How to Get a Great Rate on a Hotel Room

New York Times

07-04-2025

With the cost of hotel stays generally trending upward — 2024 saw the highest recorded average daily rates in the U.S., for starters — the luxury hospitality world may not seem the most fertile bargain-hunting ground. But you can still find deals, and they go well beyond those you can obtain by converting your credit card and loyalty points into discounts. Here are six ways to get the best prices at some top hotels.
When a hotel first opens or signs up with a new booking site, room rates are sometimes heavily discounted. A good starting point is the boutique and luxury hotel membership program Dis-loyalty, run by the Ennismore Lifestyle Collective. For a membership fee of $18 per month, you'll get deals and perks at 10 hotel brands (Mondrian, SLS and the Hoxton, among others) that include 50 percent off any of the site's new hotels within the first three months of opening day. One current example: At the Hoxton, Florence, in Italy, which opened in March, members can book a late May stay for a starting nightly rate of $235, compared with the standard $470. Another membership-based hotel collection, Design Hotels, offers free membership and various discounts — among them, 50 percent 'debut' savings on certain properties that are new to the collection, including Xela Tulum, a 12-room hotel on Mexico's Caribbean coast that opened in late 2023. At press time, a sample starting rate in May on the Design Hotels site was $266 per night — half the standard $532. Image Credit... Ilya Milstein
Roberto Cowan, a co-founder of the Desert Vintage boutiques, which has outposts in Tucson, Ariz.; New York; and, later this year, Paris, suggests calling the hotel directly for the best rates. You never know where a politely asked 'Is that the best you can do?' will lead, he says. Among his biggest successes was a New Year's trip to Harmony Nosara, an upscale surfing and yoga retreat in Costa Rica. After the website showed there wasn't any availability on the days he was hoping to visit, he phoned the front desk and was told that the hotel could accommodate him if he were willing to change rooms during his stay. 'I was in the most beautiful place, I didn't mind having to move [rooms], and they were willing to work with me because of the inconvenience,' he says. In the end, he saved about 40 percent on rooms that typically run about $1,000 per night at that time of year. Wendy Perrin, the founder of a travel advice website, thinks front desk diplomacy may also work to your advantage in other scenarios: say, when you're already at a hotel and trying to extend your stay, or you're showing up last-minute, late at night, without a reservation. 'The closer you get to the time when the value of the room is going to perish,' she notes, the likelier you are to get a discount.
Many hospitality brands, marketing consortiums and booking sites have newsletters you can sign up for with a complimentary membership. Though these dispatches are meant primarily as travel inspiration, they also tend to direct subscribers to a wide range of discounts. Small Luxury Hotels, for example, recently offered up to 20 percent off suites at about 168 properties, such as Torralbenc, a farm turned luxury retreat on the Spanish island of Minorca, and the Gaia Riverlodge, a cluster of thatch-roofed cabanas in Belize. And Mr. & Mrs. Smith promoted up to 35 percent off last-minute hotel stays over Easter weekend in destinations including Denver and Buenos Aires. Membership can confer other money-saving perks, too, says Perrin: upgrades, late checkouts, free meals and even the occasional free night.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.