasion – they are more likely to upgrade you, especially if you book dinner at the hotel.
I won’t mention any names – but we recently rang ahead to let the hotel know that it was our anniversary during our stay. We had booked the lowest cost room and we were upgraded to a luxury room with a balcony overlooking a fabulous view. Another customer who we got talking to was bitterly disappointed with their room. They booked through a respected travel company but ended up with a standard room. It goes to show that personal contact works!
6. Sign-Up to Loyalty Programs
Genius Loyalty with Booking.com
Booking.com’s Genius is my favourite loyalty program – it works for me because I use Booking.com so much. When I compare the prices on Booking.com to other comparison websites – they rarely beat the price I’m quoted.
Hotel Loyalty Schemes
Many hotel chains give mates rates and perks to members. Hilton. Marriot and Bonvoy all have loyalty schemes.
7. Use Points or Rewards with Bank, Insurance and Credit Card Providers
Check your points, reward entitlements and offers with your bank, credit card and insurance providers – they periodically change.
Often we have access to rewards and points that we’re not even aware of. We booked a super cheap stay at a luxury spa with our life insurance points and my bank gives me 10% back when I book direct with Macdonald Hotels.
I’ve also recently started using Amex to gain Avios points. I literally buy everything on my Amex to accrue as many points as possible. Although you can book hotel rooms with the points – I will probably stick to flights.
⚠️ Please note: It is important to pay it in full at the end of each month so you don’t incur huge interest charges.
8. Use Cash Back Deals
Book via cash back programs like TopCashBack and Quidco to get cash back from your stay. You can get up to 15 % back on IHG Hotels and Resorts – plus loads more travel brands!
9. Book Non-Refundable Rates
If you have good travel insurance and you’ve already booked a non-refundable plane ticket then you may as well book a non-refundable hotel stay.
🌟 Non-refundable rates are often much lower than standard rates.
🔗 Blog to read: See My Guide to Protecting Your DIY Trip here!
10. Use Specialised Hotel Booking Apps
Hotel Booking apps make searching for a hotel so much simpler. It’s easy to use the filters, and sort your search to get the best deals instantly. My preferred app is Booking.com.
🔗 Blog to read: See my Guide to get the best out of Booking.com for top tips.
Secret Deal Sites
- For a ‘surprise’ hotel stay, Hotwire and Priceline offer discounted ‘mystery’ hotel deals. You can often guess the hotel using the star rating and location clues.
Last Minute
- Use Super.com, Lastminute.com and HotelTonight to find last minute deals.
| 🌟 Top Tip! Price Check Direct With The Hotel When using a Hotel Booking App, check directly with the hotel to see if they can match the rate. They may also offer additional perks. |
What Are Your Best Hacks?
Let me know your best tips for scoring a cheap luxury hotel stay in the comments!
And if you enjoy travel tips like these, sign up to my fortnightly newsletters – packed with smart DIY travel ideas, new blog posts and budget-friendly tips.
Leave a Reply