best time to book a hotel... now or wait?

[Sagginit]

ok budget boarders. here is the question. i am going to ottawa CA in a month. we had to wait to book as my boyfriend needed to confirm an appointment there. we checked hotels late Saturday but needed to call to get details on parking which no one seems to list on their website. rates since then on two of the three places have jumped since then (i think $25-$40 a day). i read online it may get cheaper closer to the dates or drop back down midweek.

what would you do? i have three places i am between. i cant seem to find any major events for that week and the one hotel indicated they usually only run out of parking on weekends, thus they don't run at full capacity during the week.

think i could get them to negotiate lower if it would be a guaranteed booking now? i have never haggled with a hotel so i have no idea what to say.

 

[clh2]

I have never haggled with a hotel. However - I will occasionally check the website for lower rates, or other "deals". If there is a better deal (either at the same hotel or somewhere else - I will book that deal, and then cancel the first reservation.)

Have you considered naming your own price on priceline? If you account for the fact that you may need to pay for parking in addition to the hotel cost, - it might be an option. Although - once you would book this way - you have purchased the room, and it is non-refundable.

My DH and I like priceline when we are going to visit our DD at college. If we are travelling with DD - there is no way we would use priceline, since they don't guarantee 2 beds.

 

[descovy]

Check the cancellation policy first... But I see no problem with booking now (reserving with cc) as long as you aren't paying now. Many hotels have a 24hr cancellation period. Cancel before 24 hour notice and no fee charged.

I have been in the process of planning a 13 day road trip for June. Each night in a different hotel. We are staying in a Hilton chain, Choice chain, and Holiday Inn chain. I reserved rooms with credit card, but have already had to make a few changes which required cancellations.

While I was at it, I checked for all my room rates to change. 2 have gone down since March, 1 has gone up in price.

 

[Sagginit]

i am reluctant to use priceline or hotwire as there are soooo many hotels in the area. the best rates are AAA for two and i don't think i can cancel if i book on it (unless i read it wrong but i was on about 5 sites at once so i very well could have).

whats really making it hard is when you factor in parking, one charges $28 (but can guarantee it) and the others are $17 and $14 but have limited space. i hate the thought of getting there and having to drive around for a parking garage that will take our car.

 

[descovy]

i am reluctant to use priceline or hotwire as there are soooo many hotels in the area. the best rates are AAA for two and i don't think i can cancel if i book on it (unless i read it wrong but i was on about 5 sites at once so i very well could have).

whats really making it hard is when you factor in parking, one charges $28 (but can guarantee it) and the others are $17 and $14 but have limited space. i hate the thought of getting there and having to drive around for a parking garage that will take our car.

I use the aaa discount as well. Makes no different when I cancel. However I do not know what site you are using. In my case, I've been using 3 very popular us hotel chains though. I personally do not book through Hotwire/Priceline.

As far as parking... It is an $11-14 difference. Is it worth $14 for you not to worry about parking? For me it is. I imagine you'd blow $14 fairly easily otherwise when on a weekend holiday.

 

[Sagginit]

I use the aaa discount as well. Makes no different when I cancel. However I do not know what site you are using. In my case, I've been using 3 very popular us hotel chains though. I personally do not book through Hotwire/Priceline.

As far as parking... It is an $11-14 difference. Is it worth $14 for you not to worry about parking? For me it is. I imagine you'd blow $14 fairly easily otherwise when on a weekend holiday.

if it was only for parking i would go for it, but the parking rate goes in line with the prices, so the $28 parking rate has the highest room rate, a difference of $64 from the lowest rated one. the really confusing thing is i get lower rates on the AAA website when i try to book there than on the hotel website with the AAA discount selected. the cheapest hotel is the same on all websites so not AAA discount.

also while on topic my boyfriend wants to pay on his card to earn miles. if he pays can we still use the AAA discount? i have always booked in the name of the person with the card, this is the first time we have thought about doing it this way.