Offsite hotels - When to book?

[talksalot81]

Hi Guys,

I am staying in Orlando for 14 nights at the end of next April. When should I book? Am I best doing it asap or am i likely to find the prices online dropping further as we get closer to the date?

Many thanks

Adam

 

[FLParadisevilla]

Hi Adam,
I personaly like to book early so I know I have gotten the hotel, rooms, and everything that I wanted. But it makes sense that they may drop the prices, the closer you get. If you book now and watch the prices maybe they will honor any discounts once you get closer to your time of travel.

 

[5mins2disney]

End of April though is still a fairly busy season, personally I would book it now or I would be worried that everything will be booked up!

 

[talksalot81]

Thanks guys.

The reason i ask is because by far the best prices are available through an online agent other than the hotel itself. Unfortunately the trade off seems to be that you cannot cancel without paying a penalty. However, I do not want to buy now and then find the price has gone down significantly.

I have hopefully made a bit of headway on this I hope. The Marriott Residence Inn was one place we liked but Marriott directly is almost double the rate. So I booked it through them and have submitted a 'best rate guarantee' claim. I have never done one of these so i have no idea if they will honour it.

One of the silly things is that I can find better prices on several sites, but can only submit one to marriott. If they reject the claim, I cant submit another based on one of the other websites.... so I have to cancel and rebook... how messy!

 

[talksalot81]

I am pleased to report that Marriott have beaten the price I have from an agent so I now have a reasonable booking in place. So I can just keep watching the prices and will cancel if I find something better!