How to Find Cheap Hotels (And Which Sites to Use!)

Last Updated: 11/8/21 | November 8th, 2021

As much as I love hostels, there is something nice about the luxuriousness of a hotel: the clean room, comfy bed, desk, iron, strong shower, and bottled soap for the taking (errr…I mean borrowing). They are a quiet, relaxing respite from the world.

But luxury comes at a price.

Hotels aren’t cheap and I hate spending money on a room I am only going to be in for a few hours. It’s why I mostly avoid hotels — I don’t think they are a good use of money. I would much rather stay in a hostel, which costs less, has more social interaction, and doesn’t make you feel as removed from the destination you’re staying at. (I always feel hotels are isolating, like a concrete bubble keeping out the place you’re visiting.)

Way back in 2014, I was staying in a lot of hotels and decided to see if I could find the best hotel booking site on the web.

The conclusion? Well, there wasn’t really a great conclusion. Some sites were better than others depending on location and hotel class but there was no clear winner.

I decided to do another search to try to find the best site to book a hotel in 2018. This time the clear winner was Booking.com. 

Though it didn’t return the largest number of total places, Booking.com returned the largest number of cheap places — and that’s the most important thing for budget travelers. The second-best hotel booking website was Agoda, which had a lot of results, though it’s strong suit was in Asia.

Fast forward to 2021, when I stayed in a lot of hotels again while I drove cross-country (there aren’t a lot of hostels in the US). And what’s the best booking site now? Google.

But, Matt, how can Google be the best hotel booking site when it’s a search engine?

Well, let me explain!
 

How to Book Cheap Hotels

Here is how to find the cheapest hotel in one simple step:

Go to Google and type in where you want to go. For example, “New York City hotels.”

That’s it. Google will pull results from all the major booking websites and tell you what site is the cheapest. You just go there and book your hotel. That’s why it’s the best booking site because, rather than searching every website individually, you can just go to Google, find which website has the cheapest rate, and book there. It saves a lot of time!

Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Click on the “View hotels” button at the bottom of the first result section to go to Google’s hotel searching hub.

Next, put in your dates and narrow your search until you find a hotel you like in your price range. You’ll be able to sort by lowest price and you can look at the map to book by location also.

Click on a hotel and you’ll be presented with all your booking options. Find the lowest price and head to that website. Just keep in mind that the top results are usually ads, so scroll down to make sure you aren’t missing out on any deals.

Once you’ve found the lowest price, book at that website!

But, before you actually book the room, there are a couple of other hacks you need to know about to ensure you get the best price possible:

1. Contact the hotel directly – Find the hotel, call them up, and ask them to match the offer (they usually will since it saves them on commission). If they are a big global brand, the big benefit to direct bookings is that you only earn loyalty points and status when you book direct, so if you love travel hacking, don’t book their rooms elsewhere!

2. Use discount rates like AAA or AARP – If you are part of the AARP or AAA you can get special rates that are cheaper. Fun fact: Anyone can join the AARP. I’m a member. They have amazing travel benefits (including deals on hotels and British Airways flights). It’s well worth the membership.

3. Use Mr.Rebates or Rakuten – If the lowest rate is through a major booking site like Booking.com, Expedia, or Hotels.com, go through Mr. Rebates or Rakuten. By using their links, you’ll get 1-4% cashback. It’s a little extra savings that can add up over time.

4. Check HotelTonight – This hotel-booking app is perfect for last-minute bookings. If you have a flexible schedule and wait until after 4pm on the day of, you can find hotels as much as 50% cheaper.

5. Try SnapTravel – This site is best for U.S. hotels. SnapTravel sends hotel deals straight to your phone or Facebook account. You simply plug in your dates and what city you’ll be in, and they’ll send you the best deals. You can save up to 50% off the price of a hotel with them. They are a helpful, under-the-radar service that has saved me a ton of money. Google usually lists them in their results but not always so it’s good to check directly.

6. Sign up for Booking.com and Hotels.com loyalty programs – Hotels.com gives you a free room after 10 bookings and Booking.com offers members 10% off bookings. They definitely helped a lot. Before you sign up for their loyalty programs before you book with them!

7. Get discounted gift cards – You can book major hotel chains with hotel gift cards. Check out a website like Giftcardgranny.com for discounted gift cards and use it to book your hotel. (Gift card purchases also count toward point earnings and status.)

8. Buy someone else’s reservation with Roomer – Often people can’t go on a trip and can’t cancel the reservation, so rather than lose the money, hotels put these rooms on Roomer, where they sell it at a discount to earn some money back. I’ve never used this website, but I’ve heard good things about it.

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Hotel pricing is a lot more set than airline pricing and tends to fluctuate less. I wouldn’t spend hours searching hotel websites or days tracking prices like people do with airline prices. I’d spend, at the most, 30 minutes on booking a hotel.

Just follow the steps above to get a cheap hotel by using my favorite (and what have been shown to be the best) hotel booking websites listed here so you get a good deal and enjoy your trip quicker.