How to find the cheapest hotel prices

If you’re searching how to find cheap hotel prices for your trip, you’ve came to the right place. Whether you have a specific hotel in mind or you’re looking for the best hotel for your budget, follow our handy guide below to pay the cheapest prices for an overnight stay. Hotels are usually the bulk cost of any holiday and saving money here will reduce your overall price significantly! Did you know that you can often save up to 50% by comparing hotel booking sites online? They’re not always the same price, even when you book direct.

Get clued up on finding cheap hotel prices by following these steps:

Step 1: Choosing a hotel

Finding the best hotel for your budget is your first port of call (if you already have a specific hotel in mind, skip to the next step).

  • Head on straight to Tripadvisor, type in your destination and view the top hotels by ranking. Tripadvisor is a great tool for initially finding an excellently rated hotel that’s within your budget.
Tripadvisor hotel search preview
  • Next, search Tripadvisor for hotel prices on your dates, you’ll be given a list of hotel prices to compare
Tripadvisor hotel search results preview - how to find cheap hotel prices

Pro-tip: Remember to sort by ‘Traveller ranked’ to see the best hotels. ‘Best value’ is Tripadvisor’s default sorting order.

How to find the cheapest hotel prices - Shows Tripadvisor sorting screenshot
  • Pick a handful of hotels in your budget with great reviews and do some research to find out which one you like the best
  • Now you have a desired hotel (or 2) and a baseline price for your stay, you can research more extensively for the best price available on your dates.

Other useful websites for finding cheap hotel prices in your destination include Secret Escapes, Groupon, Holiday Pirates and Wowcher. They’re generally more restricted for travel dates so you have to be flexible, but you can find some excellent rates.

Step 2: Hotel price comparison

Use trivago.co.uk, kayak.com and hotelscombined.com to find the best price for your desired hotel on selected dates. Why use them all may you ask? They each have a selection of smaller hotels sites which the others don’t have and you might get lucky.

  • Use the comparison engines to find the cheapest hotels website for your trip. Bear in mind that a lot of hotels sites have additional discount codes you can use, so a site which may appear the third cheapest in the results, may be the cheapest once you apply a promo code.
Trivago hotel search preview - how to find cheap hotel prices

On our search above, EBookers is actually the cheapest option as they currently have a 15% off promo code available, making the cost per night £129 instead of £152, saving a total of £69 over 3 nights.

Step 3: Discounts and cashback

Take the top 3 price results and search Google for a promo code. E.g ‘hotels.com discount code’, ‘Agoda promo code’, ‘hotels discount codes’ (for a general search to sites which sites currently have available codes)

Google search preview - how to find the cheapest hotel prices

Generally, we recommend sticking to the top 5 Google results when searching for a discount code. You’ll find a lot of websites list non-code based offers, expired codes and false advertisements.

The main voucher code sites you should browse are:

Vouchercodes.co.uk, Vouchercloud, MyVoucherCodes, HotUKDeals and the official hotel booking website itself . Companies usually offer exclusive discounts if you sign up to their mailing list or during sale/promotional periods.

Cashback sites Quidco.com and Topcashback.com are also great if you don’t mind waiting longer for the cashback (as opposed to an upfront discount code). Cashback amounts are sometimes higher than promo code discounts and can be available on sites which don’t have any promo codes active.

Step 4: Rewards programs

To add another curve-ball into your cheap hotel price finding conquest (and this step is entirely optional), hotel booking website rewards programs can be another great saver, especially if you’re booking a stay for multiple nights.

Some rewards offers to consider and combine with the steps above:

Hotels.com 1 night free Get one night free for every 10 nights you book on Hotels.com

Hotels.com loyalty scheme - how to find the cheapest hotel prices

Booking.com Genius program offers frequent bookers 10% off the total cost

Ebookers.com BONUS+ rewards credit back to use on your next purchase when you book flights, hotels or holiday package

Hilton Honours rewards points back to your account every time you book direct with Hilton. The points can then be used against your hotel cost once accumulated

Step 5: Book!

Once you’ve found a cheap hotel price for your chosen accommodation on a comparison site and have checked if an additional discount or cashback is available, all that’s left to do is book. Simply click through from Trivago (or another comparison website) and book as you would normally. And don’t forget to apply your promo code if you have one!

Important considerations for finding and booking cheap hotel prices: 

  • Be wary of hotel booking websites which you haven’t heard of. Some unknown websites may be cheaper but sometimes it’s not worth the hassle to deal with poor customer service and the chance of your booking going wrong. Simply Google the website name and ‘reviews’ to see what other customers have to say about them

Some reputable hotel booking websites you may come across include:

  1. Hotels.com
  2. Expedia
  3. Amoma
  4. Booking.com
  5. Ebookers
  6. Agoda
  7. Laterooms
  • If there aren’t many deals available for your selected hotel, return to Tripadvisor to find another similarly priced and highly rated alternative. Some hotels have more affiliate websites selling inventory so you may find a cheap deal and valid promo code.
  • If you’re flexible, search for alternative dates. Often weekend stays can be expensive in holiday destinations whilst weekdays are cheaper. It’s the opposite for city breaks where hotels increase prices during the week for business travelers who claim expenses on their bookings.

Now we’ve shared our top tips for how to find cheap hotel prices, use your newly learned expertise to uncover the best possible price for your stay. The key is to be flexible on dates and hotel options in order to find lower costs. Happy hotel searching!



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